As the stag parties flood in, the Dutch flood out. Tourism’s changed not just the way we feel about our cities, but Europe
The word on everyone’s lips is “Venice”. It starts as a whisper, some time in early spring, when the lines in front of the Rijksmuseum get a little longer, and the weekend shopping crowds in the Negen Straatjes begin to test your bike-navigation skills. By the time it’s July those streets are flooded. You don’t even try steering through the crowds. You’d be like Moses, except that God is not on your side, the Red Sea will not part in your favour, and the crowds will wash you away: the middle-aged couples from the US and Germany, here for the museums; and the stag parties from Spain, Italy and the UK, here in their epic attempt to drink all the beer and smoke all the pot.
You crash into a distracted tourist, and the whisper becomes a curse: Fucking Venice! (We like to swear in English)
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Source: Gaurdian
