A) AMSTERDAM B) BIRMINGHAM V) VENICE
I wore my hat and gloves as we walked along Birmingham’s Waterfront Walk on this Valentine’s Day morning. John followed sheepishly behind, shivering. As quiet and scenic as the canals were this morning, in its heyday the canal system supplied Birmingham with coal, iron and heavy machinery and carried the city’s finished goods to market.
For 170 years the canals were bustling with activity, carrying 8½ million tons of goods by the beginning of the 20th Century. But canals were expensive to build and maintain and their use declined as railroads captured the long-distance transportation of more goods. After all commercial traffic stopped in 1980 many of the canals fell into disrepair. Many have been recently restored and are enjoyed by walkers, cyclists and narrowboat owners. The Waterfront Walk is very “des res,” desirable residence in realtor-speak, with shops, restaurants and bars. Even a Legoland.®
The trivia question answer is “It depends.” Birmingham has more than 100 navigable miles of waterways compared with about sixty in Amsterdam and just twenty five in Venice. But, Birmingham has only six canals, while Amsterdam boasts 165 and Venice claims between 150 and 177.
