Romantic get-aways

I expect that if anyone could be bothered to organise a poll asking people which city is the most romantic get-away, Paris and Venice would be very high on the list if not actually taking the top two places.  (For our trans-Atlantic friends, I am talking about the cities in France and Italy, not Illinois, California or Florida.)  Younger people might, I suppose, vote for Barcelona or Prague, but people of a certain age would, I am sure, choose Paris or Venice.  I have been to both cities and enjoyed my time there, but neither would be my first choice for a weekend break.

You might notice that I wrote "weekend break" rather than "romantic get-away".  I don't do romantic but, even so, I reckon Amsterdam is as romantic a destination as either of the aforementioned places.  So what, you ask, is so romantic about Amsterdam?  Why would I prefer a weekend in that city to time in Paris or Venice?  Somehow or other - and please don't ask me why I say this - Amsterdam has a much cosier feel than the other two.  It's certainly smaller and less grandiose than Paris and the canals are less of a maze than those in Venice.  Indeed, I found it easy to get lost in Venice, but Amsterdam - at least in the city centre - is easy to get around.  For a start, all the main canals form arcs of concentric circles although the centre is an island filled less than romantically with the city's railway station.  Moving outwards from the centre, the canals are (and I'm doing this from memory so don't take it as gospel) the King's, the Prince's, the Barons' and the Merchants'.  But strolling along any of them after dark is, I suggest, far more romantic than strolling along the banks of the Seine in Paris or wandering the back streets of Venice.  But there's more to Amsterdam than the canals.

Firstly, there is the famous red light district - a must for any tourist - and I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that the working girls, wearing very little,  are to be seen sitting in lighted windows.  During the day, the city is always lively and bustling, with trams and cycles going in all sorts of directions.  But it feels a friendly sort of bustle, possible helped by the fact that nearly everybody speaks English as well as I do.  There is a great café culture and plenty of good, reasonably priced eating places.  Other tourist-type attractions include diamond cutters' workshops and the Anne Franck museum.  Top of the list, though, must be the Rijksmuseum, the Dutch national museum, with its superb collection of art from the Dutch Golden Age, including Rembrandt's Night Watch, which I think far more impressive than the Mona Lisa..

Perhaps the Chubby Chatterbox could talk us into this picture?