Q2P

A surprising and unsightly sight on my first walk out here in Amsterdam.

Yes, those are what you think they are - 4-pack urinals for men. They are all over the city - apparently in an effort to keep guys from going just anywhere - especially when they're on their way home from partying at night. Men can indeed whip it out at a moment's notice and when they are standing on these, there's nothing that can be easily seen. There's another style that has been around permanently on many corners. The smell is another story. Since we're both getting over colds and it was cold out - not too bad for us. In summer? Ack! Women certainly can't whip out anything. A woman writer and filmmaker named Paromita Vohra in India recently produced a documentary called "Q2P" which examines some of the most basic gender inequalities - starting with who can just "go" anywhere they want and who must queue to pee.

The rest of the sights are all quite charming. On the edges of the canals - water serpents are carved.

Trams come and go constantly on the streets, right in the middle of the pedestrians. No barriers, no warning, just coming through. They are narrow and remind me (if you are a San Francisco person) of my old "N" "Judah" train home. That is if people had lined up on both sides and leaned against it and squished it skinny.

We've gone into various coffee shops for a cuppa. Some are quite cute and creative. All the spaces here seem narrow and tall. This shop decorated their poles with various spice pods, burlap, and cinnamon sticks to make it look like a tree.

There are few elevators - and those are mostly in the hotels. Here's the way to the restroom in the coffee shop. Yes, it's that steep with elongated triangular stairs. The handrail disappears on the right side toward the bottom.

A small sample of the many many narrow houses of flats - all slightly different. You can bet there are no 'vators.

The walls lean out into the street a bit by design - both in the front and on the sides if any are exposed at the end of the block.

Picture of horsie for sister Joan!

Many Buddhist signs of a Happy New Year.

We went to a Greek restaurant with a dolphin theme. On the napkins...

In the windows...

They had hanging lamps in plumb-bob shapes - one of my very favorite shapes.

Way to the restroom? Yep, here it is. Just enough room to open and shut a door to this staircase.
This is looking up at the 1.5 stories of very narrow stairs.

And the best thing - a picture of Greek women spinning on Ahka-type hand spindles.

Can't resist the color of beautiful fruit. Even if I'm not sure what the fruit is.

A big thanks to Natasha for enlightening me that all those pretty-colored winter shrubs outside the hotel in Frankfurt are different heathers!

There are different figures, but a set of the most common is that there are 700,000 people in Amsterdam, and 600,000 bicycles. Seems everyone is riding one. Most of them are the Opa or Oma-style bikes (grampa or grandma) that have a long swooping brace in the middle like a "girl's" bike - whether ridden by men or women. They mostly have the old pedal brakes, handlebars adjusted very high so you can ride upright with a straight back, and no speeds. Amsterdam is totally flat so they don't need much in the way of extras. People buy locks that are huge to keep them from getting stolen - but then often ride with them draped on the handlebars and leave them there and just lean the bikes rather than locking up.

There is an epic picture story here that's worth looking at - it shows all of the typical styles and riders. No one is wearing a helmet – in fact no one is wearing a hat, Riding upright doubtlessly offers much more wind resistance and therefore chilliness on the bikes in cold weather, but no hats - even though they’re bundled up in a thick coat or jacket and always have a knitted scarf and glove. No “hat hair” in the entire city! We’ve apparently been cheating ourselves in America on scarf length. Everyone I’ve seen in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands wears their scarf in that length-gobbling style of folding it in half, bringing the fold around to the front, and pulling the two loose ends through the fold. It’s a very chic look and very warm – but if you have a “regular-length” scarf – there’s little left over once you pull the ends through. Here, not only are the scarves plenty long worn that way, they are so long while people ride their bikes that I picture sudden deaths akin to Isadora Duncan death-by-Bugatti. People take toddlers on the back of bikes on little tiny seats - or groups of toddlers on bikes with a barrow in front as show below. If the children are old enough for their own bikes, the parent will often ride next to them through the city with one hand on their shoulder to link up and guide.

Women are ALL wearing leather boots, either with jeans, slacks, or short skirts and tights. A scarf and a long or short wool coat completes the ensemble. Their purses, tote bags and shopping all hang on the end of the bike handlebards.

At the Pancake Bakery, were were surprised to find Paris Hilton on the menu - with her own pancake - with bananas and Nutella. I could eat buckets of Nutella.

Way to the loo? Yep, again...

So all ye with weak bladders, bad knees and bad backs - keep ye from Amsterdam. It is not a place for the gimpy, aged or disabled to get around easily.