Pets

One of the things I enjoy most about the countries I’ve been to in Europe is their seemingly relaxed attitudes toward a great deal of things that would bend a lot of Americans out of shape. I happened to arrive in the Netherlands for Pride Weekend.  All over Utrecht there were preparations for events that weekend including rainbow flags on the main cathedral

As well as cafes

I started to think about what preparations were happening in my hometown for Pride Weekend; not much.  On the ride back from the airport my dad asked me what the Dutch thought about our Supreme Courts rulings regarding same sex marriage.  I said, they didn’t seem to have much of an opinion one way or the other. To which he replied, “Yeah they tolerate a great many things because they’ve been around a lot longer.” Which reminded me of the Italian couple who sat across from me on my canal tour of Amsterdam with their bull terrier.  I mean, I just watched this couple bring their dog onto the boat, it wasn’t a working dog, it was just their dog.  I thought, “Awesome.”  Then I thought, “Would this happen in the States?”  Probably not, at least not without some sort of waiver, or muzzle, or something like that. Which made me think of all the ‘window pets’ I had been noticing.  (This post seems to become increasingly random.)  So I took photos of a few

I just really enjoyed randomly coming across critters in windows and store fronts.  Very generally speaking I remembered the same thing about Spain and Italy that people seemed to take their pets, mostly dogs, with them everywhere and often in places where we would not take them here in the US like restaurants, grocery stores and even museums.  Maybe this happens here and I just don’t notice it as much.  Again I just really appreciate the generally tolerant attitudes I’ve observed in the countries I’ve visited in Europe.

Nonviolent zone