Personally, I would prefer to wear comfortable shoes, but I must admit, being carried around by two burly men does seem attractive

No, I'd be smart and bring flat shoes of some kind with me.

That sounds very charming having two handsome men carrying you around the streets of Europe. Sign me up.

In Germany more and more women complain about these pedestal areas and say if they put down the centers of our cities to a medieval level, the planers should be forced to carry some weeks the sedan-chairs of the ladies. Of course it is not really serious but a lot of heels get broken each day and of lot women just get hurt. But indeed in medieval times sedan-chairs were a quite common privilege to women and the heels of the shoes of a lady were clearly showing that this was a lady who did not need her shoes for walking and that she could afford a sedan-chair. Using a sedan-chair the shoes of the ladies never got dirty and so in Europe sedan-chairs were still used until 1914 in many cities. Some people also say that the job of a sedan-chair porter would be quite easy and give jobs to many people. After my opinion there would be more than enough ladies who would accept this kind of service the same way as the ladies did in former times.

100% when i went on holls to portugal they had difficult paving that was not very stilleto friendly, its the price we pay for wearing nice shoes :( but the sudan chair carried by cute guys sounds like an excellent remedy :D

Talking about this topic to women I must admit that about 60 % would find such a service quite fascinating especially in cities for shorter distances. The younger ladies who seem to be more fashion-conscious were a little more for sedan-chairs and most ladies were proposing that this kind of duty could be a perfect replacement for boot-camps or convicts. This way the government would save a lot of money for prisons and other institutions and the convicts would make themselves useful to other people.

Having been to China I could see at every touristic point real masses of sedan-chairs which were offered to tourists. Most european ladies and girls were gratefully using these chairs and even the young chinese ladies wo worked as guides rode a sedan-chair as if it were a natural matter of course. The price for a whole day for 2 porters is only 10 USD and they carried the ladies really all day long. I for myself I wanted to walk on my own legs and after two hours marching over endless steps I was soaked by sweat wile the ladies sat well padded and softly in their chairs and could enjoy the trip up to the top of the hill. As it was hot that day, it was realy exhausting. Very few women and less girls were walking by their own legs. The chinese ladies guides told me that 10 USD per day is an extemely good income and so they said the portes were regarded in their villages as quite wealthy people and riding in a sedan-chair as in China especially by women an extreme long tradition. I did not see any lady or girl who had any reservations against a sedan-chair when they had look up to the top of the hill. So I think the women in Europe or the USA would not react much different.

It is everywhere the same in old cities. Series of women daily twist their ankles or break off their heels. The most male planners in the cities don't mind at all. Tho old look of a medieval city with a pavement from that time was made for heavy horse-drawn carriages but neither for cars of our times or modern stiletto shoes for women. But as long as the look is pitturesque the planners are content. An in addition the planners made everywhere very extended pedestrian zones to give the people the feeling of an old medieval atmosphere. In Dresden a series of shop owners in a pedestrian zone were offering sedan-chair transport to all women for free to get their mostly female clients into their shops. The offers were accepted by the ladies extremely enthusiastic and the shop-owners,barbers and owners of boutiques made new business. The idea was quite easy and the owners found enough young burly men who did that job all day long.

Well as somebody who frequently has to navigate the cobbles of Covent Garden (London) in heels - no I wouldn't. I may get a rickshaw on occasion but a sedan, definitely not. I just find it almost disrespectful to take advantage of the opportunity. Besides... there is a knack to walking on cobblestones!

I just remember at my trip to china that ist was quite inconvenient to me to have a conversation with the ladies in their sedan-chairs. They sat relaxed and comfortable in their sedans while I had to climb an endless series of steps up to the top of that mountain and so I was permanently a little bit out of breath while the ladies in their sedans were chatting and discussing. For me it was quite strenuous and arriving at the top of that hill or mountain the ladies were as relaxed as if there would have been nothing at all. And I was even surprised how fast the two porters were climbing up the steps. I had problems to keep their speed. But I think they have much more practice as I had.

Unfortunately this seems to be no topic for women although I see most of them "dancing" over teh cobble-stones with their stilettos.

Walking around downtown I hear each time women complaining about the bad cobblestones and often enough I watched women twisting their ankles or breaking off a heel. And I think 80 % of the women feel the same difficulties and almost all my girlfriends have lost during the year at least one or two heels of their boots or shoes. After my opinion the planers forgot about all women and living in Europe where the European commission is even regulating by law the curvature angle of bananas, things like that should be forbidden.