Couples queue for passion in car on stilts

Couples in Amsterdam are writing out their dreams of passion for the chance to spend a night in a small car fitted with a bed and hoisted up on poles.



For a free overnight stay, couples must write to the Italian artist who converted the hatchback, and explain their romantic intentions -- ranging from marriage proposals to re-enactments of teenaged backseat fumblings.

Federico D'Orazio said he removed the seats of the Opel Kadett, squeezed a double bed into it and placed it on four-metre (13 ft) high poles to provide a place for "real love" in a city famed for its sex trade.

"I tried to make a space for real love in a city where sex is dominant," said Federico D'Orazio. "You can have sex because it is a safe structure. It is shaking up very safely."

The car is not anywhere near Amsterdam's famous red light district -- where scantily clad prostitutes display their charms in the windows of brothels -- but it has received enough offers to be filled for six months. It is available until mid-October.

Dutch couple Hanne Hagenaars and Hans Bolscher said they recently spent a night in the car, although at one point a passer-by tried to climb in with them.

"In cars a lot of aggressiveness takes place so to invite people to make love in the car, I think it is really nice," said 45-year-old Hagenaars.