Alley may be paved, or unpaved, and a blind alley is a cul-de-sac. Modern urban developments may also provide a service road to allow for waste collection, or rear access for fire engines and parking. Because of geography, steps (stairs) are the predominant form of alley in hilly cities and towns. This includes Quebec City in Canada and in the United States Pittsburgh (see Steps of Pittsburgh), Cincinnati (see Steps of Cincinnati), Minneapolis, Seattle, and San Francisco as well as Hong Kong, Genoa and Rome. Some alleys are roofed because they are within buildings, such as the traboules of Lyon, or
The Blind Leading the Blind the six blind men: to accomplish a realistic portrayal, Bruegel repeatedly has the men cross a bridge and fall into a creek in midwinter until their expressions achieve the desolation Bruegel believes represents the human condition. A 1987 historical novel "Bruegel, or the Workshop of Dreams" by has Bruegel painting the blind out of fear of losing his own eyesight. French comics artist F'murr's comic strip "Les Aveugles" (1991) was directly inspired by Bruegel's painting "The Blind Leading the Blind". "The Blind Leading the Blind" and "The Misanthrope" were discovered in the collection of the Count Giovanni Battista Masi of