Cyklar Överallt (Bikes everywhere!)

When you first arrive at the Uppsala train station. You would think you had arrived in Amsterdam. There are bikes everywhere. Literally, 1000 people must park their bikes there at a time. I have yet to ride my bike to the train station because I worry about finding a parking spot for my bike :) It no wonder that bikes are so prevalent in Sweden, they provide awesome bike paths throughout the city and the countryside so its easy to bike around town without having to compete with cars.

It is an interesting culture - the bike culture - in Uppsala. First of all, since a lot of people living here are students, a bike is very useful because its a cheap form of transportation. You'll see girls riding their bikes to university in the shortest of skirts/shirts. You'll see a mob of cyclists travelling to the pub/bar together (although technically its illegal to ride your bike while drunk). But its not students alone who ride bikes. Older people are peddling along. People ride their bikes to work and people ride with their kids strapped to the back seat.

Uppsala is not very hilly, so most people ride a city bike. What's a city bike you might ask? Well, I happen to have recently purchased my very own city bike, so I will include some pictures (are you happy Dad?). The main features of a city bike, are a low cross bar, handles that curve towards you (so you don't end up with a sore back), a light on the front usually powered by friction from the front wheel, foot brakes - sometimes one hand brake, and only three gears.

Here are a few shots of my new bike!


Just to fill you in on what's been going on in our lives...we finally found an apartment. We are able to rent it until the end of December, its no longer in the city centre so we'll have to ride our bikes or take the bus to town now, but its closer for B. to go to work so that's good!

We are heading to Italy, specifically the Chianti region, in just under a month to meet up with some friends from SK. We will be touring around with them to Montalcino and Siena and we're super excited to soak up some Tuscan rays!

Ciao E.