The road less traveled...

Ever since my husband and I were married (13 years ago) we've been a one car family.  It had it's challenges in the US, especially when we were both working.  I was very lucky that the job that I held in the US most recently was a few miles from my house and I rode my bike or walked most of the time.  I also had a bicycle trailer that I used to take my children to the YMCA sometimes.  In the US it was a pretty different choice, as most people just own their own car.  However, I only ever made one shopping trip by bike and any time I needed to make a large trip we did have a car.

Well not anymore!  I think in general (as most people know) Europe is more invested in public transportation and less invested in everyone driving everywhere.  While the Netherlands might be the most known for biking, I can assure you, it is very popular here in Göttingen as well.  I'm not so familiar with other German cities, so I can't speak to that, but this is a biking city.  It helps that the city of Göttingen is not so large, in fact, to get officially qualified as an Urban district (an area large enough to have it's own laws and local government) they have incorporated many surrounding towns to have a sufficient population, so it only takes about 5 minutes to go from one end of the downtown to the other by bike.

Bikes Parked at a Grocery Store

We didn't get bikes right away after moving.  For one thing it can take a while to scour ebay (they have a site here like craigslist) and such to find a good deal on a bike, for another when we first moved my daughter was only 6months old, and I really wanted her to be closer to a year before riding-bike helmets are heavy and they really need to have strong neck and stomach muscles to sit in either a bike seat or a trailer.  We walked everywhere, which was sometimes really nice, and other times pretty tedious.  When the kids started school last fall we really decided bikes were a must.  Their school is about 1 mile away and walking meant they had to leave themselves 30 minutes or so to make sure they would be on time, with a bike they only need to leave about 10 minutes before they need to be at school (the actual ride is only about 5 min but then they have time to lock their bikes and get to the schoolyard as well).  I still waited a few more months to get a bike since I didn't have much luck finding a nice used one I ended up buying a less expensive new bike.  At first some kind friends let me use a bike seat that fits right behind the rider, about a month ago though, my husbands frequent ebay checking finally paid off and we were able to buy a nice used trailer for a reasonable price.

My bike-with handy saddle bags for groceries and our baby trailer

The differences between biking in the US and biking here are stark.  The culture is just different.  It is expected that lots of people will be commuting by bike and so the roads are set up to protect cyclists.  Major streets generally incorporate a bike path into the sidewalks:

On streets without bike paths cars are more cautious and patient with cyclists, because most of them bike too!  In the middle of the city the main street is a walking only area, but most of the other streets are bike accessible.  In fact, many streets that are one way for cars are two-way for bikes.  You'll see a one way sign with one of these underneath:

I had a laugh while shopping a few weeks ago.  Had I seen this in the US I would have assumed there was a bike race taking place, but here, it's just a Thursday afternoon.

This street has paving stones that are not cemented in and when you ride your bike on it it sounds like horses feet clip-clopping.

I also had a laugh the other day as I rode in the rain, when I stood up I had so much water in my pants that it dumped into my boots like a bucket, but you know what, I wasn't stressed about it, I just laughed.  I knew no one I saw would judge me since they all have ridden in the rain too.

Train station bike parking

I have to say we really love the bike culture.  I find riding much less stressful than driving, plus it is so nice not to deal with the burden of car ownership (that is how it always felt to us) car loans, insurance, repairs, gas.  We have rented a car a few times when we took vacations where taking the train was either more expensive, or not ideal, but around town we just bike or walk, we have taken a bus on a few occasions as well.  It has also been great for our waistlines.  I'm actually a little worried that if we move back Stateside we'll gain a bunch of weight right away since our bodies are so used to having to walk and bike everywhere.

What do you think?  Do you wish the US was more bike friendly?  Would you ride a bike to work if it were more normalized?