Bike Ballet

Everyone here  (in Parma) rides bikes.  The streets really have few cars.  Women dressed in their Passigiata best peddle by (notice the 4 inch pumps on the woman in the picture below).  Old men you would think couldn’t walk peddle by.  Little kids ride the cobblestones.  It’s very pleasant and, well, different from home. 

There’s a sort of ballet that takes place between bikers, walkers and cars.  The key is don’t change pace or direction suddenly.  Everyone sort of anticipates the moves of the other and as long as you don’t do something unexpected (like try and swerve out of the way) it all works smoothly.  Takes some getting used to (you need to build up your nerve to join the dance) but once you do it seems to all work very fluidly.

John and Kathleen – you’d love this.  There are hundreds of miles of bike trails that take you from the cheese and ham producers through the countryside right to downtown.