There were bicycles everywhere in Norway. Bikes that waited patient while their owners bartered for goods from antique dealers.
Bikes to rent for touring the town.
Bikes resting inside after transporting their owner safely to work.
Bikes in courtyards with decorated baskets.
No helmets or sensible shoes required for the street savy Bergen commuter.
Nor did we see special padded seats to absorb the shocks of the cobblestone streets.
We observed that age does not diminish the longing for that one perfect bike.
This is the bike I chose as mine. It had nothing to do with the brown paper wrapped packages in the basket or the fact that it was propped outside a bookstore.
It wasn't the packages IN the basket -- it was the basket itself! And the flowers. AND it was a purple bike! Who would not want that one?
Posted by: Rhonda | 07/14/2012 at 04:30 PM
Yes, it had to be the purple one! Wonderful tale.
Posted by: Leslie J. Moran | 07/14/2012 at 04:53 PM
Oh wow , yes the purple one, but then again all. Your photos are just wonderful along with the story. Just something special when you see bikes all around used. Thanks for sharing . Many memories flooding back of a time so happy in my youth.
Posted by: Marianne | 07/14/2012 at 05:13 PM
I must be the only person in the world who doesn't like the color purple, unless it's on a flower...I can't stand it otherwise. But I love it's compliment: yellow. But I love the idea of getting around on a bike. Where I live the traffic is horrendous and bikes have to share the road with cars & other vehicles...too scary for me. But I would feel safe if riding around that lovely little village with a decorated basket on my RED bike.
I do fondly remember my first bike I got for Xmas when I was 8...a lovely light green, had a bell and a basket...I rode the wheels off that thing.
Posted by: Joan Clarke | 07/14/2012 at 09:04 PM
Where the bleep was I while you were getting all these bike pics????
Posted by: Sister | 07/14/2012 at 10:34 PM
Had to laugh at Mary Ann's comment. I have a sister, too.
Posted by: Caroline | 07/15/2012 at 10:26 AM
THE perfect bike! Lavender is MY colour.
Sadly, I can't ride a bike so the basket remains a dream.
Posted by: Chrissy | 07/15/2012 at 12:30 PM
I know I should comment on the loveliness of this post, the romance only cobblestone and bikes can conjure when mixed together, but all I can think is racing down the hill between the two ladies.
Too big to be a boy, too immature to be a man...
this is my plight.
Posted by: Domenico | 07/15/2012 at 02:13 PM