Cycling in Ghent

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Well, the weather was cooperative today and we were able to get a 3 hour bike ride in. We rented our bikes from the city center and that was one of the highlights of the day. You see, there is an art exhibit currently at the city center, that consists of a bell that rings every 9 seconds. between 10 AM and 4 PM - one gong for every person living in Ghent. Residents had the option of sending their name in to be displayed when the bell tolls for them, or the display reads "anonymous". We had wondered what the deal was with the bell that rings all of the time - and yesterday we only saw anonymous - so I thought the town bell had been hacked. Turns out that most residents of Ghent did not want their names shown, and the consensus is that everyone wishes the bell would stop. But art is art - except this is also a math problem of how long it takes to ring a bell between 10am and 4 pm, 9 seconds apart for about 280,000 people ... and the math says the bell rings for 4 more weeks. This is causing Peter at the bike rental shop directly under the bell some level of distress. He has accidentally unplugged the bell before,and gave us accurate instructions on how we could also unplug the bell. I was game, but Dave said we shouldn't ..and so the bell tolls on and on and on.



The bike ride was a huge success. We found the path we were looking for, found what we wanted to see, and most importantly found our way back to the rental station by the tolling bell. The bikes were heavy city bikes and the wind was blowing - good practice for our upcoming cycle through tulip country. The cycle path system is amazing ... We were everywhere and there was always a bike path that was marked for us and cars don't harass bikers. The only transportation thing that gets precedence over a bike is a pedestrian. We were a little concerned riding over the tram tracks, that have rails that look like a cycle tire trap waiting to happen ...but we were careful and had no issues with getting our tires stuck.



When we stopped for lunch at a park there were 4 chicken running in and out of the evergreens. We assumed the were "free range park chickens" as we were in the middle of the city with no chicken coops in sight.



We ran into a fellow Iowa Hawkeye and her family this morning at Starbucks while we were waiting out the rain. Her husband is in the Army stationed in Germany and they were on spring break.

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Photos

City Bikes
I called them "The Beasts". Super functional, super heavy, but with gearing suited for heavy winds.

For Andy
We think this means no bicycles ....

Lunch in the Park
With the chickens