I'm "two tyred"...

I now have wheels, folks!! Now don't get excited: I didn't indulge in a BMW 350i or a cute 2-door citroen, but instead, a three speed danish style pedal pusher with fenders, one headlamp and a rack in back for panniers (or an 8 year old too lazy to walk or run to keep up with MOM) !

We went to the annual event celebrating car-free day and bought bikes for each of M. and I. For mine, I spent 100 Euro, and M about 150, but these are very sale-able bicycles and when (if?) we leave, we'll be able to recoup some of our expenses by reselling them in a similar event or market that happens weekly.

Today was great weather...locals tell me this is more like the September weather they are used to...sunny, fresh and high about 23 degrees. We got out of the house around 10:00 a.m. and went right to the Place Wiener where our local weekly market was taking place (cheeses, flowers, fish, meat and sausages of every kind, fruits and veg, jeans or children's clothes, wine by the glass, roasted chickens, quiches, and bread sellers cheek-by-jowl filling the market square with sights, smells, tastes and sounds unique to European markets.

Right along side of this was the bike reseller, the info booth giving prizes for correct answers to bike related traffic questions, a walking brass "gypsy" type ensemble with brazilian, mexican and home made (bike wheel rim) percussion instruments and a bike "traffic village" set up for the kids to try their skills with navigating turns, lights, and traffic circles (I kid you not) and trampolines for the kids to use for free. It was a superb day, and at noon we made a picnic from the market's wares and played on the well outfitted playground adjacent to the square. There were hundreds of people there, maybe thousands, so we really felt like we had joined an occasion.

What was the nicest thing about the day was the lack of vehicles -- on the roads, in the neigbourhood, or trying to navigate through the crowds. Once a year, Brussels shuts down all roads within the city to all but self-propelled personal wheels, public transport, taxis and emergency vehicles, so there was a party in every normally busy street we saw, as the rollerbladers, cyclists, skateboarders were using as much of the lanes as they wanted--to top it off, it was gloriously quiet, too!