Life in Göttingen

Coming out of the Bahnhof, this is what you will see: hundreds of bicycles. Göttingen is a biking town. Here are the Fahrrad Rules.

You should be able to eat while riding, obviously smoke while riding, walk your dog while riding, and sometimes ride while holding an umbrella over your head. Riding with no hands is for grade-schoolers, but you should occasionally do this also while riding as fast as possible just to show up those kids. When you have your own baby or toddler, you have the only three options:

1. Get them their own tiny wooden bicycle (no tricycles, please!)
2. Get a bicycle with a baby seat on the back.
3. Hook a baby buggy to the back of your bicycle and leave your child in it while you run into the Bäckerei.

You always have right-of-way and you may ride with traffic, on the sidewalk, or in the bicycle lane, whichever suites your fancy. If pedestrians happen to be in your path, or heaven forbid walking in the red-painted bicycle lane, simply ring your bell at them a few times to indicate they ought to get the hell out of your way. Neither skirts nor high heels should stop you from riding your Fahrrad, and rain, wind and snow just make your journey more interesting. It is fashionable here to roll up your right pant leg up to the knee (so it doesn't catch in your bicycle chain or get dirty). Keep it rolled up all day long to show everyone you are a cool cyclist. It is only acceptable to retire from cycling when you can no longer walk without a cane.

And just for your viewing pleasure, here is the amazing albino duck Ben spotted in the Leine river (or 3-inch deep creek) near the stift.