After I finally made it to IRIS for the first time (man, was that just yesterday?), I learned that most employees bike to work. It's much less expensive than driving, more convenient than the bus, and it's good exercise. After running some errands in town today, I decided to bike out to IRIS. It was quite the adventure.
The presence of bike lanes on most streets is one of my favorite things about Europe, and let me tell you, Stavanger took it to the next level. There are bike paths literally everywhere, and at many intersections, the bike path dips below the street so cyclists can keep riding without having to wait for traffic. One of the streets I rode on today, Møllegata, must be only for bikes, because there were regularly-spaced concrete barriers to restrict the width of the street and make it more difficult for cars to pass. Rock on, Stavanger!
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| Seen from the along-fjord bike path |
Even though there were cars all around me in the city center, I felt completely safe. I think Norwegians are very courteous drivers. If you sit at any intersection and watch for a few minutes, you'll see drivers yielding to each other, navigating around each other, braking for pedestrians, and basically remaining excessively aware of traffic so that everyone gets their chance to pass through. I remember one instance where a car stalled out, and the driver had to stop in the middle of an intersection to re-start. Other cars just slowed down and gracefully went around. Nobody ever has to slam on their brakes and honk angrily; somehow, traffic just flows.
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| View out to the fjord from the bike path. |
Once I got out of the city center, I actually had a bit of a hard time sticking to the right path because their are bike paths leading everywhere - much more than I expected. I had a choice between the inland route and the fjord route, so I went along the water. Turns out this is the long way to go, and what should have been a 30-minute ride took me almost 2 hours because I was constantly stopping to check the map and take pictures. The fjord is gorgeous!
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| The last segment of the bike commute to IRIS. |
The very last segment of my bike commute to IRIS is along what amounts to a highway. As it turns out, there is a pedestrian path being built, but I doubt it will be finished by the time I have to leave here. I decided just to go for it and bike along the road because hey, everyone else survives. I was just fine the whole time, and as evidenced to the left here, I even felt safe enough to stop and take a picture. Yes, that is a farm on the left, and there are usually cows in the field. I'm learning that farms in Norway are placed wherever you can fit one. At times it feels random, but hey, it works!
Here's to a beautiful commute!
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