Bologna is a fantastic city for biking around and I've been wanting one for awhile, but it seems like the bike goddess' were working against me. Since I'm just here for a short time and the only type of crime here is bike crime, I decided to get a used bike.
So a few weeks ago there was a bike auction....it was CRAZY!!!! The city takes all the 'abandoned' (stolen) bikes in the city and then auctions them off for 20 euros- some of these are great deals, others have no brakes and literally are falling apart, alot of old and funky ones. People ride them around and the announcer lady starts screaming numbers and whoever screams the loudest and gets the most attention wins the bike!!!! And you would think this would be right up my alley - but no the Italians scream louder than me! And it was a sweet reminder of SF, people were in bear costumes, banana outfits, crazy hats, wigs, horse balloons, some had painted their chests, with the announcer's name saying "Rita, give me a bike (in italian of course). There was even a joker!
I was not prepared for this, so all I had was an umbrella and screamed wildly, at one point I even climbed up on a friends' shoulders, who's 6'4 but no dice. This went on for 2 hours and I left empty-biked-handed.
I spent the following Saturday going all around bike shops, throughout Bologna, but they were all closed or not selling bikes. The bike shops, are open in the afternoon, I think because they steal the bikes at night, and then spend the morning "fixing them up"
So I tried one more time and found this little shop with used bikes, and even though others were in better shape and more practical, I could not resist the bright red bike, with the basket and silver light. As I pedaled home happy with my negotiating skills in Italian and y new shiny bike, I thought there was an odor. When I got home and saw that my hands were now shiny red and silver, I realized the pain hadn't quite dried yet - this was definitely stolen last night!! But as soon as the paint dries, I will be very happily pedaling around :)
