City Life

Ferrara is very small city with a very large history. The family that ruled Ferrara for hundreds of years was the Este family. Ferrara is also known as the City of Estense, because of their influence. This Este family had city walls built around Ferrara to protect themselves against other powerful Italian familes and against the Lombards during the middle ages. Over time, these walls have crumbled and lost sections due to wars and bombing, but for the most part they remain intact. I discovered one section of the wall one day when I went exploring. The wall goes from being about ten feet tall to over fifty in other sections. I tried to climb it...as the picture shows, but now I know why they were so effective against German warriors...
Another aspect of Ferrara is the bikes. For every person in Ferrara, there are 2.3 bikes. This city is know as the city of bikes (Citta di bici). Bikes are a hot commodity here and you HAVE to lock your bike everytime you leave it. Most of the time, a group of us will lock them together. You have to learn very quickly how to navigate narrow, cobblestoned streets and not die in the process. People in their cars will swing their doors wide open and completely knock you off your bike. While this has yet to happen to me...I did run into a wall. It was raining and I was darting out of the way of an incoming car and the tires just slipped out from under me, to the left. My head landed on the wall beside me. hahaha Ever since, I have been very aware of walls and cars around me. I just know now that I will forever appreciate our wide bike lanes in the U.S. But at the same time, I'll never get that same rush of adrenaline riding down a busy, Italian street, praying the whole way I won't die.
The pics are of me and a friend's bikes (mine is the blue) and me attempting to climb the city walls.