Stockholm - March 2: Gamla Stan to Sodermalm (in which I rent a 3-speed bike)

After all this walking and looking at churches and other old buildings, 

I was ready for a break -- a bike ride! 

I had tried before to find a rental bike. There are a couple of bike shops not far from the hotel, and I stopped in and asked about renting a bike. They both told me they don't rent bike, just sell them. They said that in summer you can rent bikes on the street, but they didn't know where I could rent a bike now, in March.

I did some Googling and finally found Gamla Stans Cykel.

I highly recommend this place. 

For 100 kroner ($15) I walked out of the shop with a 3-speed bike, complete with basket and lock -- and coaster brakes. The $15.00 was for 2 hours, but if I ended up riding longer I would simply pay a little more. What a deal!

I had not ridden a bike with coaster brakes since I was about 10 or 11, so I was a bit nervous about that. But the guy at the shop was right; it didn't take long to get used to it. I did use the hand brake more, but the coaster brakes were okay, too.

I picked up a cycling map at the shop and planned to ride around this island -- Södermalm. There is a multi-use path that runs along the shore all around the island, so I thought I would aim for that. And I did -- aim for it, that is. Somehow, right from the start I got onto the wrong road and ended up riding on one of the main streets. There are bike lanes on that street, so it was okay, but I wanted to ride along the shore, so I turned and rode towards the shore, trying to find the path. I ended up riding around between the main street and the shore for quite some time before I finally stumbled on the right path.

The path along the shore was a bit muddy in spots, and I even saw a little ice and snow, but mostly it was in good shape. A lot of it was cobble-stoned, as you can see in the photos. 

I rode and rode...

and suddenly found myself standing on a lift bridge, looking down at a lock. Hmm, I thought, this doesn't look right. I pulled out my map. An elderly man was coming my way and seeing my map, he asked if I needed help. There are about seven or eight bridges connecting this island to other islands, and I wasn't sure which bridge I was standing on. The man kindly showed me where I was and where I wanted to be, so I backtracked, rode under the bridge instead of onto it, and continued around the island.

I could almost feel like I was at home in Edmonton, riding my bike in the River Valley, but then I came to this sign:

Shortly after this, it was back to Gamla Stan, where I got lost trying to find my way back to the bike shop. A quick word with a couple of young ladies working parking enforcement gave me the necessary guidance and I pulled up at the shop, where the clerk showed me the Hövding  Swedish inflatable bike helmet I had read about with my ESL students: 

It is rather heavy and I am not convinced it would be more comfortable than a traditional helmet, but I do think it's a clever idea and I was quite pleased to see it in real life.  

Unfortunately, this photo didn't turn out well, but maybe it gives an idea of what the bike shop looks like. If I can go back to Stockholm (maybe next spring) I will definitely make this place one of my first stops!