A bike capital where bikes may outnumber residents!
Martje Salje, also known as the tower keeper in Munster, click the link to learn about that story, was given a special bike this year from her mother.
This bike was designed by local Munster artist Stephan Quitmann, who according to Martje is famous for his unique, fantastic bicycles.
"Each and every one of them is specially designed for their buyer/owner. You can choose every little detail yourself (e.g. the color - I like turquoise/cyan best!) and Stephan lets you sit on a machine that measures your body, like length of the legs and angles of the arms and upper body and so on."
"The handlebars have leather and the ends and the lights are like parking lights that won’t go out when you’re like waiting at the red light in the darkness."
With this great endorsement, I decided to do a quick search for Mr. Quitmann. Had I know about him while I was in Münster I would surely have dropped in to take a look at his shop. His web site confirms he is a 'artist' with metal, leather and most important a fit for the rider of each individual bike.
Martje goes a step further:
She decided to ask people she meets to sign her bike and give it a one of a kind feature.
"It was the idea of Stephan Quitmann to let famous and special people sign their name on my bike, so it really is a project work-in-progress."
But why me?
"I was so impressed that you came all the way to Münster to visit my beautiful city and write about it and even took the time to climb 300 steps with me, so your signature is something that reminds me of an amiable, wonderful and interesting person :-)"
"Then there are some fantastic highly remarkable musicians whom i asked to please sign on my project-bike and I told them how I loved and admired their music.
One of them is Daniel Masuch, a Jazz pianist and composer, his works are on the Internet, e.g. on spotify as well."
One of them is Daniel Masuch, a Jazz pianist and composer, his works are on the Internet, e.g. on spotify as well."
While I was in Münster I learned a lot about bikes:
- there are more bikes than residents in Münster
- there is a free air 'station' in the middle of town if you need to inflate a tire
- there is a massive bike garage on the way to the train station, offering storage, rentals, washes and repairs
- there are bike RULE, right of ways, penalties for riding in violation of the rules, no drinking and biking
- Münster is the 'bike capital' of Germany....
- Bikes are also called 'Leeze"
- Münster has been awarded the Most bicycle friendly city in Germany, several times
I need to get back on a bike!
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| And here is my signature on this amazing bike, may it travel far and wide. |
This reminds me of the mid 1950's practice of having an autograph book and having friends sign your book. I suppose we lost the art of poems, drawings or sentiments when the year book replaced autograph books and then videos, FB and Twitter replaced all writing. .
At the same time did we also lose our imaginations? Can you ask someone to put a twitter comment in a 'book'? Would we receive a response?
Be sure to read more about Marje
