The Council of Europe presents BikeSurfBerlin

My God, it's full of flags!

BikeSurfBerlin was invited to present the project by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in early November, in a conference (Responding Together) seeking to raise awareness and encourage networking between various sharing projects throughout Europe. We were privileged to be invited and, ever eager to share our idea, we (Elly, Rachel, Olga, Patrick & Graham) took 14 hour's worth of cheap trains to reach Strasbourg. Deciding to CouchSurf with some fantastic hosts there, proved to be a wonderful chance to get an insight into the city from the very off.

That's real-time interpreting - impressive.

Bjorn (the BSB bear)! - You're famous!

All those flags at the Palais de'Europe, rigorous security and real-time international interpreters told us that BSB had gotten European recognition.

We spent two days at the conference, listening to representatives from other sharing initiatives discuss the importance and logistics of setting up their respective projects. We also had the opportunity to take centre stage and present BSB and its progress to date. The BSB scrapbook, containing photos and witty descriptions, was particularly enjoyed by the audience.

BikeSurfer waxes lyrical about BSB

(In response to a request for his opinion of the BSB experience for a newspaper article).

Hello D****,

I am from the world.

To arrive in a city and be the master of your own destiny, to arrive in a city and become better acquainted with the precipices and crevices of all the kiez, riding East to West across a city once home to the 20th century's most infamous garden hedge dispute all while sparing oneself of the cumbersome, extortionate degradation they call public transport; all this is priceless.
That a priceless service is without cost should not be regarded a coincidence. The widely held belief that remuneration is the inspiration for inspiration, that moolah means innovation, to my mind at least, is suspicious and I daresay when BikeSurf is successfuly rolled out around the world, those suspicions would go some way to being confirmed.

My real name is Tanzen Spinoza. Emeka is a stage name. I should like my real name to be attributed to any quotes. Should you want anymore, don't hesitate to get in touch. Good luck with the piece.

Immer mit liebe,

emeka *