Public bikes

The Villo shared bike system in Brussels is easy to use, and you see lots of men biking around the Parliament in suits, ties flying over their shoulders. On a nice day there were lines at the rental kiosks.

You need a bank card with a chip in it to use the system, meaning normal US credit/debit cards don't work. My couchsurfing host used his card to help me buy a one-day pass for 1.50 Euro, ($2). I paid the maximum fee of 6 Euro ($8.50) to keep it all day.

The bikes are the same ones they use in Paris. They are comfy to ride, with shock absorbers that make the cobbled streets more bearable. They are quite heavy, though, and in spite of having seven gears, the hills are slow going.

While the stations are located about 500 m apart in the city center, they are a bit difficult to find, making returning the bikes an issue. There is no map on the bikes themselves, and some bike rental kiosks have a map, but not all.