walking and rollerblading citizens. Now, many years after it should have done, Britain is following suit. Last Sunday an estimated 85,000 people took part in London's Sky Ride, along closed city streets, joining others in Manchester last month, Birmingham next Sunday and other towns and cities too. The draw is not just communal exercise, but a chance to see a changed city, quieter, on a human rather than a mechanical scale. Something of the same feeling follows a heavy snowfall, for a few hours before the stuff turns to unpleasant grey slush, or a big city marathon. Normal routines are disrupted; people talk; cars are held back; cities look different. There is pleasure in such unexpected shared experiences, an engagingly different taste of urban life without the need to travel away from it. Each August in Paris the expressway along the River Seine is buried beneath 1,357 tonnes of sand and handed over to the public as a beach, though the river itself is judged, sadly, too dirty for swimming. Given British summer weather, a beach might fail on the Embankment or Princes Street. But the success of Sky Ride shows people want to cycle. For a time, at least, the car does not always have to come first in the city.

TravelTravel insiders: Don't stop the carnival Carnival in Rio de Janeiro (Pic:AP) What better way to lift the spirits after a grey and dreary January than to join the party at one of February's raft of carnivals.Flower power rules at the Nice Carnival when the town's streets are strewn with c [ ... ]

FootballCroatia seeking a lift as Romania await If the mood in Croatia is slightly downcast following a third-place finish in this month's men's continental handball finals, the country's futsal side, as hosts, can provide the perfect pick-me-up with victory in their UEFA Futsal EURO 2012 Group A  [ ... ]

source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/07/in-praise-of-traffic-free-cities

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