My first bike

I have no idea if my first bike was a Schwinn, but I do remember my training wheels, and when my mother taught me how to ride. We lived in Westbury, Long Island at the time, in the late 50's and since my dad was out of town on business I convinced my mother to push me up and down the street in from on our house on Brompton drive until my balance took over and I was riding without being held upright. Like learning that you can float it was a seminal childhood experience.
Being 5 or 6 I suppose I never ventured too far with my bike, although I was allowed to go the candy/comic book store in the shopping center on Old Country Road at the entrance to our development. I loved the freedom and cruising through the neighborhood with my friends.

My life changed one night when my father came home and announced that we were moving to Rome, Italy. I was 7 years old. A small moving came just after my 8th birthday and loaded up all our belongings. We had sold our car and were going to fly overnight on a jet, a Boeing 707.

I'm not sure what happened to my bike, but when we moved into our new apartment in Rome a new bike appeared, and since our apartment didn't have our furniture in it yet, I could actually ride indoors as the living room dining room area was quite spacious. This began my love affair with bicycling in Italy.