Albert traveled from New Zealand and met me in Australia where we flew Thai Airlines to Munich where we met up with Hector and my brother John. We arrived early morning in Munich and were lucky to get plenty of sleep on the flight from Bangkok to Munich.IMG_2167

To avoid jet lag, switch your watch to the destination time zone when you leave home or even a day before if possible. We stayed awake during the Munich day time and slept during Munich night arriving in Munich with not too much jet lag.

SurferMunich, the capital of Bavaria, is home to centuries-old buildings and numerous museums. The city is known for its annual Oktoberfest celebration and cavernous beer halls, including the famed Hofbräuhaus, founded in 1589. In the walkable Old Town, Marienplatz is a central square containing landmarks such as Gothic Neues Rathaus (town hall), with a popular glockenspiel show.

In Munich we collected the bikes and parked up at my brother John’s place for a tour of the tourist sights and beer gardens. I had heard Munich was a boring city but on our way to the Chinese beer garden brother John showed us the green space in the center of the city where people surf on the river and sunbathe in the park. We saw the several historic building and status.

IMG_2138Beer gardens in Munich are amazing places where hundreds of locals bring the whole family with picnic baskets to enjoy the sunshine and beer. You can bring your own food or buy huge pretzels, pork knuckles, spare ribs, fried fish, half chickens and pommies (fries). Jet lag was quickly cured with a few afternoon Steins of local beer in the beer gardens.

Don’t plan to collect your bike the day you arrive. We would have been better off collecting the bikes the day after we arrived when we were ready to travel.