Day 1: Munich, Germany

16 June 2010

We landed in Munich on the morning of the 16th. Piaw and I had packed our bikes in secondhand cardboard bike boxes, and both boxes had been knocked around enough that they had no structural integrity left. I took my bike out of the box (and tossed the box at the airport), figuring it would be easier to roll a bike onto public transit than to drag a box with a bike in it. My bike sustained no damage, although Piaw and Lisa's tandem had gotten its rear derailleur hanger bent.

The weather in Munich was rainy. Given that the forecast called for several more days of rain, we were not sure how we would proceed out of Munich. But it was pretty clear that following our original plan would be quite unpleasant.


Airport S-Bahn stop

We took the subway to Munich Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and made our way to our hotel, a few blocks away. We checked in and started to reassemble the bikes. Piaw and Lisa went to a local bike shop to get their derailleur hanger fixed, while I returned to the Hauptbahnhof for a breakfast of weisswurst (one of the things I'd been looking forward to most in Munich!) and some pastries.

Munich Hauptbahnhof
Vi Vadi Hotel
Weisswurst. Mmmm!

When I returned, I learned that Cynthia had, on the way from the train station to the hotel, set down her bag with all her cycling gear in it, and not picked it up again! Cynthia and Kekoa had already inquired, to no avail, at the train station lost and found, and at the local police station. Cynthia spent the rest of the day, as well as the following morning, attempting to buy replacement gear. (Unfortunately, in Germany, there is very little gear to be found that is correctly sized for Asian women.)


Pretzel sandwiches. I guess you can get pretzel anything in Bavaria.

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