Hoo boy. I dreaded today. Now those of you who know me really well would know that I can’t ride a bicycle (though I ride motorbikes, but that’s different, I suppose). Or at least, I haven’t tried since I was four. But what the hell, I am in a new world (though technically and historically, it is the Old World…) and I thought I’d try.

Fortune favours the bold, yeah?

Although when I first saw the size of those bikes, I nearly backed off but Mike Stone convinced me to try. Suddenly, he pushed me from behind and off I went into the streets!

Surprisingly, I only fell once, the first time, and that only because I was trying to avoid a black BMW (they’re like ants here, all over the place!), which was utterly pointless. Partly cos unlike in Malaysia, the pedestrians and cyclists here are kings, and the motorists avoid them at all costs.

That and the damned car was parked.

After that shaky start, I got the hang of it pretty quick (though being a motorcyclist first, I kept feeling for the gears at my left foot!).

We went on a bike tour through the city center (Marienplatz – a large tourist & shopping district with Gothic buildings and everything else, Odeonsplatz – where you can find huge Rathause (town halls, not rat houses) and churches and the Englischer Garten (the English Gardens, which has got to be the largest garden in the world, filled with biergartens, cycling paths, nude sunbathing spots, etc).

It helped a lot that the guide (who’s American, but thankfully, not another Mike, despite the name of the firm) was hilarious.

It also salved my ego somewhat when the next accident involving bicycles did not involve me. Just to be sure, I did not laugh, merely gave my thanks for small mercies.

Malaysians drive too much (perhaps cos the petrol is so cheap). The feeling of riding through the town filled with old architecture and the English Gardens on a chilly late summer afternoon is unimaginably magnificent.