We packed, and then went for a last walk in China, around the shopping area we had walked before but back a different way. We saw a couple of the volunteers at bus stops, noticed the deep gold colour outside the shops and saw 2 statues we hadn't noticed before near the rickshaw statue. One reminded us of the musicians we saw in the park yesterday. We then made sure we made the most of the buffet breakfast to set us up for a long day.

2 nice men helped Chris with her bag on the way down the stairs to the checkout desk . We also met the Christchurch couple who had just found they were going to be on the plane to Munich with us when they thought they were flying to Frankfurt! We saw them a couple more times that day. Even and Derek then took us to the airport and Even helped us through the checkin procedures. Our bags got booked through to Koln (Cologne) which was a bonus.

Beijing Airport was new for the Games It is the biggest in Asia and very well designed for foreigners. Arrows on the floor direct you to the domestic or international areas and signs are usually in English. The main terminal is designed to look like a dragon which obviously is a symbol of strength and power here. Another building resembles a turtle (for longevity). After boarding passes and departure cars were checked a subway type train took us to our terminal area. We then went through China immigration and security, where we both made the machines beep, so we each had to stand on steps and were carefully scanned with a hand scanner.

We then had a 10 hour flight to Munich, with 2 meals as well as snacks of noodles or cake being freely available. The seats were in pairs so that was good but Chris found it more cramped, especially when the seat in front was put back and she left the plane with very swollen feet. The flight was otherwise uneventful although JB nearly removed the shoes of the passenger behind when searching for his… .

At Munich we had a gate change and had another scan (Chris beeped again – hmmm) but otherwise got to the correct gate for the Koln flight OK. Once boarded we were told that we would be late into Koln because of the weather. This caused a 20 minute delay and was a concern because we were meant to be at the hotel as close to 8pm as we could as their desk is not manned 24 hours. However, customs in Koln was not even staffed (we were meant to have our luggage checked there) and we opted for a taxi rather than train, so got to the hotel before 8.30pm. We had emailed them ahead to say when we expected to arrive. Another guest actually let us in, We signed at reception and the owner (Marcus) helped us to get our rather heavy bags up 3 flights of stairs and we were in. Phew…….

After unpacking, we walked to the end of the street to a fast-food place for a plate of nuggets and chips – just enough food to see us through the night. We had a chat to the friendly young men running the place who told us a bit more about the area and talked about foot ball with John. (JB told them that NZ would win the World Cup – not!!!). Then we had an early night - well 10pm German time but it would have been 4am in China!! It has been a long day chasing the sun, but we have survived what promised to be one of our more challenging days.