If you ever have an eight-hour layover in Munich, there are far more thrilling activities than sitting in the Lufthansa lounge sucking down German beer and eating shriveled bratwursts.

Mostly, there's the art. Munich is home to a number of incredible galleries, like the contemporary Kuntshalle der Hypo-Kulturstifung museum. Try saying that five times fast after stumbling off a transatlantic flight. Instead, we wandered generally around town until we found the Neue Pinakothek gallery... which my jet-lagged mind translates loosely as "New Pink."

Public transportation here, especially in German "Schickeria", is more science than art. Anywhere you go, you feel like you're walking through a life-size version of the Brave New World or Gattaca. The escalators slide just a little too quietly. The dark marble, stainless steel and glass are a tad too clean. It's unnatural! Humans do live here, right?

The S-bahn line 8 takes about 38 minutes and 16 euros (partner day pass) to get into town. Will and I struggled to stay awake until we got to Marienplatz. Snow made the Baroque town come to life, and I think the cold weather made us pay more attention. We visited the old town hall and stumbled around the streets, stopping to ask directions and warm ourselves in various stores and hotels until we got to New Pink museum.

The New Pink museum is a modern structure whose most salient feature is that it has none. From the palatial-sized entryway, sidehalls and stairways lead to colourfully-painted galleries. New Pink's collection is fantastic. I had no idea! There's the German masters like Kirchner, Beckmann and Beuys. And a very respectable assembly of Picassos, Matisses and even a Cézanne or two. The gallery was also full of interesting people. One dad took great pride in pointing out the masterpieces to his one-year old daughter. Whatever he was was whispering to her sure made her interested! She looked, and giggled, and pointed on her own.

Like the rest of Germany, time ran on schedule and soon caught up with us. We hopped on the U-Bahn at Königsplatz, changed to the S-Bahn at Hauptbahnhof and 1 hour later were gulping down slices of Bavarian meatloaf at the airport. No shriveled bratwurst for us.