Surf Munich

Before I left Singapore, whenever I told (especially) my Indian friends that I was moving to Munich, almost the first comment from many/most of these friends was: "Oh, but Munich is COOOOOLD." As if they could think of the below zero weather during the frigid winters here just by shutting their eyes and cringing and shivering.

In fact, Munich is not only cold in the winter, but it is also often cold during the summer. And rainy. Like now.

Nevertheless, the Germans are hearty folks, certainly not deterred by a little dip in the temperature. Like to 11 degrees. In the summer. They like to surf the Isar (river running through Munich) rain or shine.

Look at this brave soul. He and about 10 other guys were outfitted in wetsuits and doing rounds on this funky wave that exists because of some giant pipe or something at the bottom of the river bed which creates a constant wave right there. There's a few places in Munich where you can find people doing just this during the summer - diving into a point in the river where there's a wave, doing their best to stand up and surf for about 20 seconds, then letting the wave carry them backwards down the river while the next guy dives in. Then the guy that's gone backwards scrambles out of the river and runs back to wait in line to get back into the wave. Good training, I imagine, for the real thing.

Emily - you bringing your surfboard if you come here? :-)