When I moved to Munich, Germany in 2016, I had experienced enough northern hemisphere winters to know that they are just a little bit different to the winters we experience in Sydney, Australia. It didn't prepare me for the harsh reality of the fact that stepping outside of my building each morning meant I had to contend with the possibility of death.
I see nothing but a black-and-white image as I squint across the wide field. Trees in the distance as bare as my freshly diminished will to live. Dogs frolicked freely, even swimming, as if they aren't about to turn into winter statues. Crows jump around and scavenge for food in the grass, hidden by a nicely laid layer of snow.
I grew up in a fairly rural part of Sydney. Bush land surrounds my home which is made of wood, so effectively it is a tinderbox. Each summer, bushfire season threatens our very existence, but precautions are taken to minimize the threat... now for the more obvious threats... Snakes - we have had a ton at our house. Brown Snakes and Red-Bellied Black Snakes are generally the most common, and also the most potentially deadly. My dad, brother and I, have dug up hundreds of Funnel-Web Spiders. Just google those. The female is the big one, and the most aggressive and it can pierce leather with its fangs. Its a brutal spider but it lives underground so you mostly do not see them.
But this is all childs-play really. What is truly dangerous is a European winter. It physically hurts to breathe. My teeth ache in the blowing wind. But still I feel the need to walk out into the wide open landscape of the English Gardens in the middle of a grey, snowy, blowy, freezing, depths of hell sorta day. To this day I do not know why.
My eyes hurt. My fingers hurt. My mind hurts. My camera... It hurts. Everything hurts. Bring me back the unrelenting heat of summer. Please! I have delirious images of the beach flashing through my brain... but the beautiful beach is closed. It is a memory in the distance. It mocks my Southern-Hemispherical sensibilities.
I continue to wander through the English garden toward the distant buildings. I pretty much spent my summer drinking beers along the river, in a sea of people, in the rich-green landscape. These buildings are only a 10 minute walk. In my memory it was a battle for survival. And the crows watch on.
The Haus Der Kunst, a fittingly grey Nazi relic turned modern art museum was my goal. If was wandering aimlessly through this stretch of the park, I wouldn't be here to write this today.
I was headed to check out one of the more interesting galleries in the city. It was initially built as Nazi Germany's first structure... A huge propaganda piece. Now it is filled with modern art, adorned with the faces of Holocaust victims, and also surprisingly holds one of Munich's most famous clubs P1.
I left the gallery after hiding from the winter weather, and headed to the tram stop. It was there which I stopped. I was given the first ray of light that I might survive the winter after all. Not twenty meters away from the building were surfers casually taking turns on the Eisbach River Wave.
I had an epiphany. These people are more than happy to be int he water on a dreary (deadly in my mind) day like this day... Maybe I can survive my first German winter. I have been through three now, and am proud to say I can handle the heat... or lack thereof.
So with this positive energy, I head back the way I came through the expanse of the park. I enjoyed it just as much as I did on the way there!
DanedeBeau
If you want to see more river surfing, check out the video I made!
Mismatched Travel Diaries - Munich - Part 6 - Surf the River (A Video of the Surfers of Germany)
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Loved the post and all the photos. This dreary cold weather is just like Chicago in the winter. So glad it's summer now!
Summer is the only reprieve from the harsh winter... I only wish it lasted longer.
I know the pain of walking down the street in Chicago, mid-winter, in the thick, cold wind. It is much worse than even the windiest day in Munich so I consider myself lucky, ahah.
Thanks @imagendevoz Very much appreciated!
The wind when it comes off the lake in Chicago is brutal. Don't care what you are wearing, it's freakin cold. Sub zero with 30+ mile an hour winds with moisture from the lake...oh how I hate winters here.
But funny you say it's worse then Munich as I always picture the winters there as harsh. Never been, but it's what I had always pictured for some reason. Sure it's the documentaries talking about how cold it was during the winters for WW1 and 2 that got it in my head.
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Very awesome article. Big change of pace when you take that first breath a truly winter air and you think you're going to stop breathing because it's so cold. Keep up the great work
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You are very welcome :)
I miss the German winters. I miss seeing the change of seasons. The Munich surfers I also have pics of them doing it will it was snowing.
It is always a sight to see the surfers out in all types of bad weather. As for the seasons, the complete change through all four seasons is something we barely see in Aus, and it is a true eye opener. I enjoy it much more now, though.
I absolutely love this post and can appreciate winters like that. I grew up and lived in various COLD parts of Canada; it really is mind numbing :) I also absolutely love crows, so thank you for including that beauty in here as well.
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