AN and I spent some time exploring the world-famous Englischer Garden, the almost 4 square km English garden park that starts in Munich’s city centre. It’s a lovely green space in the middle of a densely urban area. Though lovely, the park itself looks like parks all over the Northern Hemisphere. It kind of reminded me of Forest Park in St. Louis actually.

But then we encountered something we did not expect to see: surfers! Apparently people come from all over the world to surf the continuous wave created by an artificial stream that flows through the Englischer Garden. There were probably 20 surfers there the day we were, and it was fascinating to watch.

I imagine in terms of practice, a setup like this is perfect since you don’t have to paddle out or swim back. You just step to the edge of the stream and hop in. The surfers took turns, each one voluntarily (usually) wiping out so the next guy could try.

It did look pretty cold, though all of the surfers were wearing wet suits. It must be swamped in summer though.

Title quote: “Surfin’ Safari” by the Beach Boys