Munich: ice skating in the English Garden and other fun places
The best part about the crazy cold spell we’ve been having is all the natural ice skating opportunities that came with it.
So much frozen water, just begging me to glide around on top of it. How could I say no?
The other day we went for a spin around the Kleinhesseloher See, a lake in the middle of the English Garden (Munich’s gigantic urban park). A couple inches of snow covered the ice, but skaters who came before us had cleared off various-sized areas all over the lake, leaving us a variety of private rinks to choose from.
Paths were cleared connecting various parts of the lake, allowing us to skate in circles around the two islands.
Technically, skating on the Kleinhesseloher See is verboten, but in a very un-German fashion, the ban is never enforced. Lucky for us.
The relative emptiness of the lake comes in stark contrast to the officially-sanctioned skating on canals at Nymphenburg Palace, which is equally picturesque but usually quite crowded. One can find out whether the ice is hard enough for skaters (and make reservations for Eisstockschiessen, the funny curling-like game played on the canals) here.
