Surfing in Bavaria

In Munich, there are a few places where the rivers form a surfable standing wave. The Eisbach, or “Ice Creek" is the most famous and trickiest to master. In the 1970s engineers placed stone near the Prinzregentenstrasse bridge to slow down the flow of the river. Surfers later placed plywood to enhance the effect. There is actually a surf contest there and as you can see, some of the surfers are pretty good, especially considering the live hundreds of kilometers from any ocean waves. For more detail and better pictures, check out Michael Scott Moore's slide show in The Atlantic.