Surrounded by Mountains

The lifestyle of living in a city surrounded by mountains is fascinating to me.

Nature is not a big part of my upbringing in Malaysia and adulthood in London, while skiing is an expensive hobby that only my friends with the stable employments are able to afford. The most casual ski trip that I witnessed was in Oslo, where the slopes were a tram ride away (but hey, that was the Nordic countries).

So it took me a while to process the fact that Munich dwellers are able to hit the mountains to ski or snowboard in the morning and be back by dinner. I guess it is really not a biggie if the Alps are only an hour or two of drive away.

I also learnt that there are two seasons for Münchner (residents of Munich) – the biking season and the snow sports season. It would reach a certain time of the year where the bicycles and snow sports gears exchange places in the cellar, and people might say sorry to a end-of-season ski trip because, “I have now packed up my skis and polished my bike.”

The Alps aside, there are also many mountains and beautiful lakes that are around Munich within an hour’s drive, which means there is always time for a hike in the mountains throughout the year. In the first week of arriving in Munich in October, I already received not just one, but two invitations to join hiking trips happening in the same weekend.

Now at the tail end of my first year in Munich, I now own a pair of hiking boots which have seen a couple of hikes, and a bicycle that has taken me to sunny beer gardens nearby and afar (an hour bike ride away). Snow sports next?