{"id":4405,"date":"2013-02-23T20:38:21","date_gmt":"2013-02-23T20:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=4405"},"modified":"2015-09-17T10:49:00","modified_gmt":"2015-09-17T10:49:00","slug":"night-sledging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/night-sledging\/","title":{"rendered":"Night Sledging"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of the favourite memories of my youth involve sledging – at night. \u00a0 I remember on one occasion it started snowing around nine-ish.\u00a0\u00a0 We watched it fall from the warmth of the pub, and prayed that it settled.\u00a0\u00a0 And then when it did, we waited until closing time (to give time for the Dutch courage to work and the snow to build up a little), and made our way off into the night – heading towards the town’s steepest hill armed with borrowed drinks trays, carrier bags, and on one occasion a lilo (not sure where we got that from) as our make-shift toboggans.\u00a0\u00a0 And there by the orange glow of the street lights reflecting off the snow, we would sledge until the early hours of the next day, making the very most of it (in England, the snow doesn’t usually hang around for long)…\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Thinking back now, we probably woke half the neighbourhood with our “enthusiasm” for this particular obsession, and I will never know how there weren’t any major injuries apart from a broken arm on one major sledging expedition that I wasn’t a part of, and a mild concussion obtained by one of my oldest friend’s (although she would probably tell you now that it knocked some sense into her – I don’t think she sledged this particular hill again)!\u00a0 I do know that it was the best spontaneous fun though.<\/p>\n

Perhaps all of the best sledging is spontaneous? \u00a0 Making the most of a rare sunny day recently we did exactly that at Munich’s vast Olympia Park. \u00a0 Its hills are not for the feint-hearted mind you, there are not many gentle slopes to be had (I think you can even ski down a couple) and Small Boy found that his snow suit alone sufficed after he ditched his “school sledge” (a flat plastic affair we picked for the day as I didn’t fancy lugging the bigger sledges on the U-bahn) after one particularly fast run churned up the biggest snow cloud on his descent.\u00a0 The abominable snowman that greeted me when it arrived at the bottom was not a happy one, but once we dried him off with a (clean) hanky found in the depths of my bag, and picked the ice out of his eyebrows, he was soon back at the top again…\u00a0 The Eight Year old would have given the day a perfect 10 too had she not had a bit of a collision with a post at the bottom of one run – not serious thankfully, but one that dented her pride nonetheless (especially as her mean Mother and Grandmother found it highly amusing).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And once the serious runs were dealt, with we found a much smaller hill close to the train station.\u00a0 The Small People played happily for an hour and Mum and I topped up our vitamin D levels.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All of it good, healthy (and cheap!) fun…<\/p>\n

So should the mood take you while you’re staying in Munich, and you fancy a bit of winter sport without heading to the mountains, then grab a tray or the closest carrier bag, get on the U3 and head for Olympiazentrum…\u00a0 And if you don’t have time during the day?\u00a0 You know what to do…<\/p>\n

\"Emma<\/a><\/p>\n

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