Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Great Melt Down

As rains move in, all the ice that covered Munich and Bavaria seems to be melting away. The next few days call for temperatures right around freezing, but certainly not cold enough to re-freeze all the water ways. So for now, it looks to be the end of the Eisstockschiessen season for now. The sport, literally translated as Ice Stock shooting, is actually the Bavarian version of curling, and is played in Winter as well as summer. The sport is enormously popular in Germany and Austria, and actually was demonstrated at two Winter Olympic Games – in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936 and in Innsbruck in 1964. The sport has origin in 16th century Scandinavian and Dutch history, but today is better known around the world as the sport of curling.

3 comments:

Janet said...

Interesting! We aren't familiar with the sport of curling.

Hilda said...

I think I encountered the word in a book once so I've heard of curling, but I really have no idea what it's about. I can't even begin to make sense of your photo — are those things markers or the things you throw? why's water coming out of the ice? if it's beginning to melt, isn't it dangerous to be on it? But that's my limitation, not yours :)

Walker said...

Loved curling in the Olympics, talked about it till my wife said "enough!"