I thought it would never come, but it's here. It's summer!
You really can't miss it when summer comes to Europe. I've spent the last few days walking around feeling like a glazed donut. There is almost no air conditioning. None at work, none at home, none on the public transportation, rarely in the stores.
You know that feeling when it is prickly hot and you are breaking out in a sweat just from walking around? And then the feeling when you open the door to your apartment or office and - whooosh! - you get that smack of cold air that instantly whisks away any drops of sweat? Don't come looking for that here. You won't find it.
I work in a sweat box and have learned already to time the opening and closing of windows and shutters to take advantage of morning coolness and evening breezes. When I leave work, I get on a tram that is really a toaster oven on tracks. Let's just say that sweaty people smell adds a special added touch to the experience.
I have every window in my apartment open and it hasn't been bad at night so far. I grew up without air conditioning so I have AC/free survival skills. There is one difference though. When I came out of the bedroom yesterday morning there was a bird feather on the living room floor. You see, they don't have screens here for the doors and windows. Nature can just walk or fly right in. I know, I pay a small fortune for this when it's a hut in Mexico, but I wonder how many extra inhabitants I have living here these days. Actually I think I'd rather not wonder.
Lest this sound whiney, I have to say that I'm enjoying having the summer back. I look forward to more trips to the lakes around Munich and BBQ's and seeing that there is still a tiny bit of light in the sky at 10:16 PM. I loved sitting outside last night watching the Germany/Poland game with 20 of my closest colleagues and seeing every bar up and down Barfusserplatz packed with people on the sidewalks, crowded around the TV's perched for the evening at regular intervals on the street.
Oh yeah, I got my kicktipp on the Germany game last night... and still lead the pool but only by one measly point. I was cheering louder than the Germans.
Posted From Basel
3 comments:
Time to break out the talcum powder! :D
Lack of screens is strange to me. Of course, we would be permanently swollen with bug bites if we didn't have them here!
The lack of screens struck me as odd too, but it's nice to have gigantic windows; it's like being able to open up an entire wall.
The screen thing took some getting used to at first, but it helps that there aren't that many mosquitoes (at least here in our neighborhood). In DC if we didn't have screens on the windows we'd be eaten alive.
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