Even in the heat with the cassock through the city © Francisco Osorio via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) (private)
A "Sahara outbreak" is pushing temperatures toward the 40-degree mark and putting sweat on people's foreheads. Extreme conditions for weathermen and weather-sensitive people. The summer has just begun.
Damn hot here. High Ulla continues to keep temperatures in Germany at record levels. According to forecasts, the 40-degree mark could be cracked this Wednesday – before it is expected to cool down again somewhat in the coming week. The monkey heat makes man and animal to create. Seniors in particular should make sure to drink regularly and more than they are used to, Barmer reported. The substitute insurance company activated a hotline at the beginning of the week that gives callers tips on how to deal with the tropical weather.
Meanwhile, the Kommern open-air museum, located in the Eifel region, canceled its "With Horse and Ox" event planned for the weekend. It is simply too hot for agricultural work with museum animals, they said. Shade wanted – only where? Swimming lakes and outdoor pools are the first things that come to mind. A walk in the woods would also be a good idea.
"There is a high risk of forest fires"
Not however, if it goes after FDP agrarian expert Karlheinz buses. "The forests in Germany are extremely dry, especially in Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony. There is the highest risk of forest fires," the member of the Bundestag told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland and called for a temporary ban on entry.
On hot days, the all-time classics for cooling off include churches and the tombs of famous personalities. Always hotly traded: the Hohenzollern crypt under the Protestant cathedral in Berlin. Pleasant temperatures also prevail in Cologne Cathedral, with 22.2 degrees on Tuesday afternoon almost certainly one of the coolest places in North Rhine-Westphalia. Summer-clad visitors are handed colorful scarves by the Cathedral Swiss to cover themselves appropriately in the house of God.
In the south of the republic, a visit to what is believed to be Germany's highest monastery beckons. At the Franciscan monastery in Siegsdorf in the district of Traunstein, at an altitude of 832 meters above sea level, it's easy to get along – especially since the "balcony of the Chiemgau" is also home to a monastery inn with acknowledged good cuisine.
It's all a question of dress code
Of course, only those who don't have to go to work can enjoy all this. Office workers, on the other hand, are faced with the anxious question of what to wear – and what not to wear. "While one expects from the Surf teacher and the service forces of a beach bar formally informal like Flipflops, applies to insurance representatives, bank employees and attorneys rather the opposite , knows Moritz baron Knigge. The expert adds, however, that heat waves are now easier to bear because "Birkenstocks are on the rise and ties are on the retreat".
Praise and thanks be to the "Jesus slipper". But the matter of the dress code remains complicated, and is worth two stories to the style magazine "Spiegel" these days. On Spiegel Online you can read a philippic against flip-flops, the "thongs for the feet. The print edition celebrates the sandal for the lady as salvation from wearing painful high heels. "The equality of the sexes is also reflected in the height of the heels."
Lighter colors and thinner fabrics in the monastery
Even religious are concerned, as Sister Praxedis, Superior General of the Augustinian Sisters of Neuss, recounts. In high temperatures, she and her fellow sisters resort to a gray or white habit that is "a bit thinner". Pity those who work in the kitchen – and sweat. The heat doesn't even stop at monastery walls. Light meals, salads and cold soups are on the menu, says Sister Praxedis. "And on Sundays we have ice cream!"
The only place you're likely to encounter freezing contemporaries at the moment is at the ongoing UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany. Rooms at the World Conference Center are cooled down to a perceived 18 degrees, attendees report – as the first heat wave of the year reignites the debate over climate change and its consequences.