Wow, what a crazy, hot week it has been! We got back from Greece on Sunday, but while we were away, a brutal heat wave had settled over much of Europe. Every day this week topped 100°F (38°C), and suddenly everyone I know was Googling, “What is a heat dome?”
I’ll spare you the meteorology lesson, but it’s basically the opposite of a polar vortex; a large dome of high pressure that traps hot air over an area. This is actually the second heat dome we’ve experienced this summer. The first arrived while our guests were here for Brooklyn’s graduation. Forecasters say it’s being fueled by a strong El Niño in the Pacific and that these heat domes are expected to keep returning throughout what is shaping up to be a very long summer.
People are really suffering across Europe. Yes, I know there are places in the world that get even hotter, but only about a quarter of homes here have air conditioning; and many of those systems aren’t designed to cool an entire house like they are in the U.S. There is nowhere to go to escape the heat!
The traditional German way of cooling your home is to open all the windows around 5 or 6 a.m. while it’s cool outside, then close everything, including the exterior shutters, to trap the cool air inside for the rest of the day. Normally, that works surprisingly well. This week, however, overnight temperatures never dropped below 80°F (27°C), so there simply wasn’t any cool air to let in. The consequences have been heartbreaking. Thousands of heat-related deaths have been reported across Europe, along with numerous drowning deaths as people seek relief by swimming in lakes, rivers, canals, and fountains, often under dangerous conditions.
You don’t realize how much you rely on air conditioning until there’s nowhere to escape the heat. Matt doesn’t have A/C at work except for one computer lab where he takes cooling breaks. Thankfully, my office has what may be the coldest air conditioning in the Stuttgart area, so I at least had somewhere to cool off during the day.
Even with three portable air conditioners in our house, we’ve struggled to keep up. Brooklyn’s unit even stopped working for a while, sending us into panic mode. We started shopping for a replacement only to discover that nearly every air conditioner in Europe was sold out. The earliest delivery we could find was two months away, and it would have cost over €1,000. Thankfully, hers decided to start working again before we had to make that purchase!
Despite the heat, life went on. I worked all week while Brooklyn and Ryan held down the fort at home on summer break. Wednesday evening, once the sun finally dipped below the horizon, we enjoyed wine with some neighbors on the terrace.
Friday was my day off, and I would have loved to take the kids hiking or do something outdoors, but it was simply too hot. Instead, we each claimed a spot in front of our own air conditioner and barely moved all day.
That evening, Matt, some friends, and I did a little bar crawl around Böblingen, stopping at a few places we’d never visited before. It was a fun excuse to stay out after the temperatures became somewhat bearable.
Saturday morning rewarded us with the chance to sleep in, although our plans to clean out the garage quickly disappeared once we felt the heat. In fact, Stuttgart Airport recorded its hottest temperature ever since weather records began there more than a century ago.
We spent most of the day camped in front of our air conditioners before finally venturing out around 8 p.m. to go on base for the garrison’s Independence Day celebration.
There was live music, fireworks, and a chance to catch up with friends before everyone came back to our house to finish the evening.
Sunday morning started early with a trip to the base hotel to say one last goodbye to a good friend, Betsy. She was one of the first people Beth introduced me to when we moved to Stuttgart five years ago, and over the years we’ve shared countless adventures together. From wandering Christmas markets to driving hundreds, maybe even thousands, of kilometers exploring hidden corners of Europe, she’s always been my go-to travel buddy whenever one of us came up with a crazy idea for a new destination.
I’ll miss having someone who was always willing to jump in the car with just a few hours’ notice and see where the road would take us. But, she and her family are moving back to Virginia so I know the adventures will continue when my family is back on the East Coast. We had a final coffee together before saying our final goodbyes.
By Sunday, all of us had reached our limit with the heat. After saying goodbye to Betsy, some friends joined us for a drive across the border into France to the man-made reservoir at Total Jump where the cooler water offered some much-needed relief.
The kids and the husbands spent the afternoon jumping into the water off the slides and launches, while the rest of us claimed the chairs, relaxed in the shade, and enjoyed a few drinks.
We ended the weekend the same way we’d spent most of the week; sitting in front of the air conditioning and eagerly waiting for the overnight cold front to arrive. And by “cold front,” I mean temperatures were finally expected to drop into the 60s. After a week like this, that sounded absolutely glorious.
Gilcrests Abroad 