Cornelia Brelowski: Heat tricks – on navigating Berlin’s hot summer days

TEXT: CORNELIA BRELOWSKI

The city in the summer heat is a strange cosmos living by its own rules. The first one, of course, is to slow down. Easily said for a visitor, who doesn’t have to find a way of squeezing the same usual workload into a sweltering day, probably while appeasing distressed kids and struggling to keep everyone hydrated. However, the rule of slowing down remains the most important one, and those many Berliners who for example stem from the Mediterranean region know it well and follow it instinctively.

Berlin is a city which in big parts still doesn’t offer the luxuries of air conditioning – which goes for schools, offices and other populated spaces alike. A fact not likely to change soon considering the exorbitantly risen energy costs since the attack on Ukraine. So, residents have to find their own ways of coping – and this leaves us with both sensible and wild ideas on how to fend off the repercussions of an overheated system – be it your own body, your flat, the workspace or the street itself. The latest trends are cooling towels which you can buy at the chemists, or cool packs in the handbag – those icy blocks usually found in plastic picnic hampers.

Gelato: cooling down the Italian way. Photo: Zed Can on Unsplash

And thus, during the latest heat wave, which was both unusually early and long, I found myself cycling home with a wet towel around my head to keep cool while navigating the usual chaos that is summer city traffic. Most challenging at this time of year are the so-called Sonntagsfahrer (Sunday drivers) – a term which covers anyone who’s suddenly out in traffic without knowing or caring about the most basic rules – including crazed teenagers crossing your path on an electric scooter in the wrong direction, preferably in pairs of two on one vehicle. So, please be aware that even while gallivanting through the city at a relaxed pace, you might still occasionally find yourself in considerable danger – amplified by the heat and all sorts of inappropriate hydration (yes, I’m speaking about the tourist on an e-bike who has just enjoyed five pints at the nearest beer garden).

Have a cool down at the museum. Photo: Michael Heise on Unsplash

Of course, there are multiple nice ways of circumventing the heat in the city, if time and purse allow. For instance, with a boat trip experiencing interesting sights from the calm of the water with a breeze in your hair and a nice, cool drink in front of you (very recommended). Or you can simply go and visit the most exciting of the current summer exhibitions, where you can cool down until the evening comes and entices you with one of those long Berlin summer nights, spent with a beer and a live band on the banks of the Spree River. And that’s when you realise again that you’re in the exact right place, unique in both its history and free-minded culture and open to everyone who seeks to spend some time outside the box, sweating or not.