One of the lessons I learned after moving to Brussels one year ago was that Europeans and Chinese often mean very different things when they say summer.
Back in China, summer usually means air conditioners humming almost everywhere, like in apartments, offices, shopping malls and even university dormitories. Here in Europe, however, summer often means opening the windows and praying for a breeze.
Most years, that strategy works. But that wasn't the case lately, as Western Europe experienced a record-breaking heat wave.
France recorded one of the hottest days in its history, with the national average temperature reaching around 30 degrees Celsius and many cities exceeding 40 C. Southern England saw its hottest June day in decades, while Spain continued to endure temperatures above 40 C.
Fountains, usually places where tourists stop briefly to take photographs, suddenly became public cooling centers. Children splashed in the water while adults sat along the edges, trying to catch every bit of mist drifting through the air. The cooling effect was limited, but it was free, and during a heat wave, that alone was enough to attract crowds.
