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CULTURE

Eight signs summer has arrived in Germany

How do we know summer has arrived in Germany? In addition to temperatures reaching over 30C on Thursday, we're seeing more lake-goers and sold-out fans - among these other signs.

Published: 19 June 2019 15:11 CEST
Updated: 8 June 2023 14:48 CEST
People bathing
Two people bathe in the Schwarzachtalsee in Ertingen, Baden-Württemberg on Thursday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Thomas Warnack

Shops sell out of fans

When temperatures rise to the late 20s and 30s, as they are this week, Germany gets sticky. That’s because of the heat, but it’s also exasperated by the lack of air conditioning in many public places.

Apart from the odd shop or modern office, it’s quite difficult to get a blast of cool air as the mercury rises.

READ ALSO: Germany set for first heatwave of 2023 as temperatures soar to 30C

And don’t even mention public transport, especially the U-Bahn, which has already transformed into a sea of body odour and it’s only June. 

Those who’ve had enough of waking up drenched in their own sweat every morning will probably head to a shop with the aim of buying a cooling fan, only to find that it’s impossible to find one. 

In previous heatwaves, fans of all shapes and sizes sold out in stores across Germany. Our advice: purchase one on the next cooler day so you can be smug when the heat creeps up again.

Failing that, write a reminder in your diary to pick one up in winter when there’s sure to be a large supply, and hold onto it for dear life for all future German heatwaves. 

Germans head to the lakes

A bather wearing sandals at a lake in southern Germany. Photo: dpa | Thomas Warnack

The Germans are generally big fans of the outdoors all year round and now that sunnier days are here they will flock in huge numbers to the many lakes or outdoor pools in the country. 

The best way to do it is figure out your route in advance – as some lakes require careful public transport planning, pack a picnic and lots of liquid (no, beer doesn’t really count. We mean water!)

Plus, don’t forget your sunscreen and take care when swimming in water. 

It’s also worth nothing that beaches can be very busy at this time of year. Still, we would thoroughly recommend making the most of the awesome water spots across the country, from Bavaria to Brandenburg.

READ ALSO: Living in Germany: Making the most of culture and lake life

People get naked

Oh Germany, we really know it’s summer when you get your kit off.

Don’t be surprised when you get to the lake to find that some people are wearing absolutely nothing. 

Germany has a tolerance of and, in some cases, a fondness for being “textile free.” Whether it’s one of the country’s hundreds of spas and wellness resorts, parks or lakes, many residents here are known for having no qualms about taking their clothes off.

This is the country of FKK – Freikörperkultur – an informal movement that translates to free body culture.

The movement comes to life in summer when you’ll find designated FKK spots at beaches and even parks, such as the Englischer Garten in Munich. 

Try not to stare, just go with it and if you’re intrigued then think about joining in. What’s the worst that could happen? 

SEE ALSO: The dos and don’ts of public nudity in Germany

You get caught in torrential rain

Unfortunately, summer in the Bundesrepublik includes dramatic thunder and lightning storms which bring with them torrential rain. The rain is good for the crops, but it’s a little inconvenient for going about your day. 

If you’re Scottish like me, you will be used to carrying an umbrella/raincoat around with you at all times. But if you’re not in tune with unpredictable weather, then perhaps consider investing in some light waterproof wear. Failing that, it’s so warm that you’ll dry pretty quickly. 

Some of the lightning storms are quite the spectacle, but watch them from a safe position. 

Strawberries are everywhere

strawberries

A boy holds up two freshly picked strawberries in Norderstedt, Schleswig-Holstein. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Markus Scholz

If spring was the season for Spargel (asparagus) then summer is the humble strawberry’s time to shine. Yes, Erdbeeren are available pretty much all year round due to industrial farming but this is when they are at their best. 

Little huts pop up at the side of roads, in train stations and on streets selling tubs of strawbs, making them great for picking up on the way to your picnic.

Heatwave tip: another seasonal fruit that is great for helping you cool down on a summer’s day and available everywhere – watermelon.

READ ALSO: 7 reasons why June is the best month in Germany

Festival season gets underway

Would it even be summer in Germany without an array of festivals? From street parties to parades and big music extravaganzas, this country really does try to make the most of the social side of summer. 

As well as the bigger events, such as Munich’s Tollwood Festival, find out if your neighbourhood or town is hosting a fest as often it’s a great way to meet the people who live in your area and make connections. 

The parties are reminiscent of cosy street gatherings, guaranteeing a real local feel. 

READ ALSO: 7 unmissable events in Germany this June

Shops shut for a holiday

Get ready for stores, cafes and restaurants to shut their doors – sometimes for weeks on end – as owners go on their summer holidays. This usually happens in the second part of summer; in fact, some businesses shut for the entire month of August.

But don’t be surprised if independent stores or cafes have a sign on their door alerting you to the fact they are closed for a weeks, anytime from now. 

More bikes get stolen

This is a depressing but a true fact of life in Germany: as soon as the good weather is back in force, the risk of your bike getting nicked increases dramatically. Of course, thieves are on the hunt for Fahrräder all year round, but as demand goes up in the hot weather, more bicycles are swiped from the street – or even the Hinterhof (courtyard).

It’s important to have a good lock or two for your bike to keep it secure. But short of keeping it locked away in your room and never using it, there’s not much you can do.

The silver lining is that buying a fairly decent bike in Germany is usually not very expensive due to there being so many around. However, we wish the police did a bit more to crack down on these thefts, which are often organized by gangs in urban areas. 

Have we missed anything out? Let us know your ideas by emailing [email protected] 

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DISCOVER GERMANY

Eight amazing German museums to explore this spring

With thousands of years of history in Germany to explore, you’re never going to run out of museums to scratch the itch to learn about and fully experience the world of the past.

Published: 5 April 2024 10:46 CEST
Eight amazing German museums to explore this spring

Here are eight of our favourite museums across Germany’s 16 states for you to discover for yourself. 

Arche Nebra

Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt

One day, around 1600 BCE, local Bronze Age peoples buried one of their most precious objects – the Nebra Sky Disk, a copper, gold, and bronze disk that acted as a calendar to help them plant crops. This was a matter of life and death at the time. 

Over three thousand years later, in 1999, it was uncovered by black market treasure hunters, becoming Germany’s most significant archaeological find. 

While the Sky Disk itself is kept in the (really very good)  State Museum of Pre- and Early History in nearby Halle, the site of the discovery is marked by the Arche Nebra, a museum explaining prehistoric astronomy and the cultural practices of the people who made it. 

Kids will love the planetarium, explaining how the disk was used. 

Atomkeller Museum

Halgerloch, Baden-Württemberg

From the distant to the very recent past – in this case, the Nazi atomic weapons programme. Even as defeat loomed, Nazi scientists such as Werner Heisenberg were trying to develop a nuclear bomb. 

While this mainly took place in Berlin, an old beer cellar under the town of Halgerloch, south of Stuttgart, was commandeered as the site of a prototype fission reactor. 

A squad of American soldiers captured and dismantled the reactor as the war ended. Still, the site was later turned into a museum documenting German efforts to create a working reactor – one that they could use to develop a bomb.

It’s important to note that you don’t need to be a physicist to understand what they were trying to do here, as the explanatory materials describe the scientist’s efforts in a manner that is easy to understand. 

German National Museum

Nuremberg, Bavaria

Remember that scene at the end of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, where an unnamed government official wheels the Ark of the Covenant into an anonymous government warehouse? This could possibly be the German equivalent – albeit far better presented. 

The German National Museum was created in 1852 as a repository for the cultural history of the German nation – even before the country’s founding. In the intervening 170 years, it’s grown to swallow an entire city block of Nuremberg, covering 60,000 years of history and hundreds of thousands of objects. 

If it relates to the history of Germany since prehistoric times, you’re likely to find it here.

Highlights include several original paintings and etchings by Albrecht Dürer, the mysterious Bronze Age ‘Gold Hats’, one of Europe’s most significant collections of costuming and musical instruments, and a vast display of weapons, armour and firearms. 

European Hansemuseum

Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein

In the late Middle Ages, the political and economic centre of the world was focused on the North Sea and the Baltic German coasts. 

This was the domain of the Hanseatic League, one of the most powerful trading alliances in human history. Centuries before the Dutch and British East India Companies, they made in-roads to far-flung corners.

The European Hansemuseum in the former Hanseatic city of Lübeck tells the story of the league’s rise and eventual fall, its day-to-day operations, and its enduring legacy.

This museum is fascinating for adults and kids. It uses original artefacts and high-tech interactive elements to tell tales of maritime adventure. Younger visitors will also be enchanted by the museum’s augmented reality phone app that asks them to help solve mysteries. 

Fugger & Welser Adventure Museum

Augsburg, Germany

The Hanseatic League was not the only economic power in the late Middle Ages. The Fugger and Welser families of Augsburg may have been the richest in the world until the 20th century.

From humble beginnings, both families grew to become incredibly powerful moneylenders, funding many of the wars of the 16th century and the conquest of the New World.

The Fugger & Welser Adventure Museum not only explains the rise of both patrician families but also the practices that led to their inconceivable wealth—including, sadly, the start of the Transatlantic slave trade. 

The museum also documents the short-lived Welser colony in Venezuela, which, if it had survived, could have resulted in a very different world history.

This museum has many high tech displays, making it a very exciting experience for moguls of any age.

Teutoburg Forest Museum

Kalkriese, Lower Saxony

Every German child learns this story at some point: One day at the end of summer 9 AD, three legions of the Roman army marched into the Teutoburg forest… and never came out. 

Soldiers sent after the vanished legions discovered that they had been slaughtered to a man.

Arminius, a German who had been raised as a Roman commander, had betrayed the three legions to local Germanic tribes, who ambushed them while marching through the forest. 

Today, the probable site of the battle – we can’t entirely be sure – is marked by a museum called the Varusschlacht Museum (Literally ‘Varus Battle Museum’, named after the loyal Roman commander). 

The highlights here are the finds – made all the more eerie by the knowledge that they were looted and discarded from the legionaries in the hours following the ambush. 

German Romanticism Museum

Frankfurt, Hesse

The Romantic era of art, music and literature is one of Germany’s greatest cultural gifts to the world, encompassing the work of poets such as Goethe and Schiller, composers like Beethoven and artists in the vein of Caspar David Friedrich.

Established in 2021 next to the house where Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born, the German Romanticism Museum is the world’s largest collection of objects related to the Romantic movement. 

In addition to artefacts from some of the greatest names in German romanticism, in 2024, you’ll find a major exhibition exploring Goethe’s controversial 1774 novel, ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’, and another on the forest as depicted as dark and dramatic in the art of the period. 

Gutenberg Castle

Haßmersheim, Baden-Württemberg

Sometimes being a smaller castle is a good thing. The relatively small size and location of Guttenburg Castle, above the River Neckar near Heilbronn, protected it from war and damage over eight hundred years – it’s now the best preserved Staufer-era castle in the country.

While the castle is still occupied by the Barons of Gemmingen-Guttenberg, the castle now also contains a museum, that uses the remarkably well-preserved castle interiors to explore centuries of its history – and the individuals that passed through it.

After you’ve explored the museum—and the current exhibition that uses Lego to document life in the Middle Ages —it’s also possible to eat at the castle’s tavern and stay overnight!

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