Vienna has had a heat wave of sorts this past week.
Luckily, we were able to find an apartment with air-conditioning – it
is an extreme rarity. With being sick, I had missed a good chunk of the
heat. Yesterday was the first time I ventured out and OUCH! I had
even strategically used public transit so that I didn't end up in a "heat
box" (Hubs started calling non air- conditioned transit vehicles this). The above ground trams here come in two flavors – some from the
mid-twentieth century and the others from the 2000s. Some of the newer models have AC, and
some don’t. Same goes with the U-Bahns. Even though the bus lines run less
frequently, most of the ones I've been on have had A/C. I’m used to unbearable
hotness and humidity. I've lived in that kind of climate in both Maryland and
Taiwan. The difference between those places and here is that you can always
escape the heat in your car, stores, restaurants, etc. Not here. I
still don't get how Austrians handle it.
What’s strange is that even on 70 or 80 degree days you can always seem
to find a few Austrians wearing jackets and scarves. I think they like to be warm. Then, on
the really hot days (>90) you see people who dress and leave nothing
to the imagination. If it were
acceptable to walk around naked IN
the city, Austrians would do it. Albeit, the heat isn't like this all the time.
As I was talking to Hershey's camp director this morning, she said that it’s only been
like this for the last couple of years. They haven't really experienced
heat like this in the past. So, maybe this may start a revolution for
more air conditioned places and transit?
As we head to Budapest later today, we won't be greeted with any reprieve from the heat, but at least the place we are staying at has A/C. And if this city is anything like Vienna, let's hope we don't burst into flames this weekend.