“Heatwave”
noun
-
a prolonged period of abnormally hot weather.“when a heatwave occurs many people become increasingly bad-tempered”
If you live in Brittany, you won’t often be faced with this issue! However, this week the rest of Europe is getting ready for a rather big heatwave, with temperatures of up to 40 degrees in many parts of France! If you are in Paris this week, here is how to stay cool in a city not known for air conditioning.
Some tips from France 24 :
Survival tactics to stay cool during the heatwave in Paris:
- Stay damp. Take regular cold showers and stick your feet in a large saucepan of cold water. Keep wet tea towels in the fridge and wrap them around your neck when you’re overheating.
- Swim. The best way to cool the blood is to swim in natural water, but this is tricky in Paris. It is illegal – and highly dangerous – to swim in the Seine. There are only a few open-air pools in the city centre and they will be overflowing. And, sadly, the public swimming pools in the canal basin do not officially open until July 6. There are, however, many indoor pools and they are certainly going to be cooler than being outside in the air. In addition, there are plenty of fountains to sneakily stick your feet into. The Trocadero fountain near the Eiffel tower is particularly popular with adults as well as kids.
- Find a seat in a library or a museum with good air conditioning. Bring a book and stay as long as you can until they kick you out.
- Shop slowly. Go to your local supermarket and spend a couple of hours near the freezers deciding what frozen peas are best. This might sound foolish but this is widely regarded as a wise thing to do when you are dangerously overheating. The frozen food and fresh fruit sections will bring your blood temperature down.
- Stay hydrated – but not by guzzling chilled rosé. Alcohol and heat are a very bad combination, you will feel worse and not better. Water, water and more water.
- Stay out of direct sunlight. Dance in the shadows, stay on the shady side of the street.
- Carry an umbrella. Use a real one and not a delicate lace parasol. You need to block all rays.
- Stay indoors during the hottest hours, with windows shut and blinds pulled. It might seem contradictory to have windows closed when it is so hot, but the accepted advice is to close the windows and blinds while it is still relatively cool outside and keep them closed until after the sun has set and it begins to warm up.
- Go underground. You know it is hot when the Metro stations seem cool. However, though the trains themselves can feel like a furnace, there is a good breeze on metro platforms.
- Go deeper. One of the best secret heatwave escapes in Paris is into the tunnels of the Catacombs. These mortuary tunnels stay at a regular temperature of just 15°C, which is blissful when it is 35°C outside.
