Berlin is set for a hot weekend, but thunderstorms could interrupt the sunny parts. The final, a national athletics competition, is underway, which is why the area around the Brandenburg Gate looks different at the moment. Meanwhile, improvements for public swimming pools in Berlin have been announced.
Berlin, June 25, 2022 (The Berlin Spectator) — In Berlin, the finals take place, the German national championship which brings together several athletic disciplines. This explains all the action in front of the Brandenburg Gate. On Friday, passers-by who wanted to take selfies there found themselves in a big hot-putting competition right in front of Berlin’s (and Germany’s) most famous landmark.
Small public beach
The weekend started with a lot of summer heat which slowed down the Berliners. Yesterday, 32 degrees centigrade (89.6 degrees Fahrenheit) was measured. Only very few hikers were seen in the German capital’s Tiergarten park, although the shade provided by the trees made a difference. A few hours later, around 5 p.m., rain clouds appeared over the Charlottenburg borough and other parts of Berlin.
Here, people frequented cafes and bars. Their goal was to cool themselves from within by pouring drinks of all kinds down their throats. Sixteen kilometers further, at Wannsee, one of Berlin’s most beautiful lakes, they took another approach. Before this weekend, Thursday, our reporter was one of the people who jumped into the water at a small public beach known as Badestelle Heckeshorn and really enjoyed it. On the other side of the lake, the Wannsee Beach Bath welcomes many guests every day.
Numb and tired
The same goes for other public swimming pools in Berlin. The public company that runs them, Berliner Bäder-Betriebe (BBB), has announced that it has improved things after two problems arose in recent days. On Monday, the police had to put an end to a big fight in a swimming pool in the Berlin district of Steglitz. That’s why more security guards were employed. And because BBB ticketing site did not resist the enormous demand, it was improved.
Back in the city center, in front of the Russian embassy on Unter den Linden boulevard, there was only one demonstrator who demanded on Friday afternoon an end to the Russian war of aggression against its neighbor l ‘Ukraine. The flowers, notes and stuffed animals that people had left there earlier to commemorate the victims of the war were dusty and partially yellowed. One hundred and twenty days since Russia started attacking Ukraine, people may have grown numb and tired of protesting. Plus, it was just too hot for rallies of any kind.
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Storms and hail
Berliners and tourists from the capital should expect more very hot days. For today (Saturday), up to 30 degrees Centigrade (86 degrees Fahrenheit) was forecast. But the sunny parts of the day could be interrupted by thunderstorms that can even bring hail. It is supposed to look like Sunday, with a maximum temperature of 32 degrees C (89.6 degrees F). There could be even more thunderstorms on Monday. This is when the heat is supposed to rise to 36 degrees C (97 degrees F).
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