Europe Heatwave: Records Tumble in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands
The northern half of europe (anywhere north of the mediteranean) really sucks at handling heat. In most of France, Belgium or Germany it&#x27;s impossible to find apartments  with ceiling fans or air conditioning.<p>There&#x27;s also no concept of central air conditioning anywhere in europe for non-commercial buildings, which is a big opportunity for improvement (especially in Greece where air conditioning is everywhere, looks disgusting in the streets and is less efficient than a central unit in summer).<p>Possibly the worst offence in Germany and <i>especially</i> in Belgium is that you can&#x27;t ask restaurants&#x2F;bars for tap water. They&#x27;ll refuse to serve you, and will ask you to buy bottled water. (Tap water is 100% safe, they just don&#x27;t want to do the kindness)<p>It&#x27;s an especially absurd custom given that, you go west a few kilometers and pass the French frontier, every bar and restaurant is legally obligated to serve tap water for free whenever customers ask. In most mediterranean countries, it&#x27;s not even a question of asking: You sit down, a waiter will bring you water, before you&#x27;ve even ordered.