Still hoping to get to Europe this summer but wondering if there’s a way to finagle a vacation there during what remains of this record-breaking season without completely busting your budget?

With full airplanes crisscrossing the Atlantic Ocean and hotels having no trouble filling rooms across tourist hot spots, you’re going to need to play it smart.

If you have yet to book your airfare across the pond, get ready for sticker shock from the start.

“Last-minute flight prices, especially international ones, are expensive,” says Katy Nastro of Going.com (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights) about airfares from North American to Europe. “Yet, if you target the last two weeks in August, you’ll find them to be substantially cheaper than in July.”

As summer winds down and schools go back into session, Nastro says reduced demand for travel can bring with it some price relief.

If you’ve been sitting on a pile of frequent flyer miles, now’s a great time to stop hoarding them.

“Their best value comes when cash prices are high, and there’s no time more expensive than last-minute summer travel,” Nastro says. “Even as cash fares exceed $1,500, tickets are often available on the same flights for as low as 30,000 points round trip.”

Even if you can’t save much on the getting-there part of a European summer vacation, there are some other ways to consider cutting costs once you’re on the ground.

Consider a cruise

Been on the fence about cruising in Europe? The moment to consider it might be right now.

“As hotel rates and airfares rise even more this summer, cruising continues to be a really high-value vacation option – and a fantastic way to explore Europe in a more cost-effective way than if you were to travel by land,” said Colleen McDaniel, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic.

Particularly if you’re looking to make the most of the airfare you paid to get to Europe and visit more than one destination without hopping on another plane, she says, cruising can reap serious savings over what you’d pay for a similar vacation connecting countries by land.

Architect Hevelyn Villar Silva of Tampa, Florida, agrees.

Her family’s seven-night cruise on 3,223-passenger MSC Magnifica in late May from Valencia, Spain, likely saved them thousands of dollars on what they would have spent traveling during a similar vacation on land exploring several European countries.

For the family of four (including her two young sons who sailed for free thanks to MSC Cruises’ regularly offered Kids Sail Free promotion), she says the Silvas spent around $310 per day total over the course of the week (not including their airfare).

That daily figure includes what they paid for the cruise fare ($1,469.80 for a cabin with a window but no balcony, although the family was later upgraded for free) and the extra money they spent in port on things such as gelato and train or bus fares to do their own excursions in places such as Pisa and Portofino in Italy.

“There is no way that you can travel that much, see all of those places, eat all your meals and sleep well at that cost per day for a family of four people,” she said about their seven-night cruise – which started and finished in Valencia and had five ports of call (and one at-sea day) in Italy, France and Spain over the course of the week.

MSC Cruises’ current fares include seven-night cruises around the Mediterranean in July and August starting from $799 per person aboard MSC Magnifica and $968 aboard the line’s largest ship, MSC World Europa (with a passenger capacity of 6,762), both of which include kids and teens clubs, entertainment and all meals in the rate.

Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas has seven-night Western Mediterranean sailings in August from $1,799 per person on itineraries that call into port in Palma de Mallorca as well as Italy and France.

Other ships to scour in Europe for summer deals:

• Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Jade has fares starting from $599 per person for seven-night cruises around the Greek Isles from Athens.
• For cooler climes, check out Hurtigruten Norway’s 40%-off fares offered in July and August aboard the newly launched Svalbard Express.
• Eight-day southbound voyages from the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard to Bergen in mainland Norway start from $2,812 per person (down from $5,509) and include all meals (plus wine and beer during meals).

Train passes can help cut costs

Prefer to travel overland? For people looking to cover a lot of ground and families with young children who can benefit from free rail passes, train travel can be more cost effective than flying between European countries or relying on one-way car rentals (plus gas and tolls) to get around.

“Most travelers going to Europe have a few destinations in mind, “ says Henley Vazquez, co-founder of luxury travel advisor group Fora. “This summer, choose cities and towns that are connected by train, so you can avoid multiple flights and high rental car costs.”

Eurail offers youth discounts of up to 25% off train travel in Europe for travelers who are 27 or younger as well as 10% off for seniors (60 and older) and free passes for kids from 4 to 11 when traveling together with someone on a Eurail Adult Pass. Children younger than 4 ride free and do not require a Eurail Pass. Eurail also offers pass holders discounts on things such as ferry fares and city cards that can help cut costs.

To make the most of your Eurail Pass, search for routes that don’t require reservations (and therefore an additional fee).

“It’s essential, however, to consider the cost-effectiveness based on your specific itinerary, as point-to-point tickets might be cheaper for shorter or less frequent journeys,” advises Ethan Williams of the blog Traveling Gossip.

Limiting your European train travels to a single country?

Individual countries often offer their own deals on rail travel, including Germany with its German Rail Pass (available only to people residing outside of Germany); Italy’s Trentalia pass for foreign citizens living outside of Italy; Austria’s Einfach-Raus-Ticket for groups of two to five people traveling on local and regional trains within the country and Czech Railways’ Summer Ticket, with seven- and 14-day passes good for unlimited rail trips in the Czech Republic.

If you’re set on traveling around Europe by air, look at routes in and out of alternate airports instead of the main hubs, said Georgia Bird of the travel planning blog, First Step: Europe.

“For example, flying into Rome Ciampino, then flying out of Rome Fiumicino,” she said. “This can take hundreds off the price of tickets.”

Book last-minute stays

If you haven’t already booked your accommodations, snagging last-minute offers on discounted accommodation can be an option for saving money on hotel stays and apartment and vacation rentals, says Ignacio Eguren of Checkin Cantabria, a vacation rental website with accommodations across Cantabria province in northern Spain.

“If you’re looking for better prices, you should be open to last-minute offers and be flexible with the location and dates, too,” Eguren says. “The demand can be high, so it’s recommended to explore different options and be prepared to adjust your plans based on the available offers.”

The flexibility of traveling by car can come in handy for accommodating impromptu destination changes if you’re open to booking stays at the last minute.

Some revenue managers for vacation rentals use dynamic pricing, Eguren says, which means nightly pricing can fluctuate with supply and demand.

“At the last minute, you can get better prices because establishments that are still unreserved or have had last-minute cancellations offer deals to fill up their accommodations,” he says.

Booking.com lets hosts use dynamic pricing through Genius, its loyalty program, to boost occupancy, which can translate to last-minute discounts on stays for potential guests at times when occupancy goals aren’t being met.

And while sites such as Airbnb don’t use dynamic pricing, they do offer their hosts, who set their own prices, tools such as Smart Pricing that automatically adjust nightly pricing based on demand. So the price you see one day for a stay could potentially vary the next.

That means last-minute deals can open for travelers who can deal with the uncertainty of waiting until the night before (or even the day of) to book where they’ll be sleeping next.

For example, a recent search on Booking.com’s Getaway Deals page (offering 15% off stays worldwide through September 28) showed a same-night stay in early July at the centrally located Hotel Library Amsterdam (a 10-minute walk from the Rembrandt House Museum) for $150 per night for two people and $108 per night at the Best Western Premier Faubourg 88 in Paris’ 10th arrondissement.

“Remember to stay alert for last-minute offers on not only accommodation booking platforms, but on the websites of the establishments themselves, too,” Eguren said. “You can also consider contacting the accommodations directly to inquire about availability or special promotions.”

Think beyond the typical destinations

Veteran European traveler, travel TV host and guidebook author Rick Steves advises American travelers to think more like Europeans when traveling the continent – both to save money and for a rewarding overall experience.

“The last time I was in a restaurant in Oslo, 16 of 20 diners were drinking only tap water,” Steves said. “And you’ll see crowds of young people who can’t afford Copenhagen’s bars enjoying beer from the grocery store along the city’s canals. Why not do the same?”

After all, little savings here and there add up.

Steves also suggests setting your sights on Europe’s less glamorous “second” cities for savings as well as a unique experience. These places he calls “the Chicagos of Europe” include Marseille in France, Hamburg in Germany and Liverpool in England.

“A lot of money and effort is being put into revitalizing these once-depressed, former Industrial Age powers, giving them a certain energy you don’t find in their more well-known siblings,” Steves said.

Wherever you go, be open to those impromptu experiences that rarely ever break the bank.

“In Rome, climb up the Scala Santa Holy Stairs on your knees to learn what it feels like to be a pilgrim,” Steves said. “At a French produce market, gather a gourmet picnic to enjoy in the garden of a Loire château … join the Scotsman who runs your B&B in a game of lawn bowling.”

“I find that the less I spend, the richer the experience I have.”

Italian authorities have issued an “extreme” health risk for 15 cities including Rome and Florence this weekend as a heatwave that is baking Europe threatens to bring record temperatures.

Climate scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) say temperatures could reach 48°C [118.4°F] on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, “potentially the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe.”

The Italian health ministry is advising the public to stay hydrated, eat lighter meals and avoid direct sunlight between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m..

The ESA warned that Europe’s heatwave has only just begun with Spain, France, Germany and Poland also expected to see extreme weather, just as the continent welcomes an influx of tourists.

Greece shut the Acropolis of Athens for a second straight day Saturday amid fierce temperatures. Local police helped a tourist who got into difficulty on Friday.

There is particular concern over those working outdoors after a 44-year-old construction worker in Italy died after collapsing on a roadside earlier in the week,

Authorities in Spain warned the heatwave is not just hitting the usual frying pan areas in the south, but also affecting the country’s typically cooler north.

In the south, temperatures in the cities of Seville, Cordoba and Granada have reached 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spain’s national weather service says it’s also sizzling on Spain’s resort island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean Sea with highs of 36 degrees Celsius, or 97 degrees Fahrenheit.

Meanwhile, even the normally mild region of Navarra in the north is seeing up to 40 degrees Celsius.

Heat is one of the deadliest natural hazards – more than 61,000 people died in Europe’s searing summer heat wave last year.

The current heat wave – named “Cerberus” by the Italian Meteorological Society after the three-headed monster that features in Dante’s “Inferno” – has prompted further fears for people’s health, especially as it coincides with one of the busiest periods of Europe’s summer tourist season.

Age is clearly just a number to Novak Djokovic, who is now just one match away from securing a record-equaling eighth Wimbledon title after the Serb beat Italy’s Jannik Sinner in straight sets, winning 6-3 6-4 7-6 in Friday’s first men’s semifinal.

Victory ensured the 36-year-old reached a record-breaking 35th grand slam final – in doing so surpassing Chris Evert’s landmark – and will now face Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s final.

Djokovic will be the overwhelming favorite to win a record-extending 24th grand slam title against Alcaraz, not least because he’s already won the Australian Open and the French Open in 2023.

The Serb has lost one just one Wimbledon final he’s reached – that was 10 years ago when he was beaten by Andy Murray.

‘I love it’

Ever the showman, Djokovic got into a back-and-forth with a fan, who had celebrated after he missed a first serve at break point down toward the end of a tense third set. After eventually holding serve, Djokovic turned to the fan and mimicked wiping away tears from his eyes.

Sinner, who was appearing in the last four of a grand slam for the first time in his career, left everything out of the court but was no match for Djokovic’s relentless brilliance.

The 21-year-old, widely regarded as one of tennis’ brightest young talents, will no doubt once again grace this stage of a grand slam in the not so distant future, but for now it’s the sport’s elder statesman that continues to reign supreme in SW19.

“Semifinals, it was always going to be a very close and tense match, as was the case,” said Djokovic said magnanimously in his on-court interview. “Three very close sets, I think the score line maybe doesn’t give the reality of what was happening on the court, it was super close.

“That third set could have gone his way, he had 15-40 on 5-4 … he missed a couple of shots to let me get into the tie-break. There was a lot of pressure in the third, I had my chances early on but he has proven why he is one of the leaders of the next generation and one of the best players we have in the world.

“It’s great to be part of this new generation, I love it,” Djokovic joked.

Rare hindrance call

The early signs were promising for Sinner, who earned a break point in Djokovic’s opening service game, though he was unable to convert. However, things quickly began to unravel as Sinner’s serve was broken in his opening service game as Djokovic took control of the first set.

In total, Sinner had three break points to Djokovic’s one in the first set but was unable to capitalize on any of them, while is opponent ruthlessly converted the one chance that presented itself to him.

The second set followed much the same pattern, as Sinner was again broken early on and a dejected look crept across his face after a game of quite careless tennis.

There was a bizarre moment in the second set when umpire Richard Haigh called Djokovic for a hindrance, awarding the point to Sinner, after the Serb let out a belated grunt when hitting a backhand.

“The hindrance [call] earlier on today in the match could have changed the course of the match,” Djokovic said.

“I felt really nervous after that call from the chair umpire, but managed to regroup and it was probably the first time in my career that something like this has happened.

“Normally I don’t have extended grunts, maybe it was an echo from the roof or something. “I didn’t feel I was causing any hindrance, but it was the call and I had to respect it.”

Subsequently, Haigh called Djokovic for a time violation on his serve. Though unquestionably a correct decision this time, it only served to add to the frustration of both Djokovic and the crowd.

Unperturbed by the umpire’s decisions, Djokovic held serve before eventually taking a commanding two-set lead.

‘Eternally grateful’

Sinner deserves plenty of credit for continuing to battle deep into the third set, pumping his fist toward his box with every booming winner, including one that registered 100 miles per hour on the speed gun.

In fact, the youngster was now playing his best tennis of the encounter and his reward was the chance to take the third set in a tie-break.

There was to be no denying Djokovic, however, who turned up the heat once again to clinch the tie-break and the match.

Even at the ripe, old age of 36 – in tennis terms, at least – Djokovic says he might just be playing some of the best tennis of his career.

“I’d like to believe that’s the case,” he said. “I mean, we are part of an individual sport so you have to rely on yourself and put yourself in the best possible, physical, mental and emotional state before going out on the court.

“So I tried not to look at the age as a hindrance that might change the outcome on the court. I feel 36 is the new 26, it feels good.

“I feel a lot of motivation and I’m inspired to play the tennis that I truly love, this sport has given me so much and I’m eternally grateful so I’ll try to … I guess return the favor to this sport and play as much as I possibly can.”

In the other semifinal, Alcaraz reached his first Wimbledon final with a dominant victory over Daniil Medvedev, winning in straight sets 6-3 6-3 6-3.

Alcaraz raced into a two-set lead behind some big hitting and deft drop shots and although Medvedev showed grit and determination in the final set to show his class, the world No. 1 reached his final at the famous tournament with a now-familiar pinpoint forehand.

Markéta Vondroušová and Ons Jabeur will meet in the women’s Wimbledon final on Saturday with both aiming to win their maiden grand slam title.

Vondroušová beat Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in straight sets to reach her first Wimbledon final whilst Jabeur reached her second straight final at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club with a thrilling victory over No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka.

Vondroušová would become the first unseeded woman in the Open Era to win Wimbledon if she is victorious, while Jabeur would become the first Arab and North African woman to win a grand slam if she is triumphant.

Both will take to the Centre Court and the famous green grass in their gleaming white uniforms knowing they are close to making history.

Animal mascots

No one expected this of Vondroušová. The 24-year-old Czech player has stunned the Wimbledon field – beating four seeded players, including world No. 4 Jessica Pegula – on her way to the final.

And she saved arguably her best performance for last, the world No. 42 looking imperious in her first Wimbledon semifinal – she lost to Ash Barty in the French Open final in 2019 before injuries and loss of form saw her fall own the rankings.

Besides her emphatic and decisive tennis on the court, Vondroušová has shot to prominence with her unique set of tattoos and her animal mascots.

Both of Vondroušová’s arms are littered with a distinctive assortment of tattoos, and she told the BBC earlier in the tournament that she got her first one when she was 16 and ever since then, has been adding to the collection every so often, mostly with female tattoo artists.

After her semifinal victory on Thursday, Vondroušová admitted she has some added motivation to win in Saturday’s final.

“I have a bet with my coach,” she told reporters with a big smile. “If I win a grand slam, he’s going to get one, so I hope I will.

“I mean, we’ll see what happens and what I’ll do. For me, it’s also art. I don’t know, I just like it. I appreciate the people that do this.”

Vondroušová also has a set of mascots back in Prague cheering her on during her time in the UK; Brownie the pug and Frankie the sphynx cat.

With her spot in the final booked, she says that she’s had to make some calls to allow her husband – who was at home looking after Frankie – and her sister to come and watch her.

n “We texted the cat sitter to come to our home. He’s coming tomorrow,” said Vondroušová on Thursday.

Learning

Jabeur has been here before.

Just 12 months ago, the Tunisian lost in three sets to Elena Rybakina in the Wimbledon final.

Now Jabeur has more experience behind her – including a loss in the US Open final last year to Iga Świątek – and comes in as the heavy favorite.

She has been playing like a true Wimbledon contender over her two weeks at the grand slam, overcoming the seemingly unstoppable Sabalenka in the semifinal having enacted some form of revenge on No.
3 seed Rybakina in the quarterfinals. She even beat two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitová and 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in the earlier rounds.

Jabeur explained that a lot has changed since she appeared in the 2022 women’s final at Wimbledon as she has worked on plenty of aspects of her game, specifically highlighting her patience.

“It teaches me how to be very patient and accept whatever happened to me with the injury because it was out of my control,” she told reporters. “I can’t do anything about it. I was trying my best to be ready for the competition.

On the court immediately after the victory over Sabalenka, Jabeur admitted that in the past, she might have lost that encounter.

And in her press conference, she said that the outcome might’ve been different even as recent as six months ago.

“It’s a different player,” she explained. “I’m working on myself like crazy. You have no idea what I’m doing. Every time there is something, I’m very tough with myself, try to improve everything.

“Very impatient sometimes, which is not good. Maybe the injuries did slow me down and teach me to be patient and accept what’s going on.

“For me, I always believed in mental, in working on it. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past years since I was maybe 10 years old because I know if you are not ready physically, mentally you can always win. That’s probably what happened in the last two matches.”

A derecho is a significant, potentially destructive weather event that is characterized as having widespread, long-lived, straight-line winds associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms.

Here’s what you need to know about derechos:

They can produce hurricane-force winds

While there’s no official or universal definition for a derecho, it is classified by a swath of wind damage extending more than 400 miles with wind gusts of 58 mph or greater along most of its length, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

Their destruction can be similar to that of tornadoes, but it is typically in one direction, along a fairly straight path, the weather service says – hence it’s name, which is Spanish for “straight ahead.” Derecho damage is frequently referred to as straight-line wind damage.

These storms are also known to have several well-separated 75-mile per hour wind gusts and may also cause tornadoes and heavy rains that can bring flash flooding. (Winds of 74 to 95 mph are equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane.)

They’re more common in warmer weather

Derechos are typically associated with lines of thunderstorms that will bow out into a curved shape as winds begin to spread out horizontally.

Known as a bow echo, these storm bands can develop from a cluster of thunderstorms or just a single storm, according to the weather service. The storm band advances when new thunderstorms form as warm air is forced upwards by the cooler air spreading out. If this band of storms travels more than 240 miles and has gusts of over 58 mph, it becomes a derecho.

These intense wind events thrive on the border of a “strong area of high pressure aloft where the greatest overlap of hot and dry conditions and stronger wind aloft occurs,” according to the weather service.

Derechos are sometimes preceded by “ominous-looking ‘shelf’ clouds,” according to the Storm Prediction Center. Their clouds can also appear darker than other storms.

The storms are more common in warmer weather conditions, according to the weather service, with 70% of them occurring between May and August.

From September through April, derechos are most likely to occur from east Texas into the southeastern states, they said.

They’re one of the costliest severe storms

Winds within a derecho can be as strong as a tornado, knocking out trees, powerlines, mobile homes, barns and other similar structures, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

They are most dangerous to those outdoors, whether in a rural or urban area. However, cities are particularly vulnerable to these high winds due to damage to electrical and communication lines, falling trees, and damage to buildings.

In August 2020, a severe thunderstorm event impacted the Midwest as a derecho and produced severe wind damage across Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.

The derecho’s $11 billion in damage places it among the top three costliest severe storm events ever, alongside two major tornado outbreaks in 2011 (tropical cyclones are ranked separately from severe storms).

The 2020 derecho caused widespread power outages, devastated trees and damaged crops. More than 20 million people over an area of 90,000 square miles were affected. In Iowa and Illinois alone over 1 million people were left without power.

UPDATE: The Storm Prediction Center changed its definition of a derecho in January 2022, increasing the required path of damage to more than 400 miles. It made the change to reflect the latest science on the topic, to better align with other weather authorities that had adopted the change and to increase the consistency of communication across all of its websites, an agency spokesperson said. This story has been updated to reflect the newest definition.

When American traveler Marty Kovalsky walked into the Brussels chocolate shop in the summer of 1986, he fell in love with Belgian chocolate.

American chocolate, he quickly realized, was no match for the silky goodness on offer in Brussels. It was flavorful and moreish. He was quickly obsessed.

The store he’d stumbled upon was beautiful too, on the edge of Brussels’ Grand Place with its imposing baroque buildings, spired 15th-century city hall centerpiece and surrounding picturesque cobbled streets. Inside, the shop had floor-to-ceiling delicious chocolate offerings.

Over the next two days, Marty went back to the Grand Place chocolate shop a grand total of five times. Each time, he became more and more enamored.

But it wasn’t just the allure of the chocolate calling him back – it was Myriam Van Zeebroeck.

Myriam was a skilled linguist and part time model who’d taken the job at the chocolate shop after she’d failed to secure a longed-for teaching role.

Myriam and Marty’s first interaction was, on the surface, simply about chocolate. But there was immediately, obviously, something else bubbling under the surface. When Marty walked out the door, 100 grams of chocolate in hand, he was smiling ear to ear.

Myriam’s coworkers were convinced the American tourists was going to ask her out. Myriam brushed their comments off, but still spent each shift wondering if and when Marty might walk through the store door.

On Marty’s fifth visit to the store, Myriam and Marty talked a little less about chocolate and a little more about themselves. Myriam was 21 and had lived in Brussels her whole life, she’d grown up in a Dutch-speaking household and was fluent in multiple languages. Marty was 23, a recent college graduate on his first ever trip outside the United States. He told Myriam he was loving Brussels so far, but knew he’d only skimmed the service of the city.

“Then I got up the nerve and I said, ‘How would you like to show me around Brussels?’” recalls Marty.

Myriam suggested Marty come back at 6 p.m., and meet her around the back of the store. The two of them walked through the Grand Place together and then ducked into a local bar.

The chemistry they’d felt in the chocolate shop was even more acute when they were sitting across from one another.

“She kissed me in the tavern,” recalls Marty. “There were butterflies for both of us.”

Before they went their separate ways, Marty dug out an American dollar bill from his rucksack and scribbled down his home address back in Los Angeles, handing it to Myriam who examined the note, bemused.

“I thought that was so distasteful – a dollar bill? Can’t you write your address on something else, like a beer card, or something?” she recalls.

Still, despite herself, Myriam found the gesture – and Marty – charming.

Marty and Myriam saw one another again two more times. On their third meeting, Myriam told Marty she was also seeing someone else, a guy from Brussels.

In response, Marty bought Myriam two bouquets of flowers – one set of yellow roses, one bunch of scarlet red.

“I said, ‘The yellow represents friendship, and the red represents love. And you need to choose,’” recalls Marty.

“Can’t I have both?” asked Myriam.

“So that’s how we became more romantically involved,” recalls Marty.

For the next few weeks, the two wrote letters back and forth in between their meet-ups. Marty sent his letters to Myriam’s home address, while Myriam wrote to Marty at the American Express mailbox he was using for the summer.

It was over a letter that Myriam broke up with Marty. He was in Poland at the time and due back in Belgium shortly after.

And as much as she liked Marty, Myriam felt their connection couldn’t go anywhere – he lived in the US, she lived in Belgium. All it could be was a summer romance, a brief infatuation. Meanwhile the guy she’d met in Brussels was local. Picking him felt like the more stable, less spontaneous option. Myriam suggested she and Marty could still be friends.

“I was a bit heartbroken, but we stayed in touch,” says Marty.

In a subsequent letter, Myriam suggested Marty could come to her family home and meet her parents – just as a friend. But on the day of the meet-up, she canceled the arrangement, sending him a telegram explaining her boyfriend didn’t like the idea.

“I still have that telegram,” says Marty. “It says, ‘Invitation canceled. boyfriend disagrees.’ So I didn’t get to meet her family in 1986.”

Not long afterwards, Marty had to return to the US. He and Myriam parted ways, seemingly for good, and they both tried to move on. Marty got back together with his college girlfriend. Myriam became more serious with the Brussels-based guy.

But somewhere along the line the writing tradition they’d started when they were both in the city became a cross-continental pen pal friendship.

These letters were platonic. More often than not, they were updating one another on their careers – Marty was working in sales and considering training to be a lawyer, while Myriam had left the chocolate shop and wanted to rise up the ranks in the fashion industry. But underneath the niceties and polite tone, each dispatch suggested a depth of feeling that hadn’t really faded.

“Thinking of you,” Myriam would write on the back of postcards, while Marty sent back photographs from the 1986 summer they’d spent together.

Pen pals

Months turned into years and Marty and Myriam stayed on the periphery of each other’s lives via their letters.

They still thought about one another from time to time. Marty remembered Myriam as “the most romantic, beautiful girl I ever went out with.” Myriam daydreamed about Marty, then reminded herself that it would have been “too difficult to allow such a relationship to grow.”

A couple of years later, in 1988, Marty visited Belgium on vacation with his girlfriend. He told her about his old friend Myriam, and suggested the two of them could grab a drink with Myriam and her boyfriend. So the two old flames and their current partners all went out together, while Myriam’s younger sister – who was curious to meet Marty and observe this unusual situation  – also tagged along.

Another two years passed, punctuated by letters and postcards. Marty and Myriam thought of one another fondly, but became more committed to their respective lives and relationships on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Marty was sitting the bar exam. Myriam was working as a sales manager for a major European fashion company. They’d both moved in with their partners.

Then, two years later, in November 1992, Marty and his brother organized a trip to Europe to celebrate Marty qualifying as a lawyer. Marty wrote to Myriam to share the news, mentioning he’d be passing through Brussels and suggesting a potential catch-up with Myriam and her boyfriend.

But the boyfriend couldn’t make it, so in the end Myriam came solo. And she and Marty found themselves alone for the first time in six years.

“During the other years, we kind of just kept track of each other’s lives,” says Marty.

But on this occasion, Marty and Myriam, now in their late 20s, were more candid with one another, opening up in a way that surprised them both.

“We started talking about what we wanted in life, the kids we wanted and what we wanted to do and what was important to us,” says Marty.

And as the evening went on, they started talking about 1986.

“We reminisced that our romance was the most romantic of our lives,” says Marty.

Then they went their separate ways. They were both in relationships with other people, and wanted to respect those boundaries. But both Marty and Myriam left feeling something had shifted between them.

A Californian connection

After that November 1992 meet-up, Marty and Myriam’s letters became longer and more personal. They found themselves excitedly waiting for each other’s latest update.

And then Marty started mailing Myriam dictaphone tapes – he’d just bought one for work – to her home.

“He had such a sexy voice,” recalls Myriam.

One evening, as she sat replaying the tapes, laughing at Marty’s jokes and reveling in his stories, Myriam had a realization.

“I’ve fallen in love,” she thought. “Again.”

Myriam couldn’t believe it.

“I realized I had to leave my situation with my boyfriend,” she says today.

So, Myriam moved out of the apartment she’d shared with her ex, and back in with her parents. Then, she phoned Marty in California. This was a conversation that couldn’t take place via letters. She needed an immediate answer.

“We never really had a real relationship,” said Myriam on the phone. “We don’t know what it would be like, really. What do you think? Would it work? Should we try?”

On the other end of the line, Marty was silent. Myriam took the silence as uncertainty. But in fact, Marty just couldn’t believe the dream was about to become a reality.

“For seven years, she was my fantasy girl,” he says. “I compared everyone I met to her.”

The two decided Myriam would come to California to visit Marty. She booked her flights and started counting down the days. In the lead-up to the trip, Marty and Myriam spoke on the phone multiple times a week, racking up big international phone bills. They sent faxes. They planned out their reunion, and imagined what it would actually be like to reunite.

But all their imaginings couldn’t prepare them for the reality when, in September 1993, Myriam arrived in California.

When Myriam saw Marty again, the depth of feeling they’d first felt in the Belgium chocolate shop came rushing back.

“I was so in love with him, even though he had changed – he’d lost his hair, he had hair when I met him,” she says. “But for some reason it was not that important. It was still very strong. Those fantasies just rekindled. They just were there from before. It came all back.”

After a dreamlike, wonderful couple of weeks, Marty and Myriam decided they were going to try and make their relationship work.

“You have to really take a chance, if you’re that much in love and you know that this could work, you have to really try,” says Myriam.

“And if it didn’t work out, we still would have been better for it,” adds Marty.

So after the Californian reunion, Marty traveled to Belgium to meet Myriam’s family. A couple of months later, he proposed and Myriam packed her bags and moved to the US. Within months, they were married.

To some of their loved ones, it seemed like a whirlwind. But for Marty and Myriam, their romance was also a long time coming. On their wedding day, the overwhelming feeling the two felt was gratitude.

“It took a long time to have that courage to say, ‘That’s something I can do.’ And to be independent,” says Myriam. “I just realized that, ‘Gosh, I’ve never met anybody so compatible with me.’”

Thirty years later

In the 30 years since Marty and Myriam decided to be together, the couple have never looked back.

It wasn’t always easy for Myriam to adjust to life in a new country – all the connections she had in the fashion industry seemed to be meaningless in the US.

But eventually Myriam returned to her first career aspiration – teaching. Today she works at a Los Angeles performing arts high school, teaching French, which she absolutely loves.

Marty and Myriam also have a daughter, Laura, who was brought up in a multicultural, multilingual household that celebrated Myriam’s Belgian and Dutch culture, and Marty’s American and Jewish heritage.

Marty says he sees the “secret” to marriage, and to being happy more generally, is the feeling that defined their wedding day: “gratitude.”

You have to really take a chance, if you’re that much in love and you know that this could work, you have to really try

Myriam Van Zeebroeck

He says he’s so grateful that Myriam came into his life in the first place, that they stayed in touch, that they eventually took a chance on each other, that they’re a united front, and they’re as much friends as they are spouses, a “tremendously strong bond” they see as forged by their years of letter writing.

Myriam agrees.

“As long as that pilot light of love is still on, it can come back as strong later,” she says. “I did not have the courage to choose Marty as a possible serious relationship in 1986 but I am glad we still had a chance later in life to make that choice to go for our relationship. We were lucky that both of us were able to make that choice in 1993.”

The couple also still have all the letters they sent one another – aside from a few early ones from 1986, which 21-year-old Myriam was worried would fall into the hands of her nosy younger sister.

“I discarded some of them because they were too risqué,” she says, laughing.

Marty and Myriam recently spent a month traveling through Europe, which naturally included a stop off at Brussels’ Grand Place to see the chocolate shop, which is still going strong.

This pilgrimage was, partly, because Marty still can’t resist Belgium chocolate. But it was also an opportunity for the couple to reflect on how they met and where they are today, against the odds, 37 years later.

“I find it amazing and lucky that our meeting at the chocolate shop led to our dates and romance and later relationship,” says Myriam. “You never know where you might meet the love of your life.”

An already dangerous weekslong heat wave will only worsen this weekend as a heat dome intensifies and reaches peak strength over parts of the Western United States.

The heat dome is so formidable the National Weather Service in Phoenix called it “one of the strongest high pressure systems this region has ever seen.” Around 100 heat records could fall today through the weekend as it intensifies, piling onto the more than 1,000 high temperature records broken in the US since June.

More than 90 million people are under heat alerts after the heat dome expanded into places like California, which is now experiencing its first extreme heat wave of the year.

It has already been dangerously hot for weeks in Texas, Florida and Arizona, where Phoenix is in the middle of a likely record-breaking streak of consecutive 110-degree days, forcing many businesses and parks to close or readjust their hours. The low temperature in Phoenix might not drop below 90 degrees for eight consecutive days, another record.

The heat will be so intense, forecasters suggested residents of Las Vegas avoid the outdoors between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., with the city forecast to challenge its all-time high temperature of 117 degrees on Sunday. It won’t get much cooler at night, with low temperatures nearing 90 degrees – a particularly dangerous side effect of the climate crisis.

This kind of extreme heat is one of the hallmarks of human-caused climate change, the symptoms of which are tallying up this year into a global record box score of sorts: “unprecedented” ocean heat off the coast of Florida and in the North Atlantic; record heat in Beijing, in what could be one of the hottest summers in China; record energy demand and heat in Texas; and an ongoing “Cerberus” heat wave, threatening to topple European temperature records.

It all adds up to what could be the hottest year on record.

Businesses, parks close as temperatures climb

Skyrocketing temperatures across the western US have forced some businesses and parks to close or change their hours, such as the Sacramento Zoo, which shortened its hours due to the heat, closing early Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. PT as temperatures are forecast to reach 109 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend.

In Bakersfield, California, where the highest temperature this weekend is set to reach 114 degrees Fahrenheit, the Kern County Museum announced it would be closed “due to extreme heat” this weekend, according to a museum social media post. In Southern California, the Cleveland National Forest announced on its Facebook page that four of its trails – the San Diego River Gorge, Cedar Creek Falls, Three Sisters Falls and Eagle Peak – will be closed through the weekend due to “excessive heat.”

Other businesses in California, such as the California Gray’s Flower Garden in Quincy and the Nascere Vineyards in Chico announced plans to close their doors over the weekend as temperatures are expected to reach over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Bison Café in Quitaque, Texas said it was limiting its hours due to higher temperatures that are making the kitchen “very uncomfortable” for cooks.

Separately, in Phoenix, the Arizona Animal Welfare League decided to close its doors for the weekend. “The safety of our pets is our top priority and with temperatures expected to hit over 115, our staff’s main focus will be on keeping our animals cool and comfortable during this time,” a Facebook post from the organization reads.

A ‘perfect storm’ of deadly heat

The records also add up into something more serious for human health, doctors say.

The extreme temperatures could trigger heat illness in as little as 20 to 30 minutes for people doing anything strenuous outdoors, because heat acts as a “perfect storm,” which overloads the body until it eventually short-circuits and then shuts down, Levy said. The time frame would be even shorter for those most vulnerable to heat, like the elderly and those with preexisting health conditions.

Heat illness is a serious concern this weekend for the millions of residents in major metro areas like Phoenix and Las Vegas.

People across the Southwest and California’s Central Valley are under a rare “extreme” level of heat risk on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, according to the weather service.

The “extreme HeatRisk” is the highest possible risk level for heat, akin to a “high risk” for tornadoes, and is meant to warn of significant heat impacts requiring preparation.

These areas should prepare for spikes in heat-related ER visits, potential power outages from demand and temperatures high enough to turn deadly, especially for outdoor workers and those without reliable cooling.

Levy said workers can stay safe by taking frequent hydration breaks, wearing clothing able to reflect the sun and having a “buddy system” so no one is left in the heat alone when illness strikes. For those who don’t have reliable cooling, he recommends finding a cooling center and having a plan to get there before the need arises.

Before the latest wave, heat has already killed at least 12 people in Phoenix’s Maricopa County this year, and killed 425 people last year. The city has opened “respite centers” to help provide relief and the state has asked residents to keep their vehicles stocked with water.

The heat won’t go away after this weekend, even if temperatures peak: Longer term temperature outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center point to above normal temperatures across Southern California, the Southwest, South and Florida through next week.

As the summer heat builds, we couldn’t help but wonder: Is there anybody in the world who doesn’t love ice cream?

Whether it’s in Asia, Europe, the United States or South America, it’s safe to say that the frozen treat tends to be a favorite indulgence for anyone of any age, though it’s hard not to picture a child holding a cone on a hot day, with the melting substance dripping down their arm.

San Francisco and New York are even home to locations of the hugely popular Museum of Ice Cream, a sprawling homage to the sweet, chilly delicacy.

According to culinary history, ice cream dates back to the second century BCE. Alexander the Great, of Greece, liked snow and ice flavored with honey and nectar. And Emperor Nero, of Rome, enjoyed snow flavored with fruits and juices.

More than 1,000 years later, Marco Polo brought a sherbet-like recipe to Italy from the Far East that eventually evolved into ice cream as most of us know it today.

Ice cream may be universally appealing, but many countries have their own version, according to Jeni Britton Bauer, founder of the ice cream brand Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and the author of two books on the subject.

“Every culture has a different interpretation of ice cream that’s often not called ice cream, and it’s a food that brings people together,” she says. “You gather at your local ice cream store or at an ice cream cart on the street.”

Eating ice cream is a fun and physical experience, adds Britton Bauer. “The first bite shocks and wakes you up with its coldness, and you need to constantly tend to your ice cream so it doesn’t melt away,” she says.

From frozen custard in the United States to kulfi in India, enjoy a taste of ice creams around the world and awaken your inner child.

Frozen custard, United States

Soft serve frozen custard is the quintessential American ice cream, according to Bruce Weinstein, author of “The Ultimate Ice Cream Book,” a comprehensive collection of 500 different recipes.

Different than frozen yogurt, which is made with cultured yogurt and sugar, frozen custard is a combination of milk, cream, sugar and egg yolks. It also typically has a thickener, says Weinstein.

Traditional American ice cream sometimes has egg yolks, too, but the difference between frozen custard and ice cream is the texture: custard is dense because it’s made in a machine that doesn’t incorporate air into the ingredients.

Ice cream machines, on the other hand, churn air into the recipe, making the end result airier and lighter than custard.

When it comes to frozen custard flavors, Americans typically have a choice between vanilla or chocolate. They can also go for a swirl – a combination of the two. “You roll your custard in sprinkles or dip it in a red or chocolate syrup that instantly freezes into a hard shell,” says Weinstein.

Dairy Queen, the Midwest fast food restaurant chain Culver’s and Carvel are all popular go-to spots in the US to get your frozen custard fix.

Raspado, Mexico

Think of raspados as the Mexican version of American snow cones. But while snow cones are made using excessively sweet syrup, raspados have real fruits or fresh fruit juices. In fact, making them is something of a craft.

The sweet and cold treat is ubiquitous throughout Mexico and sold at street carts, says Lillian Aviles, a Mexico City-based expert on Mexican culture. “These carts sell a range of fruit-based flavors such as tamarind, lime, pineapple, orange and mango,” she says. “There are also non-fruit flavors available such as vanilla and rompope, which is similar to eggnog.”

In many Mexican markets, says Aviles, vendors make a blend of a raspado and a milkshake called “eskimo” using milk, condensed milk, fresh seasonal fruit, sugar, vanilla and shaved ice.

And, different parts of Mexico make varieties of raspados. For example, in the coastal town of La Paz, the ice cream shop La Fuente, located on the waterfront´s esplanade, sells raspados with a serving of ice cream on top, usually in its signature orange yogurt flavor.

You won’t find Mexicans eating their raspados in cones – Aviles says that they’re only served in cups.

Gelato, Italy

Pasta aside, gelato is considered to be Italy’s culinary symbol. In fact, visiting the local gelateria is a way of life for Italians.

“Italians convene at gelaterias and socialize,” says Britton Bauer. “They’re popular hangouts and cultural icons.”

Italian gelato is lower in fat than traditional ice cream, says Weinstein, and crafted with whole milk, eggs, sugar and flavoring – chocolate, hazelnut, pistachio and stracciatella or vanilla ice cream mixed with pieces of chocolate are the most beloved flavors.

“We cannot make gelato the Italian way in the US,” says Weinstein. “Our milk doesn’t have enough fat. We must add cream.”

And forget the standard ice cream scoop: In Italy, gelato is served using a spatula that presses the cool treat into a cup or cone.

Italians from north to south fiercely debate about which gelateria in town is the best, says Luca Finardi, the general manager of the Mandarin Oriental in Milan. “We each have the ones we love the most,” he says.

Finardi’s go-to in Milan is Massimo Del Gelato, near Chinatown. “The shop specializes in chocolate flavors including chocolate cherry and chocolate cinnamon and is probably the best in Italy,” he says. “The ice cream is made fresh every day.”

Crème Glace, France

It looks like gelato and has a similar texture, but crème glace or French ice cream is richer than its Italian counterpart, says Weinstein.

“Glace is a nice cross between American frozen custard and gelato and almost always made using cream and eggs,” he says. “Salted caramel is definitely the most iconic flavor.”

According to culinary history, the still-operating Parisian restaurant Le Procope, which an Italian immigrant opened in the late 17th century, introduced ice cream to France. While this legendary spot still serves glaces, it’s more known today for its savory dishes.

Nowadays, the French get their glace fix by hitting one of the family-run ice cream specialty shops scattered throughout the country where the owners hand make the frozen dessert using the purest dairy and top-quality fruits, nuts and chocolate.

However, a few nationally recognized glace shops exist, says Weinstein, including the enduringly popular Berthillon in Paris (the gianduja or hazelnut glace is a must here).

Fenocchio Glacier, in Nice, is another popular name and serves more unusual ice cream flavors. Standard picks include white chocolate and coffee, but the shop also offers varieties such as olive, chewing gum and vanilla with pink pepper.

Dondurma, Turkey

An ice cream that doesn’t melt? Yes, that’s exactly what dondurma or Turkish ice cream is. Locals also call it Maras dondurma, after the city in the Mediterranean region of Turkey.

Karen Fedorko Sefer, the founder of the travel company Sea Song Tours and an Istanbul resident, says that dondurma has an elastic texture and is made with goat milk, sugar and salap, which is the pulp of a purple orchid. It also often has mastic or a pine flavored resin that’s extracted from a mastic tree.

“Buying dondurma is like watching a performance,” says Fedorko Sefer. “The men who sell it wear traditional Turkish garb (aba) and a sultan hat and stretch, twist and turn the ice cream until it lands into a cone. Kids and adults get a kick out of the show.”

The Turkish buy their dondurma from a street cart or at a bazaar. “There are not really shops,” says Fedorko Sefer.

Ali Usta, in Istanbul’s Moda neighborhood, is among the exceptions. Established in 1969, the shop offers flavors such as hazelnut, walnut and melon. But be prepared to wait in a long line for a taste, especially during the summer.

Kakigori, Japan

It may be made of ice, but kakigori, the Japanese version of ice cream, is most definitely not a snow cone.

“The real kakigori uses super finely shaved ice and melts in your mouth just like a creamy ice cream,” says Sakura Yagi, the COO of TIC Restaurant Group, a collection of Japanese restaurants in Manhattan’s East Village including Cha An Tea House, which serves house made kakigori.

Pastry chefs make kakigori by shaving ice from ice blocks until it builds into a fluffy pile. They then add syrups to the ice – usually crafted by hand with quality ingredients – in flavors such as green tea, strawberry, grape and melon.

Kakigori sometimes also has condensed or evaporated milk and is almost always served in a bowl. Yagi adds that it’s not unusual to find sweet shops throughout Japan offering toppings as the final touch, most commonly red bean paste or fresh fruit.

“The beauty of kakigori is in the simplicity,” she says. “The Japanese eat it mostly in the summer and get excited about enjoying it, especially the latest in-season flavors.”

Kulfi, India

Kulfi, India’s traditional ice cream, dates back to the 16th century and may be one of the richest frozen desserts in the world, says Camellia Panjabi, the well-known Indian food writer.

Given its main ingredient – sweetened evaporated milk – it’s no surprise why.

“In making kulfi, you boil down the milk, which caramelizes it, and the end result is a very luscious ice cream,” says Panjabi. “After you boil it down, you can also add flavors such as saffron threads, crushed pistachios or crushed almonds.”

While kulfi at its core doesn’t deviate from these iterations, the options have gotten more varied in the last several decades, according to Panjabi. At kulfi shops across India and the kulfi stands on Mumbai’s Chowpatty Beach, along with at Indian restaurants worldwide, it’s not unusual to find orange, banana, chocolate, mango and seasonal berry kulfis.

Kulfi also stands apart from other ice creams because it’s usually pre-molded into a long popsicle like shape or cone, frozen and then served.

Britton Bauer, who has tried kulfi in the United States, describes it as very sweet and “almost honey-like.”

Iran on Saturday executed two men it accused of carrying out a deadly attack on a shrine in Shiraz in October 2022, according to state-run news agency IRNA.

Iran’s Supreme Court had rejected an appeal filed for the two men, Mohammed Ramez Rashidi and Sayed Naeem Hashemi Qatali, IRNA quoted Fars Province Chief Prosecutor as saying.

Thirteen people were killed, and 40 others injured in the attack that took place at Shahcheragh Shrine in the city of Shiraz in southern Iran on October 26, 2022, according to IRNA.

The attack took place on a Wednesday evening, one of the busiest times for the shrine.

At the time, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack and released a statement on its affiliated Amaq news agency saying that one of its members “targeted groups of Sunni refusal infidels inside the shrine with his machine gun, causing the death of tens of them.”

The attack took place on the same day that clashes broke out throughout the country to mark 40 days since the death of Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after being taken to a “re-education center” for apparently not wearing her hijab properly. It’s unclear if the attack was related to the protests.

Protests swept through the Islamic Republic following the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman.

A volcanic eruption south of Iceland’s capital Reykjavik is sending plumes of smoke across a region known for its sweeping lava fields, volcanoes and geothermal activity.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said the “minor” eruption began Monday in Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula but no ash has been emitted and so far no disruption has been reported at the country’s Keflavik Airport.

The IMO said there was a 200-meter (656 feet) long fissure on the slopes of the Litli Hrútur mountain, “from which lava is emerging as a series of fountains.”

Scientists had warned of possible eruptions after hundreds of minor earthquakes were detected in recent weeks.

Photos show streams of lava flowing along the dark fields, with small fires in the distance and thick smoke billowing in the air.

Since the eruption took place in an uninhabited area, there were no “immediate risks” to communities or infrastructure, the IMO said – but it warned people not to venture near the area, saying there will be an accumulation of “dangerously high levels of volcanic gases.”

The wind will carry some of these gases north, potentially affecting several areas including the Icelandic capital, the IMO said.

The Reykjanes Peninsula regional destination management office also issued a warning about gas levels on Monday.

In a statement, the office said the peninsula’s police chief ordered the closure of all trails to the volcano due to “massive gas pollution that is life-threatening,” after speaking with scientists.

Authorities are working to restore access to the volcano once the pollution dies down, it added.

Several days ago, the management office warned hikers in the region to be careful, noting that the recent seismic activity looked similar to the lead-up to another volcanic eruption last year.