The constant summer heat invites you to experience space in other dimensions. The bedrooms are stuffy, only a hint of fresh air coming through the windows. Blankets are too warm, but without them you can’t sleep. It’s the moment for an adventure: sleeping outside, in nature, in the open air. What you need besides an insulating mat, sleeping bag, a pillow for a little comfort, a couple of warm clothes in case it gets chilly, a picnic and mosquito repellent is a good place for the night camp: preferably a vantage point, a hill plateau that offers views all around allowed to experience the sunset as well as the sunrise. A level floor is an advantage so that you don’t gradually slip down on the sleeping pad on the slippery outer material of the sleeping bag.
The sunset at the picnic is spectacular, the sun hits the horizon as a red ball, sometimes blurry red, sometimes very sharp. And then all of a sudden she’s gone. The wind that just blew over the crest of the hill died down and it immediately became noticeably cooler. It doesn’t take long before the first evening star can be seen in the still blue sky. Others join them, night falls, very slowly. It’s getting darker and really serious: should there be nocturnal peace here, in the middle of the stubbly, parched meadow? No wall, no tree in the back? Man is wired for shelter, some kind of roof over his head. This night is just space above you. Stars upon stars are looming, satellites are gliding briskly across the night sky, planes are flying back and forth. You become part of this universe.
The look makes you tired, at some point you actually fall asleep – and wake up again and again, overwhelmed by the nocturnal spectacle that you miss in the closed room: at half past two the Milky Way is clearly visible and the moon turns dark orange-red as a crescent with sharp contours on. At four thirty the moon has changed color to white and is much higher in the sky, the Milky Way has faded, it’s getting lighter again. At half past five the sun rises pink over the horizon. At half past seven the night is over at the latest, the sun shines in the face of a hot July with full force.
There are nights of deeper sleep. But this was a journey – once to the universe and back. On the way back, less than 200 meters away, two people are still packing their sleeping things. You are not alone in the universe either.