Dress

In the summer ,, when its really hot,, why not.

Would I wear them out for dinner ? No, but for sightseeing they will be fine.

I personally do not wear shorts in Europe since I am usaully in cities,, and in cities I wear sundresses and skirts to stay cool but look decent. Capris are also popular.

My relatives wore shorts in both countries. They were openly laughed at. Now, they are both overweight, but not more so than some Germans. One man pointed at them and laughed. They were sorry they'd taken shorts, and wished someone had told them. (Not RS-niks. Plus, they over packed.)

This goes back to the early '80s and I was very young: even though I was with my parents, who were not wearing shorts, I was looked at with scorn by two old ladies for wearing shorts. They were well-fitting, but prob. too short. I wouldn't suggest shorts in major cities.

Sorry your relatives got laughed at Karen,, but I know shorts are ok, my sister in law is German, so are my nieces, and most of hubbys( dad, uncles cousins etc) family. They wear shorts. They wear them in Germany. As noted,, they are worn in appropriate places at appropriate times.
His two second cousins just came out here this summer, they are young, only 18 and 20,, but they wore shorts almost everyday, and I know they did not just buy a bunch of shorts to "fit in" here, they wore them because those are their clothes.

Bluntly,, your relatives likely were laughed at because they were fat ,, and foriegn and the people laughing at them were just ignorant pigs. There are some of those in every country.

and yes, I know there are fat people in Europe,, but it seems like some of the Europeons like to pretend only us North Americans are fat..LOL