Travel blog
When all fails, because the Corona pandemic still has a grip on us, then I can rely on my adult children to become the only Beer Balcony visitors during that time. Son Thomas from London visited us during the winter 2020/2021.
Now it is our daughter’s turn to come and visit from Florida after a two-year absence.
Here we enjoyed a Radler (a mix of lemonade and beer) during halftime of the European Cup.
With restrictions still in place for regular shops (shopping only by click-and-collect), we took advantage of a partly cloudy day to get out and buy some street food in downtown Oberursel about two weeks ago. The month of May was full of rainy days.
During some sunny and dry moments, I took these photos in the Strackgasse near the Marktplatz. This Pig Master with its mask on is keeping guard at the door as only three customers can be present in the shop at any time.
Further up the Strackgasse – what I thought to be a toad in stone actually looked like more like a drunk man heading home on all fours upon closer inspection. I had to get down on my knees as well. Interesting door step decoration.
We enjoyed our snack sitting by the fountain facing the church. Halfway through though, the heavens opened their gates.
Today, further restrictions have begun for schools, doing sports, and the placement of a curfew from 10pm – 5am. None of them affect me. Even if they did, it is quite easy for me to adjust my life style accordingly. That’s what I learned from living in foreign countries for almost ten years.
Since the COVID situation is not getting any better, I have opted for ‘Outdoor Isolation’, which means we have picnics (restaurants are still closed for indoor and outdoor dining) as often as we can. This way, we are isolated from others, but not from sight. It is nice to see ordinary people passing by without a mask.
Today, we went to the Maasgrund Pond in Oberursel, where we have not been since our kids were in primary/elementary school.
What’s this swimming in the water..? This is a nutria (or: coypu), a native from Louisiana, USA.
It fetched something in the water to eat it on the bank.
After our picnic of British Tea sandwiches, fruit, cheese, crackers, and white wine (not for the driver), we took a stroll around the pond.
We can see St. Ursula Church in the background. It was a beautiful sunny late afternoon.
A new initiative to save the bees is taking place in Oberursel. The yellow vending machine sells bee food for 50 cents. On the left, there is a container collecting the empty capsules for recycling.
Oberursel has many half-timbered houses, but this one is a half-timbered villa.
This is our first Beer Balcony photo of 2021. Last year, I had only one visitor – in November.
Here I’m sitting with our son, Thomas from London, who is working remotely in Oberursel. With the current Covid situation in London, he was also granted an extension to continue working from Oberursel.
The sun was just about to set, and the light was really beautiful. By the time, we got our coffee (!) onto the Beer Balcony, the light had completely changed.
“Every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour.”
Arthur Schopenhauer
The snow has finally arrived. Yes, I’ve been waiting for it.
As a child of the 1960s, I remember snow and going sledding as early as late November. Going out in the snow was so much fun, but coming home to the wood stove in the kitchen was very pleasant too. We had to rub our hands to get the prickly sensation out of it. Growing up on a farm, we had no central heating back in those days.
This photo was taken at 7:30am from the 4th floor balcony overlooking the Rosengärtchen area, which is also in walking distance to Frankfurt International School (FIS) and between the high rise buildings, we can also sometimes see part of the Feldberg Mountain.
Nevertheless, there won’t be much walking to school as of next week with updated lock down restrictions in place once again.
The view below is onto the former military areal of Camp King. The walkway in front is the line which separates the former military areal (which has become a German housing area in 2000) from our old housing area (established in the early 1970s).
Winter forms our character and brings out our best.
– Tom Allen
My name is Maria Shipley. I live in Oberursel, Germany with my husband, son and daughter. I … Read more
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