In the past 16 years since moving here, we have taken many visitors to Oberursel Altstadt. Most get out their camera right away as soon as we get close to the Altstadt. There are also quite a few Biergarten around, some hidden behind courtyard gates.
Oberursel Market Place
The most famous view, undoubtedly, is the one below – looking at St. Ursula Church.
Oberursel and St. Ursula Church
Behind the church, we passed a little house resembling a Hexenhäuschen (gingerbread house). Its gate, decorated with a cat, telling us to be aware of the dog, twice.
Warnung vor dem Hunde!
In one of the two Biergarten where we stopped (Zum Schwanen), two of us ordered Gebackene Apfelringe mit Vanille Eis (fried apple rings with vanilla ice-cream). Since this was about the 10th time this month I had to translate this for non-German speakers, I figured I would post a picture.
Gebratene Apfelringe mit Vanille Eis (fried apple rings with vanilla ice-cream)
I prefer savory food, so I stuck to beer instead. But I was told the dish is as delicious as it looks.
What a night to remember! Most of the day, concert goers had been wondering about whether it would be a rained-out concert like it had been the night before with the Scorpions performance. I was told it started raining when the band came out to play and it stopped raining right when the concert ended.
Fortunately, we were blessed with dry skies, good music, a wonderful atmosphere around the arena, and a top performance by Bryan Adams and his group.
Setting for Bryan Adam in concert Oberursel 2011
While waiting, we could read the twitter feed for our entertainment. This new form of entertainment at a concert was new to me. Goes to show how long I had not been to a concert.
Twitter feed at the Bryan Adam's concert in Oberursel
And here is my favorite picture of “A Night to Remember” with the monitor showing Bryan Adams facing the crowd.
Bryan Adams in concert Oberursel Hessentag 2011
Bryan really hasn’t changed much from the time I saw him in concert in Würzburg in 1988. I have though – I jumped a bit less and applauded without getting bloody palms.
Bryan Adams in Oberursel Hessentag 2011
Our son asked whether Bryan stopped in mid-song to have the audience complete the lines, and yes, he had and most of us remembered enough to sing along, more or less.
Another highlight was the spontaneous performance by a young lady out of the audience. Tina, a student from Frankfurt International School, joined Bryan in a song onstage and also added a little dance performance. Saw Tina at the U-Bahn station later on and her reaction to my statement Hi Tina, great performance! showed she had become an instant celebrity already. This is definitely a night for her to remember as well, especially since she got to hug Bryan a few times.
This morning, as I walked out to the zweite Wohnzimmer (endearing term for a German’s balcony), I had this scenery before me.
Stormy skies over Oberursel 7:10 a.m.
Most mornings we had been blessed with blue skies, so this schwarze Himmel (black skies) had me think, just for a tiny moment, that I’d better take a peek at the morning news… to make sure there had been no natural disaster.
This evening, Bryan Adams is performing in Oberursel in an out-door arena, which has been set up especially for the Hessentag (Hessian State Festival). Interestingly enough, the site I had linked to showed several comments such as X is no longer attending the Bryan Adams concert.
The wind is so strong, more rain is expected, but we have our tickets and shall go for Bryan’s A Night to Remember.
Yesterday evening, a friend called me, persuading me to join her on a visit to the Hessentag fest.
Hessentag in Oberursel 2011
Well, what was supposed to be one hour at a quiet corner of the Hessentag activities, turned into a beach party with blaring music within 10 minutes after our arrival. I had just gotten myself comfortable in a lounge chair when the loudspeakers came on behind us and a young woman started to accompany some party songs with her saxophone.
She played really well, and I closed my eyes and dozed off, nevertheless.
Oberursel Hessentag
Then I was dragged on for a little tour of the Hessentag activities, but after a while they all looked the same. Loud music, young people, happy faces, food and drink galore.
Unfortunately, the U-Bahn does not have its train departure announcements set right. Trains are supposed to run in 15-minute intervals, but the message read: Next train – in 49 minutes. I was not willing to wait, so we actually walked home.
We could have called a cab – as a matter of fact, there were quite a few on the road that night – but the night temperature felt good and I have always enjoyed walking. I still would rather walk 40 minutes than wait 49 minutes.
This is some imporant information for all English speakers residing in Oberursel and vicinity about the Hessentag, the traffic and transportation situation in the town of Oberursel, and a few highlights of the event.
This information came from school and I removed all school-related items.
1. Traffic closures During Hessentag, areas of Oberursel have been broken down into zones. Depending on the zone, traffic is either fully or partially prohibited. The red zones will only be accessible by car between 8 – 20 June from 6:00 – 9:30 in the morning. Please note that the red zone is closed off three days longer than the duration of the event!
The other colored zones are accessible from 10-19 June only with a special permit, which is generally only available to residents of that area. This means that parents from outside of Oberursel will not be able to drive through the center of Oberursel to get to school. For a map of the various zones, click here.
2. Public transportation
We encourage all visitors to the town center to use public transportation, which will take one to the edge of the Altstadt. All other traffic within the Altstadt is restricted to pedestrians.
• The U-Bahn and S-Bahn will be running every 15 minutes for the duration of Hessentag. The best U-Bahn access to the center of town is the stop “Oberursel Altstadt”.
• The bus lines 41 and 42 will not be able to drive through town as usual and will thus be split into separate routes above and below the closed off areas. They will travel on a 30-minute schedule.
3. Parking at Hessentag
There are two huge parking lots available during the event. For a look at their location, see P1 and P2 on this map.
• P1, which is accessible only from the Frankfurter Landstrasse, is closer to the Altstadt, but is still a 20-minute walk away.
