cycle race

The day the terror threat came to Oberursel

It was Thursday, 30th April, 2015. I don’t know exactly when I read the message, but the post on Facebook at 5.32am simply read “Does anyone what was happening in Oberursel last night? SWAT team, explosives unit… where was it and why?”

Just as I was leaving to head into town the local radio answered the “where” part of that question: near Edeka on the Hohemarkstraße. Somewhere I was about to drive past. Minutes later as I passed the house number 143, there were police vehicles everywhere. I estimate that there were about 10 police cars and at least one van containing special equipment.

Hohemarkstraße 143 in Oberursel where the arrests took place

Soon information started to come out about the arrests of a couple who had been living there, apparently police had searched a flat and a car, finding explosives and firearms. [Read more…]

Frankfurt-Eschborn Cityloop

Each year on 1st May (Maifeiertag) the main road out of Oberursel is closed off for a cycle race which this year was re-named as the “Frankfurt-Eschborn Cityloop”. This means that for anything up to 2 hours we are unable to get out of our road. Even the U-Bahn stops running!

Juniors

The answer, of course, is to either get out early or to stay and watch the race – and the drivers arguing with the police that they need to go somewhere.