Visiting the Opel Zoo

The Opel Zoo is one of those places that I have passed so many times in the past 25 years, but until recently had never actually visited.

Located between Kronberg and Königstein on the B455, I used to drive past it every day on the way to work, later on the way to client appointments, and any time that we travel by car towards Cologne.

Actually what I was driving past was the main entrance and part of the car park.  In fact the car park is not only much bigger, there is an overflow car park located deep into the woods as well.

The main entrance to the Opel Zoo next to the B455The main entrance to the Opel Zoo

The zoo itself is not cheap to visit. [Read more…]

Finding the right place for Frankfurt International School’s new sports centre

A joint announcement was made at the Rathaus in Oberursel yesterday, and you could tell how important it was by of the number of people present.  Representatives of 5 political parties, the school, the town, local residents, and even the mayor got together to announce a compromise had been reached on the location for the new FIS sports hall.

Frankfurt International School

The project started two years ago when Frankfurt International School (FIS) in Oberursel held a competition to design a new sports hall.  The winning entry would have probably been the easiest to build, as it was outside the current campus and would have been located diagonally opposite the main entrance at the Waldlust, next to the Hans-Rother-Steg.

Except that this location had its opponents.  For a start there were the local residents in that road who already have to contend with the traffic that the school generates.  They collected over 900 signatures against the plan.

But there were also a number of groups who were opposed to the forest being cut down to make space for the building.

This particular area of forest is called a Schutzwald, ie. a forest that enjoys a certain level of protection because it performs a specific function, such as preventing landslides or for water management.

And so it was, that in the past months all of these groups, along with the parties from the town’s parliament, have sat down at a so-called “round table” to discuss the options available.

A number of options were on the table, and the school evaluated each of them on criteria such as security for the campus, accessibility, but also for their environmental impact and whether they could also reduce the daily traffic load that the roads around the school have cope with. [Read more…]

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