The other evening, my husband and I went out for our Friday night date. This time we headed to Zum Schwanen in Oberursel.

On the way there, I took this photo showing the road to St. Ursula church, with the pub on the left side (see the only neon sign) and being very close to the church. Well, pubs and churches do go well together.

Oberursel in winter

Germany at its best, or so my husband says. I would not know it – I take my surroundings for granted, on most days.

Earlier this afternoon, we left for the Oberursel forest to buy a Christmas tree. Well, they were all sold out, just like snow shovels are right now.

We have lent ours out so many times  and then one of the borrowers calls to ask if he could lend it to one of his friends… A snow shovel is the hottest commodity on the market right now. My husband was able to get the very last one from TOOM Baumarkt (home improvement center) back in early November. I had just told him about this post on a Korean website, which had stated Germany should get ready for the worst winter in 1000 years.

We passed the school on our way to the forest .

Frankfurt International School in Oberursel

Oberursel forest

Where did I park my car again?

More of this white stuff is expected through the night. Wonder if the Kuwaitis would be interested in buying some for their indoor ski slope..? We have enough to share.

With yesterday’s Wintereinbruch (cold spell), there is no need to clear away the rest of the fallen branches from last week’s Orkan (hurricane). On Thursday, our local paper issued a warning for walkers to stay away from the woods as damaged trees still pose a risk.

Wintereinbruch 06 March 2010 around noon

The weather forecast labeled this sudden return of winter  Wintereinbruch, whereas Leo dictionary defined this as onset of winter. In German, Wintereinbruch usually refers to the return of winter. On the other hand, Einbruch also stands for burglary, intrusion, invasion, and a few more.

In any case, most Germans find this cold spell an intrusion, that’s for sure.

Having taken a stroll through Camp King Oberursel just the other day, I rediscovered snow related fun projects I had not seen for many years.

Nice and healthy looking

Germany's new housing projects

A bulimic snowman

Have a seat!

On a different note:

As the snow is coming down and twirling in all directions at 1:00 p.m. local time, traffic has almost come to a complete halt in our residential area of Oberursel in the Hochtaunuskreis.

This morning though, we had to go into town and observed local shop owners clearing their front area in the pedestrian zone. I could overhear dissatisfied remarks about why the city of Oberursel could not get one of their plowing trucks to move the knee-deep snow in some parts. One disgruntled owner said …how will they manage the Hessentag 2011 (the oldest and biggest state festival in Germany) if they can’t even manage normal business…

A city worker, one of the guys in the orange work suits, related to somebody how he had been offered a bag of Streusalz (gritting salt) for € 200. I believe in regular times a bag would cost about € 20. But right now, with many communities having run out of it, the real effect of supply and demand kicks in. Black market prices for gritting salt – unusual times call for unusual needs.

Early afternoon, on our way to Steinbach for my daughter’s horseback riding class, I took these photos from the car. Roads were pretty much deserted, as this weather and its forecasts are unpredictable. One forecast called for icy rain, another one for a drop in temperature to -15 C° tonight.

Our parking lot is a mess and the snow and ice keep piling up. It took us 20 minutes just to pull out of our space.

Shovels are in big demand right now and I predict they are sold out at most home improvement centers. Another moving truck got stuck on our parking lot yesterday evening. It took the truck about four hours to get out of its predicament.

The police might also get lucky in amounting masses of parking tickets. Good business for the German Ordnungsamt!

Its truly winter wonderland. I appreciate Germany and its four seasons and it is wonderful to see children having snowball fights and building snowmen. And as long as our heating system works, I will continue enjoying this winter season.