Hessentag 2011 started this weekend in Oberursel. It is a massive ten day festival hosted by a city within the Hesse area. Every year it is a new city that runs the event and this year it was close, so we spent the majority of our weekend at the festival.
Friday evening, Eric took me to You FM Night, our first German open air concert. We drove to the outskirts of Oberursel and then took the train to the concert location. It was only 7pm and the train was already running behind schedule due to many people attending the event. We entered the stage area and worked our way towards the front as your viewing area was where you choose to stand. While waiting, I realized You FM means young fresh music and from looking around at the crowd, I was not young anymore. Fortunately, Eric was able to get me the last pair of earplugs they were handing out.
The opening act performed and the crowd became deeper. We grabbed some cheap beer and sausages to pass the time, too. We laughed about the deposit on the plastic beer cup. The local radio station had some interesting music choices to pass the time. The opening act, Madsen, performed and the crowd warmed up with some singing and dancing. By the time Wir Sind Helden came on, my knees were sore from standing, but the German band was fantastic to listen to and enjoyable to watch perform on stage. The crowd was thick and really into the music, so it made for a fun time. It was late, so we ducked out, as the last performer had not even done their sound check yet. Unfortunately, they closed the train stop in our direction on the way home, so we had to walk into town to catch our train back to our car. Even though we missed out on Juli, it probably worked out, as it was pouring by the time we got back home.
Early Saturday afternoon, we returned to the festival. Our first stop was exploring through the German military exhibit. The girls liked climbing up in the tank, sitting in the helicopter, and going in the tents. There were also a couple nice display tents of the various equipment pieces they use for them to see and touch so they can understand how it works and/or what it is used for.
Our strolling then led us to a children's sports area, where Adeline climbed to the top of the rock wall. She was a like Spiderman going up the wall. We then walked past the various vendors and street performers and ended up in the city park.
In the city park, they had constructed three different areas: farm life, a children's area with pony rides and games, and an exploration area. The farm life exhibit resembled a 4-H fair with various farm animals and equipment on display. The girls were all smiles while on their pony rides. The woodworking area was a favorite for Eric in the exploration area. Eric and the girls were able to try out many old fashioned tools on the little piece of wood they cut from a log from using a two person hand saw. Emmie and I explored the small amphibian and insect tent. She liked passing all of the little cages and pointing out what was in each one. We also enjoyed the mathematical tent. The challenging puzzles and activities were fun to figure out. The girls had fun making music with the water based instruments that were constructed in the band area. We did not realize how late it was as we had been having a good time in this area, when they started to close the different sections.
We walked our way back through the vendor area for tasty fair food and to rest our feet. Before we headed home, we took a ride on the ferris wheel. It was another concert night and everyone attending the concert was dressed in white, so as they walked down the street, there were these large sections of white from where the people had been stopped in their procession due to trains. Overall, the view was terrific as we could see the Frankfurt skyline on one side and the Taunus hills on the other.
Sunday afternoon, we biked to Hattersheim, a city that is about 4.8 km away. Our bike trip was short, so Emmie could get more time on her bike with pedals. With Adeline's enthusiasm and Eric's guidance, she finally did a couple 30 meter spurts riding by herself on the path. Unfortunately, our bike trailer wheel tube popped, so we called it a day. Us gals got some ice cream, while Eric rode his bike home to get the car. He returned with the car and and then we loaded up the bike trailer and Emmie's bike for me to drive home with Emmie. Eric then returned home with my bike and Adeline in tow. He commented after we were home that it was not the distance that was bad, but the last 0.5 km straight up hill at the very end of each trip that was the worst part.
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