So I woke up this morning to blaring sirens. For a city this big and crowded, you don’t hear sirens too often at all. And I remember how often the wailing of sirens would wake me up in Frankfurt. So we knew something was up.

I looked out from my balcony and sure enough there was something. A fire, in fact, blazing out behind a local hotel. It’s quite scary to think just how quickly a fire could spread in a tight space like that. Thankfully, the fires seem to be put out in time.

Before the arrival of the firefighters

Firetrucks parked around any little space they could get.

The hose from the truck had to be dragged around the houses before reaching the fire.