Today for our Saturday outing, we decided to go to Idstein, about an hour away. We got there by 2:00, just in time to hear the Alpenhorns being played by the Rathaus. That was fun!
This little town is really quaint and fun and festive. The market looped around the town and spilled out into small plazas. It felt like a fun community event with lots of locals. The town has lots of beautiful half-timber homes surrounding the plazas. All cobblestone, all old and charming. We really loved it.
The old city walls and gates and towers are still protecting the little town.
Here is a living Nativity which included donkeys, sheep. The children were quite taken by it.
We had some really tasty food treats here!
We went into a very old church with all the walls and ceiling covered in beautiful paintings. I think it dates back to the 1300s with a big remodel in the 1600s. An man and his child were carving an ice block of the church just outside.
Lots of gables!
Mistletoe for sale:
Egg warmers:
The local music is really fun and festive.
That’s Idstein.
This evening we went to a “Living Christmas Tree” concert in Frankfurt at this more modern church. No photos were allowed inside. It was kind of a gimicky choir that sang mostly in English. The choir stands/risers were in the shape of a CMS tree with 11 rows, making a really big tall tree. There were about 80 performers dressed in green smocks draped with silver garlands. They were middle-aged to older. The best part was when the concert started in darkness, then slowly the lights on the tree came on and eventually you could see the people singing.
Sunday evening we went back to Idstein where we saw a free “Gospel Choir” performance advertised at the old church. It was a beautiful venue filled with people and another older choir singing gospel songs in English. We’d hoped for some German carols. Oh well. It was fun to be in that church.
And it was fun to see Idstein by night.
Our Frankfurt Germany Mission 