Tonight in our FHE potluck (salads, breads, desserts) we heard farewells from the Okamuras, the Andersons and the Bjorkmans. They shared their parting words and we wished them well.
This afternoon I made 4 dozen deviled eggs. Always a favorite! Our potluck meals are always excellent. It’s really hard not to taste everything.
Our departing missionaries: Bjorkmans, Okumuras and Andersons.
After Cochem, we drove to Beilstein, about 20-30 min away, along the river. It’s another little gem of a town nestled between the river and the terraced hillsides with vineyards. The town is right on the river. You park before entering the town–there’s a strip of parking places along the road, you pay at a little Automat or payment kiosk, then walk into town.
Here’s what you see as you look across the river to the other side:
And this is the Beilstein side:
There’s an old castle up on the hill above the down that dates to 1080. We didn’t take the hike. We just stayed in town and walked up to the Kloster/church of St. Joseph. It was absolutely beautiful inside. Feminine, Music was playing. That makes all the difference. The colors were soft. Pinks and creams. Reverent and peaceful. We lingered there.
Outside the church is the Kloster restaurant with views over the town down to the river. It’s a small town, just a few streets, but they are oh so beautiful! Quaint. Charming. Again, every detail beautifies. Flower boxes and pots and beautiful doors and knockers. There’s just such attention to detail here. I think I will live differently after being here. I want to beautify things and our garden and yard more. The recent rain helped wash it all clean and refresh the plants. We loved wandering here. I felt So Happy to be here, to not have missed seeing this place.
Honestly, does it get any more beautiful than this?? I think this is my favorite little town so far. Every detail was Beautiful. I just drank it all in.
You can see the high water marks on this restaurant guest house.
Reluctantly we returned to our car at the end of the day to drive back to Frankfurt. We were so filled with the beauty and wonder of the day, we hardly said a word all the way home. It really was a perfect day.
Today’s Saturday was one of my favorite yet! We drove to Cochem, an hour and 45 minutes from Frankfurt, then spent most of the day exploring there. It was an absolute must see destination. We loved it. The town is nestled along the Mosel River, in beautifully scenic country. It was historic, charming, interesting, and photogenic. I couldn’t help myself with my camera. There was so much to capture because I will want to revisit this place through these photos.
The Town of Cochem
Cochem is located on the Moselle River (die Mosel in German), which is also one of the town’s many charms. Home to only about 5,200 residents (as of 2021), the small town punches above it weight with half-timbered houses, a riverside promenade, in-town vineyards, a scenic market square, charming restaurants and inns, and of course Cochem Castle.
Come walk with me and see what I saw. It was all so incredible.
Cochem is a destination spot for river cruises. The large boats stop here, drop off, let people wander, then they catch the next boat.
There’s a bridge you can use to cross the river. We walked across to visit the old church on the other side. Everywhere we looked was a beautiful view.
The old church:
This Christian preacher was murdered by the Nazis at Dachau.
Graves by the church date back to the 1500s and 1600s.
From the bridge:
This is the Catholic Church in Cochem:
Then we walked the streets. They run parallel to the river. There were lots of visitors here today.
Notice the signage hanging over the streets from the shops.
Here’s a wine vending machine.
We grabbed sandwiches so we could eat while we explored.
And some traditional bakery treats–plum kuchen and a nut Ecke, or corner.
You can tell we are in wine country.
We made our way through town to the road and steps leading up to the castle high overhead.
The hillsides around the castle were covered in vineyards.
Once at the top, we waited for the next tour to begin. I Really Loved this castle, called Reichsburg. It’s ancient, originally built in the 11th century, later destroyed in the 17th century. In 1689, during the Nine Years’ War, the castle was besieged, taken and blown up by French troops.. The current castle seen today is a reconstruction from the 19th century. A rich merchant bought it in 1866 for 300 Marks and spent 2 years and millions restoring it to its original glory. He died 2 years later. That made me sad. He didn’t have long to enjoy it.
The views from the castle were spectacular. You can see some of the many cruise boats.
The exterior of the castle was really beautiful. Stone work, vines and flowers, attention to detail. Magical. Really amazing. Reminded us a bit of Berg Eltz. The rooms inside were small and intimate, some felt like a hunting lodge, with stuffed animals mounted on the walls, including the head of a huge boar. There were suits of armor and some hunting weapons.
We walked through sitting rooms and a dining room and a music room where Handel’s Water Musik was playing. The details were beautiful. In one room, there was a writing table and chair in a small alcove with beautiful glasswork windows looking out over the mountain and vineyards below. That particular place made my heart beat, and I felt drawn to it, as if I had been there before.
I wondered today as we walked and drove if there are places here that are familiar to me because I have seen them before. Not this particular castle, because it’s not likely I’m connected to people who lived here, but other German places where my people have lived, like in Grossgartach. Did I look down on them and know those places because they were there?? Is that why so much of Germany feels so familiar and comfortable to me? Have I been watching this place for eons of time, waiting for my turn to come to earth? And are others watching me now? I feel we are connected. I feel at home here. I love this feeling.
Sometimes I think about my “mansion in heaven” and wonder what it will be like. There are times when the beauty of a place overwhelms me. I wonder what my particular place was like before I left to come to Earth. I wonder what projects I left on my desk, waiting for my return. It’s going to be so fun to re-discover them when I get back.
A balcony view:
After enjoying the castle grounds, it was time to come down off the mount. We had beautiful views of the Mossel River, both directions and we could see a rain storm blowing in along the river valley. After about 5 minutes, it reached our mountain top and started to rain. We started down the mountain side, without jackets or umbrellas. We were pretty drenched by the time we got to the bottom, even after stopping a couple of times along the way under a tree or door arch. There were a few homes along the climb, but mostly vineyards. Wine country. It was beautiful. Others were still going up and coming down too.
The path led us right into town and the fun streets, where people were taking cover and shop displays and clothing were pulled inside or under awnings. We were totally wet, so we wandered some more. It wasn’t cold–still in the mid-70s.
By about 4:30 we headed back to our car, stopping at a Senf Museum (mustard). We’d just missed the last tour at 4:00. That would’ve been interesting.
A man on his balcony watching the storm:
We were sad to leave this town. What a beautiful place!
The beauty continued as we drove along the river to our next dreamy town: Beilstein, about 30 minutes farther along the Mosel River.
In addition to our daily work in the Communication Department, our Zone Leader jobs keep us really busy. We look after immigration, arrivals and departures, technology, cars, rosters, endless paperwork, daily problems and challenges the missionaries have, the zone jobs and assignments and we help to prepare those who will be coming to serve in Frankfurt.
Right now one of our biggest jobs is to help prepare the 34 new apartments for our missionaries. All the newly arriving missionaries move right into the new Bad Homburg apartments. The rest (like us) who are in the Portstrasse apartments are moving over one at a time, as fast as the facilities crews can prepare the apartments. John says we’ll be the last to move over, so we can be here on the Portstrasse end to help.
Here are a few pics from today’s trip to the new apartments. We went over to figure out which apartments the next new missionaries will occupy.
This apartment is still being put together.
It will be great when we are all finally together in Bad Homburg. The couples serving in the Frankfurt Mission will stay in Portstrasse, right next to the Mission Office. It’s a great place for them, convenient to the office.
We had an early airport run this morning, so we were halfway to Darmstadt, where we needed to pick up some furniture from a furniture store there. The problem was we had a few hours to wait until the store opened at 10:00.
We looked for something interesting to do in Darmstadt, and found this funky Vortex Garden. It’s in a private back yard, but it’s open to the public most hours of the day. It was really quite interesting to walk through. And it was free! Come take a look.
There were lots of interesting places to sit and read or contemplate the universe.
This is a habitat for insects.
We weren’t far from the Russian Orthodox church and the Wedding Tower, so we wandered there too.
Finally we were able to pick up the furniture and head back to Frankfurt.
Here’s some asparagus growing in a field along the way:
Meet our new friend, Carol Van Tonder! She loves Polish pottery. A few years ago, before Covid, she took fieldtrips with the Sister missionaries to Poland where the Polish pottery factories are.
I went to meet her this week when she told me she had pottery for sale. I wanted to take photos to show the other missionaries who are interested in buying the pottery (the only shop within a couple of hours of Frankfurt closed for good this summer).
Here are the pieces Carol has for sale. This post is to share with those who are interested in buying from her. I have a feeling I’ll be organizing a trip to Poland with Carol in the coming weeks.
Our Frankfurt Germany Mission 