Sunday, July 1st
Neustadt an der Weinstrasse

The girls sang during the morning service,
and gave a short (and WONDERFUL!) performance afterwards.

The minister gave the girls a warm welcome and thanks from his congregation.

Here's Mat, one of our fabulous tour leaders, all dressed up for church!

After lunch, off to explore Hambach Castle.
Building on this site existed during the late Roman time,
but the first of many versions of the castle
was probably built in the first half of the eleventh century,
Hambach Castle is said to be the symbol of the German democracy movement because of the Hambacher Fest which occurred here in 1832.

An elaborate brass door handle features doves
(or maybe they're pheasants...??)

Our terrific tour leader, Kathie Schmoll,
wearing one of her fabulous signature hats

Our crowd, on the castle grounds

Next—despite the continuing "moody" weather—the girls finally went swimming!

After dinner with our host families, we gathered in the square in Neustadt before exploring the gothic Stiftskirche.

Lift Thine Eyes sung in English by our girls—
while the Kurrende girls sang it in German—
here in the Protestant sanctuary
(the Catholic sanctuary is on the other side of the wall)
of this 14th century Romanesque church

Climbing many, many stairs to the top of the tower

We had to hurry to climb beyond these giant bells
before they pealed—VERY loudly—at 9:30 p.m.!

Beautiful views from the top of the tower—
as the twilight deepened, the girls again sang Lift Thine Eyes
from their places around all four sides of the narrow tower balcony,
with Mark and Carola each conducting from opposite corners.
(And yes, it takes a lot of courage to wave your arms around at that height.)

This lofty performance had to be some sort of premiere—
possibly the "First at an Extremely Elevated Position" for Elijah's chorus of angels?

The square far, far below us...

..and the tower roof above us

Our last stop of the evening was a visit to the
whimsical and very funny “Elwedritsche” fountain
(designed by the same sculptor who created the sundial
on the steeple of the Lachen church where the girls performed the night before)

Carola told the story of the fountain,
(and Mat translated, which elicited a lot of giggles)
which features many odd bird-like creatures
who are positioned to chase and spit at each other (and observers)
when the fountain is turned on

These bizarre creatures are many-legged birds sporting braids and hats—
and a lot of attitude!
Our choir hosts delighted the girls when they presented each one
with a small stuffed version of the silly six-legged Elwedritsche—
a great memento of the magic of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse

Then it was time to head back to our homestays
for a last bit of packing...and then bed!

We were off by bus to Frankfort the next morning at 5:30 a.m.!

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