Tuesday, December 03, 2019

1969 Catherine's Letter -Oct.13

October 13, 1969
Dear Mother, Dad, Serena, John, Mary,

Hi!  I've changed my mind again.  I won't be coming to Mallorca after all.  After reevaluating all the pros & cons and talking to the people in the travel bureau I decided that would be best.  I'm really sorry I will miss seeing you as that was on the top of my "pro" list.  Have a good time and send me a post card from there.  I could get reduced rates if I stayed over 6 days but even then it would cost almost $200.

October 14
Hi, again!  I was glad to get your letter today.  Mail seems to be taking on greater meaning, I hope that isn't a bad sign.  I was glad to hear from Joe over the weekend, too.  I still find it hard to believe he's coming.  I'm not sure if we'll be able to get together or not.

I'm glad to hear Roberta and Vanessa got jobs and also that Grandma is doing well.

In the newspaper that we get here at home there isn't hardly any news of the United States at all as it is a local paper.  Now that I'm becoming a regular patron of the Münster city library I have access to a lot of other papers too.  Of course, I usually end up reading only the headlines and then skimming through the articles.  I went to the university library the other day but it isn't nearly as nice.  Too many people, lots of reference books, etc.

The Rhine trip this past weekend was really nice.  Friday night we stayed in Koblenz.  The Kalamazoo group from Hannover was staying in a different hotel there so we had a big reunion with them.  Saturday morning we got on the ship (or boat?) and headed south up the Rhine.  Once the fog lifted it was really nice.  The trees changing colors on the mountains, old castles, busy river traffic.  And for entertainment we could listen to the World Series on one of the guys transistor radio.  If you are following a map, we left the boat at Rudesheim.  It was an extremely touristy town with lots of English speaking people around.  A bunch of us finally escaped by climbing up a grape-vine covered mountain that looked over the river and town.  It was dark by then and the lights were really pretty.  We took the train on to Meinz and spent the night there.  On the way home we spent a couple hours in Köln.  I saw the great Dom, a couple other churches, and the art museum.  They even have a Wimpy's hamburger place there but I refrained.  I'm becoming more anti-city everyday.  I hope over Christmas I can see some places that aren't so crowded with people.  Thanks goodness for my Fahrrat (bicycle)!

There are alot of apples around and a super abundance of plums.  Although when I go somewhere I get an apple or two with my sandwiches and cookies, we never have fruit here.  That is with the exception of stewed plums once or twice.  I miss the fruit and vegetables but I'm not going to die of malnutrition.

I haven't seen much farm land at all.  Mostly the industrial area with the mines & factories and the vineyards along the Rhine.

My phone number 314345.  Remember that I live in  44  Münster and not some other one.

School is going ok. It seems like I'm understanding less German now and my mind still isn't completely connected with my mouth.  I have to improve.

Love,
Catherine

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