The Hills Are Alive....

With Larry, Charmen and Cathleen. Yes, that's right. Lar joined in on the European fun on October 5th and we had a tremendous time touring Austria and Switzerland together for two weeks.

However, before venturing south of the German border, we did make a mid-day stop to the charming medieval town of Rothenburg.

After touring around and grabbing lunch, we continued our journey south to Salzburg. Our first day, we took a tour of Hitler's Eagle's Nest, in the town of Bertchesgaden, Germany, near Salzburg.

Surprisingly, there isn't much there, other than the one building at the top that was built for Hitler by his Nazi party as a gift. He actually only went there a handful of times, but to get to the top is quite impressive. You have to walk through a long tunnel and ride a brass elevator to the top.

Once back in Salzburg, the sun was shining and we walked through the beautiful Mirabel Gardens.

The following day, Lar and Charm did the Sound of Music tour. They were able to visit the famous gazebo (during song, "You are Sixteen, Going on Seventeen"), the house used in the film and the church where Maria got married.

View of the fortress and Salzburg's old city.

Salzburg's old city.

After two days in Salzburg, we traveled an hour south to Hallstatt, in Austria's Salzkammergut Lake district. This adorable village nestled into the hillside, sits along a gorgeous and peaceful lake.

We had a wonderful and very relaxing overnight stay in this quiet and quaint setting.

Next, we were off to the western part of Austria, to Innsbruck. Here, we met our friends, Al and Cristina, who joined us from Italy for two days. Most of our time consisted of visiting restaurants adn experiencing Austrian cuisine. One morning we did trek to a palace on the edge of town that was frequented by the Hapsburgs during summers. There were beautiful gardens surrounding the palace.

We also visited the neighboring village of Hall. The old town is actually larger than Innsbruck's and we enjoyed listening to an oompah band while having coffee in the market square.

After Austria, we headed to the Black Forest of Germany where Lar and Charm participated in a mission trip with their church for several days. Afterward, we enjoyed one final weekend together in Lucerne, Switzerland.

We had a lovely time walking around this beautiful old city alongside a lake with the Alps in the distance. The Chapel Bridge is beautiful as it snakes across the lake from one side of the city to the other.

We took a sunset boat cruise on the lake.

The following day, we trekked to the top of Mt. Pilatus, which towers over Lucerne. To get to the top, we rode the steepest cogwheel train in the world. Luckily, it was a clear, sunny day and the views were magnificent.

We had the best time together and I feel so lucky that I can have so much fun with my parents. They truly are two of the most remarkable people I know and I can't wait for many more traveling adventures ahead!

Joie de vivre!

I can hardly believe it's been three weeks since arriving in Istanbul at the start of Charm and Cat's adventures in Europe. I'm currently writing this from Munich where I've attended my final fair for the European tour circuit. Before detailing the wonderful times I've had with Charm AND Lar, who joined us on Oct. 5th, I must first go back to the remainder of travels in Paris and Brussels before the road trip through Austria and Switzerland.


After a jam-packed two days in Istanbul, we returned to Wiesbaden for one night to catch a train to Paris the following day. After settling in our hotel in the southern sector of Paris, we headed to the Latin Quarter where we enjoyed spectacular views of the Notre Dame at sunset and a lively dinner at a nearby restaurant. The next day, we headed to the Sacre Coure cathedral where we enjoyed breathtaking views of the city with perfect blue skies as the backdrop. Afterward, we trekked to the nearby famous flea markets of Montmarte where we enjoyed looking at streets and streets of antiques, textiles and other beautiful Parisian finds. In the afternoon, I went to fulfill my work duty at the Paris College Fair, and Charm went to the Tuileries Garden and toured the Orangerie museum. She said she hadn't walked as much in one day as the Paris marathon (are you rolling your eyes Laurel and Mandy?).


Our final day in Paris, we had a very special treat in store for us. We were meeting up with Denis Empereur, a former exchange student at Baylor. It had been over three years since I'd seen Denis, but it was as if no time had passed. He was still his sarcastic, charming self and we had a such a great time catching up and being with a local. Charm had also met Denis while he was at Baylor, so it was nice we could both have the "reconnection" experience together.


Before meeting up with Denis for lunch, we had a lovely morning beginning with breakfast at our favoirte decadent tea parlor, Angelina's, with the best hot chocalate I've ever tasted (melted chocolate in your cup, literally). We then had a lovely (and quite long) walk from the Lourve to the Place du Concorde all the way along the Champs Elysses to the Arc de Triomph. Yes, it was no short jaunt, but we enjoyed being out in the beautiful and warm weather in a beautiful city that I enjoy more and more every time I visit.


After returning to Wiesbaden for one night, I was off to Geneva for another college fair. Charm had opted to stay in Wiesbaden while I did this quick trip to Geneva, as she knew she would probably be quite tired after all this moving and grooving. She had a nice and relaxing two days of catching up with all the news and was even sweet enough to clean some of my apartment. What a great mom! The best part was returning from a horrendous trip from Geneva (with delayed planes, rain, etc.) with a home-cooked meal on the table. It was such a treat to have that and made my day!


The following day, we were on the road yet again to Brussels. We had a JOYOUS time getting to the fair event and long, grueling, painful story short - I was an hour late to the fair! Darn you google directions! You've never failed me before and in a crucial moment, totally fell through. No, the real blame belongs to the city of Brussels where street sings are practically non-existent. Needless to say, our driving experience into Brussels gave us a bad taste in our mouth for the city, so we weren't sure what to expect the following day during our touring.


Well, the next day came and along with it the rain. And with the rain, Charm got a cold and cough. We visted the major sites in the old town, shopped for some lace and enjoyed a Belgian waffle. But, the saving grace of the day came when we were cold and tired from walking around and spotted a cozy bar with a fireplace a-blazing through the window. We ducked in for some delicous Belgian ale and re-fueled for our drive ahead (not immediately after drinking, that is). We learned one thing from our Belgian experience, although it's great to drive and feel independent with this European traveling, it can be more complicated that it seems and quite taxing. Regardless, I'm so glad I had an excellent travel partner with me and I now know to NEVER drive in Brussels again with no GPS (and perhaps a little more time to get lost)!



Two days later, Lar arrived to Germany and the tour of Austria and Switzerland would begin. It's been an incredible experience and I will update the blog again soon with our many adventures!

Istanbul was Constantinople....

“Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople.

Been a long time gone, Constantinople

Why did Constantinople get the works?

That's nobody's business but the Turks”

It’s difficult to imagine that this vibrant European city with over 15 million people was once the great city of Constantinople and also ruled by both the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Although this city is at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and over 90% of Turkish people are registered as Muslims, it is surprisingly similar to other cosmopolitan cities in Europe. Turkey is considered a secular country as most people are not practicing Muslims. Therefore, although you hear the call to prayer four times a day from the towering mosques that are scattered around the city, rarely do you see women wearing scarves (they’re actually banned at Turkish universities) and even though it’s Ramadan right now, the cafes and restaurants are filled throughout the day with people eating and drinking.

The people are a mix of all different ethnicities, as this fairly new country (established in 1928) is made up of people from all over Eastern Europe, Asia Minor and beyond. For instance I received the same compliment once again this trip in Turkey, as being mistaken for a Turk. I seem to have the “Turkish” look, whatever that is, although I definitely didn’t see any Turkish girls with a lot of height. Nonethelss, I felt quite honored.

Cat and Charm’s European Adventure Part I:

The fun began when I met Charm at the Frankfurt airport Wednesday morning after her long flight from Dallas. We boarded the plane and were off to Istanbul where we landed that afternoon. We took a long taxi ride to the new, more modern part of Istanbul where the Hilton Hotel is located. The traffic is absolutely horrendous in this city, and we got used to sitting around in the taxi quite a bit during our two days there. After checking in, we decided to make plans for our next two days, while having tea on the terrace overlooking the Bosphorous River. It was absolutely beautiful weather, and it was crazy to think that on the other side of the bustling “river” is another continent. After booking a sight-seeing tour for the next morning, we then got some information about a dinner that evening that included traditional music, dancing and food.

The Orient House was definitely plenty touristy, but it also turned out to be a ton of fun and provided us with a glimpse of the Turkish culture of the past. During dinner, we heard a group of musicians, were entertained with folk-dancing and three different belly-dancers and then later there was a sing-along time where a performer sang popular songs from the various countries represented at the dinner. Therefore, he sang songs from Brazil, Spain, Serbia, Lebanon, Greece, etc. It was quite impressive.

At the end, they pulled people onstage to participate in a belly-dancing competition, and of course yours truly was one of them. I’m not sure why Charm didn’t get up there with me, but 11 of us ended up embarrassing ourselves completely when we were told to do our own belly-dancing (in the middle of the stage individually) for a good 2 minutes each. Afterward, he made the audience judge the competition with their applause. He did this several times for each of us, which was quite painful, and in the end said that we were all winners (gee, didn’t see that one coming). But, I must say that I was the last person left on stage, so I feel that counts for something. We didn’t leave our Turkish night out until midnight, and were not in bed until after 1:00 a.m. This made for an early morning when we had to meet our tour guide at 9:00 a.m. I was so proud of Charm for sucking it up and going out in the first place Wed. night, and then waking up the next morning with not much sleep. I was totally exhausted and didn’t have the excuse of a trans-continental flight, so I’m not sure how she did it – AMAZING TRAVELER, that she is! Our sight-seeing tour ended up being private, which was awesome as we didn’t have to deal with looking like tourists as much, and also didn’t have some little man waving a red flag or yellow umbrella shouting “Carrani, Carrani (remember Pompeii, Laurel and Mandy?).

We got the inside tour of Istanbul and had an excellent time exploring the old town and touring Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque (or Sultanhamet Mosque), the Hippodrome and the Grand Bazaar.

Our tour guide was Serkan, and he was a wealth of information related to the history of Turkey, and the Christian and Muslim influence in the country. There were times where I could tell we were both drowning in his sea of details, and I wish that Jon and Lar could have been there to take it all in for us (being the history buffs that they are). Anyway, we had a great time with Serkan, especially when after the museum seeing, we could get down to the real Istanbul and the shopping! He took us to this great carpet store that has been in business for hundreds of years when it first began as a carpet manufacturing and trading post.

We were assisted by Kaner Kaya who informed us about the various kinds of Turkish rugs and proceeded to pull one after the other after the other out on his floor. We could no longer hide our enthusiasm about the beautiful carpets and he began to ask questions about what colors, style, size, we liked. Needless to say, Charm saw some beautiful rugs that she liked and ended buying the best souvenir she possibly could from Turkey. It will look so lovely in the living room!

After the carpet experience, we then headed over to the Grand Bazaar and were completely overwhelmed with the many, many shops. Although I had been before, I forgot how MUCH there is to see. We did a quick tour through a small area of the bazaar and then decided to save our shopping until the following day when we would be returning. After getting back to the hotel that afternoon, I was ready or a nap before my fair that evening. I wanted to be well-rested and ready to receive the many students who would be in attendance. And many there were – the fair was quite a success and the three hours absolutely flew by.

Our final day in Istanbul consisted of a lovely morning at the impressive Topkapi Palace and a short time in the afternoon at the bazaar. The expansive residence of Topkapi Palace is a palace fit for a sultan, several wives, hundreds of concubines and thousands of retainers. It was not only a royal residence, but also the Ottoman Empire’s center of government. After touring the beautiful grounds, we meandered through the ancient streets of what once was Constantinople to the grand bazaar. After getting completely turned around and lost on some back-streets behind the bazaar, we found the jewelry section and enjoyed perusing through the endless stalls of gold, intricate boxes, antiques, prints, lamps, etc. As you can imagine, the time completely flew by in this exotic shopping experience, and it was time to head back across town through the horrendous traffic in our taxi. After retrieving our luggage and making another trek across town to the airport, it was hard to believe that our Istanbul adventure was coming to an end. It was a fantastic time in the land of where east meets west, old meets new and learning about the fascinating culture that’s apparently nobody’s business but the Turks.

Getting settled and re-settled, and on the road again

Well, it's hard to believe I've been back in Wiesbaden for over two weeks now. I've been horrible about keeping in touch with family, friends and anyone but Charm who's diligently called about every day to chat with me (she's just the best, isn't she?). But, let me assure you all, I'm doing well and gradually getting re-adjusted to my life here. The biggest hurdles I had to overcome? First there was the car issue; obtaining the paperwork to pick it up was ridiculous and then it wouldn't start and now it does but has a horrible screeching noise. So, not only is the big honkin' X-terra a gas-guzzling eye sore for all the Germans, but now it makes a horrendous chirping noise that gets louder the faster I go (so, it gets loud a lot). Second, there was the internet issue; I had no internet for the first 8 days I was back as there was a problem getting it reconnected again. As my fellow websurfing-loving friends know, this equates to a LIFETIME! I was constantly going to the nearby Turkish-run internet cafe, where I'm pretty sure the guy who ran it thought I had a crush on him because I was dropping by so often and would flash a big smile, as my German wasn't quite up to speed yet. The third hurdle I had to overcome (and am still overcoming) is the weather. My goodness gracious it's quite cool here! There was really no transition for me between extreme Texas summer heat and highs in the low 60s here. I went from tank tops to tights and shorts to sweaters. Quite depressing. But, when the sun IS shining outside and illuminating the gorgeous flowers and architecture, I don't care what the temperature is because it's just so darn beautiful here.

After being back in Wiesbaden for less than a week, I travled to Antwerp, Belgium for the EAIE (European Association of International Educators) Conference, a.k.a. "Euro Summer Camp." I met up with my boss there, and had a splendid time meeting people from all over Europe and learning new ways to effectively recruit international students. But, like all conferences, when the workday comes to an end, it evolves into a "camp" like setting with receptions, dances and parties to attend. I had my group I rolled with consisiting of people from the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and at times some Swedes. Although we may all come from very different places, one thing's for sure, no one can resist the Texas charm.

After my 4-day stint in Antwerp, it was time to come back to Wiesbaden and get in my routine once again. It was a busy week preparing for the gospel concert at my church, attending the baby shower of a friend, visiting a friend in Kaiserslautern for the day, working on my grad. class, planning logistics for my next upcoming travels, blah, blah, blah. I know, I know, I can hear my lovely neighbor across the street from my parent's in Bryan right now telling me no one cares about these details in my life. All right, Mr. B, I can take a hint.

To sum it all up, it's been one heck of a time getting back in the swing of things here, and although it is incredibly strange to be "home" without Jon around, I have enough to keep me busy so that the next two months are going to fly by in no time. Also, I have some amazing friends here that never let me go too long without a phone call or invite to hang out. This Wednesday, Charm and I are meeting in the Frankfurt airport to gallavant off to Istanbul together, followed by trips to Paris and Brussels. Oh boy, oh boy!

Now that my internet is up and working, I'll be much better about updating the oh-so-exciting events (and possibly the occassional mundane ones as well) that are going on in my life. I miss you all and will be in touch again soon!

Adios Tejas, Hallo Deutschland!

Tomorrow, I board a plane bound for Germany after my four months in Texas..... my home. It's been an incredible summer filled with quality time with family, friends and plenty of Tex-Mex!

This past weekend, I celebrated one last hoo-rah with the family at the ranch. In addition to my parents, sisters and aunt, our dear family friends Judy and Claudia also joined us. We had an excellent time enjoying the beautiful ranch and the last of the summer weather I'll get to experience for quite a while. I checked the temperatures earlier today in Germany, and the highs are in the upper 60s. That's going to be a shocker!

Although I'll have a busy schedule over the next couple months, I'm delighted to be heading back to Germany and can't wait for my parents to join me soon. Charm will be coming over at the end of September, and my dad will be there two weeks after her. I sure am lucky to have such an outstanding family and although I'm going to miss my sisters like crazy over the next six months, I'm so grateful for the good times we were able to spend together this summer. Thanks to you all for making this such a special time in my life and hasta luego!

Texas Mountains - They DO Exist!

As the second week in August rolls around, it's time for the Catlin and Hicks families to head to Weat Texas, specifically the Davis Mountains near Fort Davis, for the annual Bloys Cowboy Camp Meeting. To describe camp meeting is a difficult thing; to me, it's vacation, a family reunion and church camp (for adults) all rolled into one. We have a cabin there we can use only this week in August and for one week this camp site becomes a bustling community of 2,500 people.

Originally founded in 1890 for the purpose of cowboys ranching in the desolate West Texas to have exposure to preaching and church fellowship, generations have been gathering here since. Our family has been attending since 1957 and growing up, it was always one of the highlights of my year. I was so thrilled to be able to go back to Bloys again this year as I missed last year and will most likely miss next year due to living in Europe.

Beyond reuniting with my camp meeting friends, relaxing on the porch of our cabin with no distractions of TV, phones, computers, etc., I love climbing the mountains nearby, attending the many church services, eating meals at the open air cook sheds and enjoying the breathtaking beauty of this part of Texas that many never get to experience.

Now back in the reality of humid central Texas, I'm missing the dry climate of West Texas already and am looking forward to the cooler temperatures in Germany. The countdown is only two weeks and two days away now before returning to Wiesbaden. Where does the time go? I'm headed to Baylor for a few days this week to assist with International Orientation and see my co-workers one last time before the end of the summer. Other big news - Jon and I are halfway through our deployment separation! He will be returning EARLIER than expected on November 10th. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! Adventures with Juan y Carmen will return in a mere three months - STAY TUNED!

Adventures in D-town!

This past weekend the Catlin sisters converged in Dallas for Mandy's 31st birthday celebration. It was an incredibly fun weekend and I'm so glad we could all be together to celebrate this special occasion. Her party took place at a wine bar and it was so much fun to catch up with many of her close friends, including our cousins, Jenny, Steven and Janet.

I've had an absolute blast visiting Dallas several times this summer. During Michelle's last weekend visiting Texas, we went to Dallas and had a wonderful time shopping, eating and going out in all the fabulous places D-town has to offer. She had an absolute blast on her Tour de Texas, and although it was sad to see her go back to Germany, I know my remaining time in Texas will fly by soon!

Now that I'm down to the wire with only four weeks left in this great state, I'm hoping to see as many friends as possible. Yesterday, I had a fantastic reunion with Laura and her baby, Canon, in Waco and I'm looking forward to being in West Texas this week for the annual Camp Meeting my family attends. It will be wonderful to be in the mountains and have some time with family and many friends I haven't seen in over a year.

Until next week.....