Arrival

 I'm pretty sure the photo below was taken AS we arrived in Frankfurt. Perhaps someone will correct me on that. Don't think everyone would have been smiling so much if we were headed back home. 

Since it was 1982, it wasn't unusual to be a sixteen year old on his first commercial flight. A couple of years prior, I had flown on one of those lake planes that used to fly from resort area to resort area looking for those who wanted to fly above the lakes and trees for a few minutes. This time we got on a 747 bound for Amsterdam, operated by KLM. Perhaps it was the tail end of the 'golden age' of air travel, but I remember being somewhat miserable. I couldn't sleep on the plane and I still have a lot of trouble doing so. I don't recall the details, but I remember referring to the transport as a "slave ship" in my journal. That was certainly NOT woke and it was a terrible comparison. Are teens prone to exaggeration?

After a short stop in Amsterdam, we flew to Frankfurt. I really don't recall much from the arrival, although I know we took a train from Frankfurt to Mainz. It was then that Peter and I tried desperately to cancel our tickets in an ashtray. Goofy Americans, indeed!

Seated (left to right): Kathy Lewis, Diana Fleming Mackesey, Barb Washa

Standing (left to right): Mike Niemann, Ann Buller, Brian H., Chris Bradle

Pretty sure that was also my first journey on a proper train. Trains in Germany blew my mind. It's such a superior way to travel vs. cars. More comfortable, faster, and far less stressful. They were my first indication that life could be much different and potentially better in the U.S. I had no idea at the time the discoveries I would make about German bread. 

Thanks for the memories?

 Ah, the memories! Wait, what? Photographs, of course, help us preserve some of what's happened. After nearly 40 years, however, things fade. Most of my memories of this time or any other, of course, are bound up with whatever photographs I have to revisit where I was, who I was with and what I was doing. The one shown here tells me that, at some point when the Germans visited, we had a dress up gathering. I dressed as a baby. Seeing this, I do recall that I dressed up as a baby. Where the party was, what happened there, and anything else from that night is long gone. Nor do I know who took the photo below.

One of the reasons it's fun to gather is that with 20 plus of us who experienced much of the same two month period is that we all recall different things. Plus, if we're lucky, we will have preserved different photographs. At some gathering, I think it was when we met for the 25th, someone handed me a photo that showed me at a pool party in Germany. It was of me leaping, arms and legs extended, into the pool. I didn't recall that party and I don't remember that anyone had a pool. I would think that would be a pretty good memory, since back then I was young, skinny and enjoyed being in pools with people I knew.

Mathias and I (perhaps at Pete Reinhardt's - that looks like his guitar)

I was one of those who took a lot of photos on our trip. Hell, I was just coming off my year as the assistant photo editor of the school newspaper. I also focused (what the hell, pun intended) on my photography at the time. I used my dad's all manual Pentax K1000. Those things were built like tanks and they were simple to use. Mr. Hanson, our journalism teacher, taught me well. Well, he taught me good enough to get started, and I have sustained that hobby, switching from film and slides to digital, for more than forty years and through several cameras.

I remember gathering after our trip to compare photos. A few of us brought photos along when we celebrated twenty-five years. I do hope I get another chance in the coming few years to see some photos that others have preserved. That's one possible way to open up a memory that has long been tucked away.