Fashion,  Travel

The High Life in Deutschland -Living in Germany in the 1980’s

In the gorgeous town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Could I look any more American?!?

I was incredibly lucky to get to live in (what was then West) Germany from 1983-86. After I graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in journalism, I decided I wanted to go live in Europe. I was a planner from an early age, so I took a secretarial job, lived at home saving my money, and plotted my launch.

Taken with my camera using self-timer, parked on that ledge

After travels around the British Isles with friends from high school (which is the subject of a future post) and sojourns in France and Switzerland, I landed in Wiesbaden, Germany – just west of Frankfurt, on the Rhein River at the ripe age of 23.

Christmas market in Salzburg

In the mid-1980’s, the Cold War waged with West Germany in its cross-hairs, and there were close to 300,000 American miliary personnel stationed in Germany, with thousands more in Italy, Spain, the UK, Belgium, the Netherland, Greece and Turkey. A huge economy existed around these active-duty soldiers, airmen and sailors. The Dept of Defense Dependent Schools, or DODDS, employed thousands of American teachers to teach the thousands of American children on military bases. Civilian contractors worked in the base exchanges (department stores) and commissaries (grocery stores), printing the Stars and Stripes newspaper, and running Trips and Tours offices. Continuing education was necessary for promotion in the military (and if you didn’t get promoted, you were kicked out), and colleges and universities contracted with the military to provide that education.

Strasbourg, France

My parents were best friends in Kentucky with a retired Air Force colonel and his wife, who were living in Germany running a program offering masters degrees for officers, and my brother had married one of their daughters.

Taunus Mountains of Germany. I bought this hand-knit sweater in Edinburgh in 1983 for $25. It is as beautiful on the inside as outside, and I still treasure it to this day. I can only wear it, outside, when it’s below freezing…

They graciously invited me to stay with them when I arrived in Germany, then managed to find me a job with another of the schools (City Colleges of Chicago). Even better, another of their daughters had moved there and needed a roommate, so I had an apartment!

The uber-stylish Allison – one of the most elegant women I know, on the shore of the Mediterranean.

I had a low-level administrative job, working with Education Centers on bases from Spain to Bavaria to England. Personal computers were in their infancy (and we didn’t have ’em), and I managed faculty and equipment with a telephone and a typewriter. My office was on an American military base that had been built for the Germans in the 1930s. The sense of history was palpable, and I could walk to work.

In the forest above Salzburg. I had gotten my one and only perm before moving to Europe. I could not grow it out fast enough! Do people still get perms?

I got paid in dollars, and with a great exchange rate at that time, our rent got cheaper every month. Allison and I lived in a first-floor apartment with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, living room and kitchen, and incredibly high ceilings. It was downtown, a block from the bus station and 2 blocks from the main “fussgangerzone”, or pedestrian shopping district. It was heaven, and across the street from a bakery. There was always champagne in the fridge and fresh flowers on the table. And we could go to France for lunch!

My 3 best friends from college came for two weeks and we ran around Germany, Switzerland and Paris.

I made $14,000 a year, tax-free because I lived overseas. I had no debt, no need of a car (hello, public transport!), or health insurance (American military health care) and both American and German holidays off work. My roommate and sister-in-law was my wingman and travel companion, and we LIVED to travel.

On the beach in Nice in the Golden Hour
On the Costa Brava in Spain. This photo is to show I was ditching preppy clothes, and to prove I once had collarbones, although I had eaten so much shellfish, my feet were too swollen for shoes. Check out the guy behind me – I was not prepared for European bathing suits!

EVERY holiday and all vacation days were spent travelling – Copenhagen, Spain, Rome, Garmisch, Paris, Prague, Stockholm, Lucerne, Vienna, Strasbourg, Salzburg, Crete – always on a shoestring, often on short notice, all unforgettable. 3-day weekend? Off to Berlin. Christmas holiday? Skiing in Switzerland! I can take 2 weeks in a row in the summer? Come on, friends from home, we’re cruising the Greek islands!

The Parthenon in Athens. I sure loved those espadrilles. It look me another 30 years to get past polo shirts.
At a restaurant in Paris, where part of the singer’s act was embarassing tourists. Jerk!

I worked with Americans so I spoke English all day, but studied German both on base and in the “folkshochschule” (community adult ed) with people from lots of countries, and German was the only common language. I would never say I was fluent, but I could get by in most situations.

Brugges, Belgium, with VERY short hair, and very American jeans and tennis shoes.
Showing my college girlfriends around Wiesbaden.

Phone calls were ruinously expensive, and my family, friends and I wrote letters every week. I probably spent an hour a night writing (we had no TV), and it took about 1 week for a letter to get back home through the military mail system, and another week for the reply to arrive. The thought of FaceTime or Zoom would have been like something out of the Jetsons…Thank God the movie “Taken” had not come out. It was a pre-911 world, and we took risks that make my hair stand up today. My guardian angel was working overtime in those days.

We had toured Neuschwanstein (in the background) and accepted a lift back to Garmisch from an American with a dog and a car, rather than waiting for the bus. There were 4 of us so it seemed safe, but he was fairly crazy, and none of us thought we’d get out of the car alive. Fortunately, it ended well.
Parties at our apartment were legend. This one was a Christmas Eve house party for fellow ex-pats. That blue cocktail dress was bought for my brother’s wedding. I have no idea the names of those two women, but I still wore nail polish in those days.

We went to the market on Saturday mornings to buy produce, bread and cheese. I soon learned NOT to buy more than I could carry the 4 blocks back to my house. We went to free concerts in churches, picnics in vineyards, and looked forward to the wine festivals every year. There were cruises on the Rhein, Fasching (Mardi Gras) parties in costume, Oktoberfest in Munich and a Bruce Springsteen concert in Frankfurt.

I went as a cat (check out my whiskers painted on with eyeliner) to the Fasching costume ball. This is the kitchen of our apartment.
The Colosseum in Rome with my oldest bestie and my knock-off Ray-Bans

I rode a bicyle, took the bus when it rained and could read a train timetable like a pro. I rode trains, took ferries, and rode trains ONTO ferries. Remember aerobics? I was a fitness instructor as a second job, and taught at the base gym and at a fitness studio downtown. My bedroom was always festooned with air-drying tights and leotards everywhere. I did draw the line at leg-warmers, though…

In Amsterdam, in front of Anne Frank’s house
St. Peter’s Square in Rome

I loved shopping in German shops, and at Next and Benetton. I was too rigid to stray far from my Preppy Handbook dogma, so it was a bit like Flashdance meets LL Bean…I do remember a cashmere/lambswood navy sweater dress with a huge V down the back. I loved the way it felt on bare skin.

Skiing in France
Camel ride in Tunisia with high school friend Larry

So how did this idyllic existence end? At the altar! Allison and I both met and eventually married Air Force officers, and moved with them back to the US. Ultimately, both marriages ended in divorce, but we have also both found true love and happiness the second time around. Her sister is still married to my brother, Allison now lives about 5 miles from me and we are still close friends.

Venice, right before discovering I was allergic to mussels
Monaco – picnicking above the yacht harbor

As I looked through old photos preparing this post, I was struck by 2 things: 1) we took very few photos of ourselves in those days. I have lots more photos of the people I’m traveling with, and of architecture, that of myself. I spent 4 days in Vienna and do not have ONE photo of myself there. 2) I took AWFUL photos! I had a beloved 35mm SLR with a zoom lens, and my photos are usually underexposed, often blurry and with very dodgy composition. I can’t believe what I can do with a phone camera now. I’ll see what I can do with some editing…

North African desert in Tunisia, with Princess Di hair

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little trip down memory lane with me. I’m very aware of the privilege I had to live like this for so long. Some people save for years to do this for 2 weeks. I’m grateful for the luck I’ve had and the perspective these experiences have given me about people from other cultures and ways of life. And I can’t wait to go back!

Amsterdam. The button-down collars and Shetland sweaters would NOT end!

Please leave me a comment of what you think, check out the rest of the blog, and subscribe with your email in the box on the right to get notified when a new post comes out. Bon voyage (if only in our dreams for now), y’all!

13 Comments

  • jodie filogomo

    But you do have quite a few photos. Way more than I have from those days!!
    What an incredible time for you. I just love looking at the clothes too, and I’m SO glad you kept that cable sweater. Even if you couldn’t wear it again…it should be memorialized!!!
    I love how you got smart about how much to buy at the market….those days have changed, huh? Now people hoard toilet paper.
    And going to France for lunch? Wow can that sound any more fabulous??
    XOXO
    Jodie
    http://www.jtouchofstyle.com

  • Teresa Gentile

    You may disparage your own photography but somebody did one heckuva job capturing an amazing life of travel! Thank you for this trip through time to my favorite places – that I never got to go. Such a fun travelogue!

  • Jo Davis

    MK, I’ve always loved the way you tell a story. This reminds me of one of those much cherished letters you would send me from Germany!

  • Janet VA Replogle

    Great pictures of some excellent adventures – a couple of which I took! Great memories of THE TRIP to Rome and Greece and the unfortunately incident in Venice with those nasty mussels. I had forgotten ALL of the places you visited during your time there.

  • Arabella

    I can so relate to your comment about lack of pictures, my husband and I were very fortunate to travel and live overseas, we used to joke that no one probably believed he as we rarely took any pictures. Thank you for this trip down memory lane.

  • Stefanie

    For someone who didn’t take a lot of photos of herself, as I read your post and enjoyed the pictures, I kept thinking, “she did a great job of handing the camera to someone else to take her photo!’ How many of us would have benefitted from being told early on, take photos of interesting places with you and your people in them!! The first photos thrown away are the ones without people we love in them!!! Your photos and fashion were tres chic!!!

    • mkmiller

      I did have more photos than I thought, but there are trips I remember that I don’t have even ONE photo! We sure have gone the opposite way today, haven’t we? I remember you saying you were always behind the camera and don’t have many of yourself, either. I was always trying to take the perfect postcard shot, but most of them are just awful!

  • Vivian Richmond Ross

    I LOVE all of these photos, and am so glad to know more about all your incredible travels. Makes me wish I’d travelled a helluvalot more in Europe when I could have.

    • mkmiller

      Well, it was the whole reason I was there, and I had a steady income the whole time, with very few expenses.

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