Dear Friends,
Today was a beautiful day - weather and scenery!!! It was very relaxing - just sitting on the balcony and watching the world go by. The German people along the canal were so very friendly - it is a big event for them to come out to the canal and wave to ships passing by. However, there are very few cruise ships since they can't be too big or too tall. We even had to lower our mast. (I sent you a photo of that in the Amsterdam group of photos.)
First we went thru the lock near the beginning of the canal. There was a couple there with a large WELCOME flag they were waving. As it turned out, they got in their car and followed us the whole day thru the canal and would show up on the bank waving the flag at each ferry crossing they could get to. It was really neat to just travel on the canal thru the north German countryside!!! Hopefully you will get the feel of what we experienced. And was so neat having so many people there enjoying waving to us. As you can see, there was a path (dirt road) all along the side of the canal so there were people riding their bikes all along and walking too. One time we did pass some pretty large freighters. Well actually one was passing us at the same time one was coming the other way towards us. Obviously that was at a wider place where there was room for several vessels across. The canal goes across northern Germany connecting the North Sea to the Baltic. If you cannot go thru the canal, you must go up and around Denmark and then back down into the Baltic. Check it out on a map!!!
At the Baltic end of the canal is the city of Kiel. We were supposed to stop there at night from about 8pm to 11pm. However, when we exited the canal at about 7:30pm the captain determined it was too late to go there and still make it to Warnemunde the next morning. So, they canceled the stop at Kiel.
Kiel, one of Germany's key ports, hosted Olympic Sailing Events in both 1936 and 1972. Unfortunately, little of the medieval harbor escaped the ravages of WWII, but a few buildings, including City Hall, were partially salvaged.
The 60-mile long Kiel Canal is 338 feet wide and 37 feet deep and seven high bridges span the busy channel. Initially built for military purposes, the canal was enlarged prior to WWI to accommodate larger modern ships. Connecting Brunsbuttel on the Elbe River with Kiel, gateway to the Baltic Sea, it traverses fairly flat farmland. The interesting spiral rail viaduct was incorporated to allow passage for large vessels.
Most people have never heard anything about the Eiderkanal (Eider Canal), but it was the Kiel Canal's predecessor. The idea of building a channel across the Jutland Peninsula first came during the period of the Hanseatic League. The Danish king had begun imposing exorbitant taxes on ships navigating the narrow (10-mile wide) Oresund Strait at Copenhagen. Hanseatic merchants, especially those who controlled Hamburg and Lubeck complained bitterly about the excessive tax, but had no choice in the matter. After meeting to discuss the problem they decided to avoid the problem by building a small canal between the Kiel and Eider Rivers. The 27-mile channel, completed in 1784, essentially extended the existing Eider River to the Kiel Fjord.
We hope you enjoy the journey thru our photos. We really loved the trip!!!
Jan and Dick
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