Kiel Canal

 

The Kiel Canal is 96 km long, and provides a short cut from the Baltic to the North Sea. And it's like we were on a River Cruise for 1 day as we had land on both sides of us from early morning till about 4pm. It's a beautiful sunny morning, a little on the cool side if you're in the wind, but warm enough to have breakfast on the outside deck.

 There is a lock on each end, but for the rest of the time we glided along at a top speed of 6 1/2 knots. We passed many small towns and farms, a few industrial areas and larger towns. There is lots of freighter traffic, and many sailboats transiting through. Some areas there are ferries to take cars and people across. The paths along the side seem to be very popular with walkers and cyclists.  There are about 5 bridges that we went under, not much room to spare! As a matter of fact for some the captain had to fold the antenna down. Most cruise ships are too big to go through the Kiel Canal, and I believe that we are the first this year. Lots of people coming out to wave. 

We had a German barbeque lunch on the pool deck with the band playing. Different kinds of sausage, sauerkraut, beet salad, spätzle and much more. Towards the end a sudden downpour sent people scuttling for cover. Luckily the sun came out again before too long. We spent most of the day on deck watching the ever changing views. We exited the canal about 4pm to a gulf that leads to the mouth of the Elbe River. I did a dance class, then we went up to the Living Room for pre dinner drinks with a forward view. An incredible number of wind farms and oil rigs!

 Dinner in Windows with a fabulous Indian buffet. One of the head chefs is from India. I went to the lounge show, Rock the Opera, which despite it's name was show tunes from Phantom and Les Miserables and rock anthems, accompanied with piano and cello.