To day was an “at sea day” although we have spent most of it on the Kiel Canal, also known as the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal. If you look at a map there is a portion of Germany and Denmark that sticks up on the North side of Germany. On the West Side is the North Atlantic and the East Side the Baltic. The trip around it is about 300 nautical miles, in some of the rougher water of the world. So the decision was made to build a 61 mile canal to create a shorter, safer route.
The first canal was built between 1887 and 1895 to facilitate the movement of the German fleet. It was widened and deepened from 1905 to 1914 so large oceangoing ships could pass through.
Over 60,000 ships and 25,000 yachts pass through the 61 mile canal each year, making it the busiest canal in the world. There are two locks, one on each end of the canal, with the rest of the canal just one long waterway that supports two way traffic.
Our ship (a small cruise ship at 700 passengers) is about the maximum size for the canal. We cleared under a bridge with less than 10 feet to spare.
We entered the canal at about 11am and will exit it at about 9 pm. The scenery along the canal is open pastureland and small villages. A road follows the canal on each side with people walking and biking and waving to us as we pass. It rained off and on all day, the story of the trip so far.
Tomorrow, will be a long day. We dock at 7am at the port city of Warnemunde Germany. At 7:30am we leave for our 12 hour round trip to Berlin. It is about a three hour bus trip each way, and than we have six hours in the City. Our primary goal is to see the bust of Nefertiti, one of the two most famous Egyptian artifacts outside Egypt.
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