Day 9: Cruising the Kiel Canal

From my journal dictated October 2, 2018 19:00

The plan was to set sail and enter the Kiel Canal around 4 PM. However, due to strong winds, the ship had to wait for a tug escort, thus we were delayed by several hours. Still, it was enjoyable sitting on the Explorers Lounge, watching both the people waiting with anticipation and nearby ships plying the choppy waters.

We were scheduled to travel through the Kiel Canal all night long and reach Hamburg around noon. The 62-mile-long Kiel Canal links the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. More than 30,000 ships pass through the canal every year and it is ranked as one of the world’s busiest artificial waterways.

If you like facts and figures, this information about the Kiel Canal from the Encyclopedia Britannica is perfect:

Kiel Canal, also known as the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal (North Sea–Baltic Sea Canal) is a waterway in northern Germany, extending eastward for 61 miles from Brunsbüttelkoog (on the North Sea, at the mouth of the Elbe River) to Holtenau (at Kiel Harbour on the Baltic Sea). The canal has been enlarged twice and is now 526 feet wide and 37 feet deep and is spanned by seven high-level bridges that have about 140 feet of clearance for ships beneath them. The locks are 146 feet wide by 1,072 feet long. The canal constitutes the safest, most convenient, shortest, and cheapest shipping route between the two seas.

Here is Kiel Harbor on the Baltic Sea and the begining of the canal.

And here is the bow of the ship, nosing her way into the locks. The Viking Sky is 745 feet long with a beam of 94.5 feet so it was an easy fit inside the locks, but with the winds pushing us around it felt like we were much closer to the sides of the locks than in actuality.

Once we were inside the locks, the front gates slid into the side walls and we were free to pass.

After that sailing highlight, it was time for an eating/drinking highlight — the buffet offered a variety of German beers and German food including bratwurst. It felt almost like being back in Wisconsin!

And of course, the obligatory picture of setting sun, this one taken as we cruised through the Kiel Canal.

And here’s the sunrise, twelve hours later.

I was awake in time to see the ship exiting the locks at Brunsbüttelkoog and then we sailed the Elbe River making our way to Hamburg. We passed small towns with rows of terraced houses and views of the river. We arrived in Hamburg about noon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 9: A Gray Day in Kiel Germany

Parts are from my dictated journal dated October 2, 2018, 16:45

A brand new country — Germany. (Birthplace of many of my ancestors, though we are visiting the far north regions of Germany and many of my “great-greats” were from the Bavarian region.)

Kiel felt grey all day.  I know it didn’t help that we had overcast skies and lots of rain, and that Kiel is more industrial and less historic. Since much of the city was demolished in World War II, it makes sense that the city has a different feel than places like Oslo or Aalborg. Even the older looking buildings have all been built after WWII. Perhaps if we were to return when it is summer and blue skies are prevalent, I might have a different take.

Today’s weather was inclement and I’m continuing to favor a bum leg, so we chose to stay in town rather than take the 5+ hour tour to Lübeck. We scheduled a replacement tour to the Kiel Maritime Museum which was only a quick walk from where the ship was docked.

Kiel Maritime Museum Source: Rüdiger Stehn / flickr

The maritime museum (Schiffahrtsmuseum) is in a former fish market hall at the Kiel harbor and its building was my favorite part of the museum. I have no photos of my own of the outside, because it’s hard to take photographs when in pelting cold rain, but here is a photo taken when the sun was shining. Source: Rüdiger Stehn / flickr

I’m quite taken by the idea of rehabbing old buildings and repurposing them, and Kiel’s Museum has been done with fine execution. The museum was large and open and filled with a wonderful soft light, all features that made the museum an inviting space.

The current exhibit was an installation titled 1918 and focused on a time of great change for the German military.

The beginning of the unwinding of the German monarchism started in Kiel in 1918 when the military commanders ordered their fleet to sail for one more battle after a series of staggering defeats and the sailors staged a revolt and refused.

Although I see the usefulness of documenting history, I don’t especially enjoy touring war history museums. And this exhibit was all about World War II. That bias admitted, those in the audience who were interested in history, including Bob, found the exhibits well done and informative.

The posters of propaganda, and the stories behind them, were interesting, and I was fascinated with the well crafted calligraphy in the hundred year old posters. All documentation of a time when great sacrifices were demanded of the German citizens, all with the promise of imminent victory, and the people sacrificed everything; they also lost everything.

After our Maritime Museum visit, we walked towards the city center. Still raining, still cold. We headed for Stadtgalerie Kiel (Kiel Municipal Gallery of Contemporary Arts and what we hoped to be a promising contemporary arts museum, but once inside we discovered the current exhibit was about — war. Ugh! No desire to spend much time here, but we did do a quick walk through.

We discovered a tucked-in-the-back art library which looked oh-so-enticing.

This museum houses a permanent exhibition of the works of the Expressionist artist Heinrich Ehmsen who was a Kiel native.

I finally ended up taking photographs of the art gallery itself-–a long hallway with a single patron, five paintings and a bench, symmetrical windows and radiators. All Miksang-like photos.

Then we left and I bought a leather jacket and Bob bought a beer. These activites redeemed the day.

Biergarten Holstenplatz © 2018 Bo Mackison

Here’s the site of the Biergarten Holstenplatz which offered a variety of local beer.

St. Nikolai Wing Altar ©2018 Bo Mackison

It’s hard to pass by a church without going in. St. Nikolai was no exception. The old church was destroyed during the war, but the church’s art was hidden and was later returned to the church after it was rebuilt.

This highly ornate wing altar was carved in 1460.

We frequently saw word “fahren” on street signs, a word that always caught our eye as it is a part of our surname.

Fahren: to drive, move, pass, run.

We returned to the ship midafternoon in preparation for an early departure me. There were a few openings in the gray clouds and the blue sky was most welcome sight.

Next we are heading through the Kiel Canal on our way to Hamburg. The 62-mile-long Kiel Canal links the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. More than 30,000 ships pass through the canal every year, which ranks it among the world’s busiest artificial waterways.

Here’s a rainbow farewell.