A “land cruise” and how the Kiel Canal made the trip more than worthwhile!

Sunday – 16 June 2013 – Kiel Canal

I felt no remorse as Silver Cloud cast off and left the downtown Hamburg under construction cruise port at 8am.  We sailed down the Elbe River for a couple of hours, mostly watching multiple gigantic container ports go by. Hamburg is one of the largest port areas in Europe and certainly the largest in still prosperous Germany. Oddly enough, the ports are hours sailing from the North Sea. I'm sure there's a good explanation. Unfortunately I don't know it.

Just before reaching the sea, however, we entered the lock to be raised about a meter to transit the Kiel Canal. The 92 kilometer long ditch across Utland saves ships 250 miles of sailing around Denmark in the sometimes torturous waters of the North Sea. Instead the ride is a smooth and unbelievably scenic "land cruise". By some measures the Kiel Canal is considered the busiest artificial waterway in the world. We passed dozens of fairly large ships going the other way.

The Hamburg end of the Canal is quite industrial. We sailed by a very chemical plant looking aspirin factory and various other appropriately serious sites, but in less than a half hour we were riding through woods and pastures and listening to birds signing or cow bells ringing respectively. 

The Canal is only 90 meters wide at the bottom, 162 meters at the waterline. Although most ships can pass each other without delay, lock operations and the occasional bigger freighters require that "meets" be made at designated points. I was amazed to see the canal pilot controlling Silver Cloud at one of these pullouts, in a driving rain no less. Our Captain was no doubt observing from inside the bridge, but I suspect he would much have preferred that he wasn't required to relinquish operating the controls. I knew that the Panama Canal requires that this happening, but I was quite surprised to see that the Master was not driving his own ship in the Kiel. So was the Captain, I suppose.

Barbara and I spent the entire eight hour transit on deck watching the fields and towns go by. As this was a Sunday, the locals were out for a good time. In Northern Germany that usually amounts to eating at country inns and scowling and/or waving madly at passing cruise ships.

We had been briefed by the ship's Destination Lecturer, Corey, that we would see towns, fields, pastures, and some industry along the canal. He also told us that we would see what appears to be the world's longest bench. After taking a bunch of photos of this magnificent structure that could rest more people than live in all of the German state of Mecklenburg, we came across the sight that would FOR ME be the most memorable wonder of the entire cruise, at least so far. Under a railway bridge I spotted what looked like another of the numerous ferries that cross the waterway. However, it became clear from the support cables that this was indeed a Transporter Bridge. These structures were built by the 100s during the turn of the previous century. They are essentially ferry decks that are suspended a few feet above a river and carry people and vehicles across. Propulsion is by a winch arrangement controlled by the operator in a small "pilot" house on the deck.

I knew of three Transporter Bridges still in operation, in Middlesbough in England, Newport in Wales, and near Bilbao, Spain. This one in northern Germany was a complete surprise. The Captain must have enjoyed seeing this wonderful device as he tooted the ship's whistle as a salute. Perhaps that was because as he wasn't allowed to drive the ship maybe he just wanted to show he could still blow the horn, now that I think of it.

We exited the canal about 10 pm in sunlight and sailed the rest of the night finally in the ocean as we had now transited from the North Sea to the Baltic to arrive early Monday in Warnemunde, our last stop in Germany. 

Correction

I know there are a few typos and misspellings in this blog (as usual). I will repair the text when we return home or find a nice leisurely and free Internet access later in the cruise. Meanwhile I do apologize. I do want to correct right away provide the correct spelling for Hanseatic. I will be saying more about this trade organization that established a number of cities in northern Europe. Today we visited Rostock, with its somewhat restored rows of characteristic buildings, and next week we will be in Bergen, another place to find fine examples of the distinctive shops and warehouses. 

Down the Amstel and Up to the North Sea, Then Up the Elbe and Down to Hamburg

Saturday – 15 June 2013 – Hamburg, Germany

After dinner on Thursday, Barbara and I ventured back out into Amsterdam to see this most wonderful of cities all lit up after dark. As predicted, it never got dark enough for the lights to come on. But we did get to use our transit passes once more and had a really nice walk back to the ship. 

Did I mention that Amsterdam is a very nice place to spend a day or two? Maybe more.

We cast off the downtown Amsterdam pier just before 8 am yesterday morning. The commuter trains were going all out (well actually in) to the iconic downtown Central Station. We sailed downstream on the Amstel River for almost two hours before reaching the set of locks to the North Sea. The Captain threaded our ship skillfully in a stiff breeze into the barely wider lock chamber. As the tide was coming in, we were RAISED about a meter up to sea level, the Netherlands truly being the "low country" as most of the country is below sea level. The levee industry is huge in this place. So are the levees.

After the lock, as we entered the North Sea after passing some spectacular beaches. It occurred to me that since crossing the English Channel late Sunday evening, yesterday's afternoon and transit along the Holland and German coastline to the mouth of the Elbe River was the first true ocean we were sailing on during this mostly river cruise. We spotted a cargo ship delivering wind turbine propellers, a most usual sight, but never actually felt any movement of the ship as the seas were quite calm.

We entered the very industrial Elbe River about midnight this morning and sailed the 138 kilometers upstream to as the tour brochure claimed, "The Hanseatic Gem of Hamburg". We were on the first shuttle bus to Rathaus Squre, the center of the old walled city. The town hall is indeed spectacular, by far the nicest thing we saw all morning as the cruise port is a huge construction site. 

We made our way through the undistinguished downtown shopping district to the 1906 railway station (as is our wont) and discovered that a "hop on/hop off" red bus was about to leave on a pretty comprehensive tour of the city. Again, here we saved about $120 by not purchasing the virtually identical ship's tour. Good thing as Hamburg was kaputmachen pretty completely during WW II. Except for the aforementioned Rathaus, everything else was either reconstructed from rubble or replaced in the 1950s by, uh, 1950s style buildings. 

We did see a couple of down and out Hanseatic style facades and the restored 1700s riverfront warehouses, but otherwise this probably pretty functional city doesn't appear to me to be a major "must see" European destination.  

What made the tour memorable, however, was the curious live narration. The young woman who was the upper deck guide on our bus presented the sights in a style that can best be described as over the top, demeaning, and histrionic. Quite a combo. She made Jay Leno's style of put down humor seem very tame as she described every snack product or confection of the area as if she had not eaten in two or three years, pointed out fairly nondescript large houses as "billionaire's palaces", and went completely gaga over the two kind of sad looking urban lakes that are the pride of the Hamburgerites. 

I expected a bit of pandering when the bus diverted its circle tour to take in the famous St. Pauli red light district. But our fraulein went completely non-linear as she proceeded to make fun of every male on the sidewalk, mocking them to the passengers, and as they looked up and noticed the bus passengers hollering at them, she tried to embarrass them further as we went by. Oddly enough, St. Pauli is also a restaurant and legitimate hotel district. So many of the people on the street were shop keepers, waiters, or tourists. Thinking that they must know this docent, some of the shopkeepers waved back, and the mostly all German tourists on our bus laughed uncontrollably and snapped lots of pictures.

At the end of the 90 minute circuit of the city, the guide announced that a "coin plate was available for any rewards for enjoying my narration." I thought about pocketing two euros. Seemed about right.

The Below Sea Level High Point of the Cruise

Thursday – 13 June 2013 – Amsterdam, the Netherlands

We went through the Amstel River lock at about 6am and entered the two hour transit of the Amstel Canal to Amsterdam. Barbara and I were characteristically off the ship at 8:30am, right after the ship was cleared by the authorities. This was quite quick since Dutch authorities mostly turn the other way and apologize for being authorities. Ya gotta love Holland.

We characteristically bought our all day transit passes and rode the scenic #2 Tram from Central Station to the museum zone south of town to get to the Rijksmuseum before the massive crowds showed up. Buying e-tickets ahead of time on the ship helped a lot to speed up the entry since the recent "couple of years" renovation lasted ten years. Everyone wants to see the massive collection that has been off limits since, uh, ten years ago.

Quickly in the Rijks we were immediately impressed by the whimsical Dutch statues and wind powered wine cups but headed as fast as possible to the must see Rembrandt gallery. The Mona Lisa of the Rijks is, of course, "Night Watch", not seen in its usual place for, uh, ten years. You might remember that this treasure was slashed not so long ago. The huge painting has been artfully restored, but a guard stood watch, so to speak, between the building crowd and the masterpiece. He looked very cautiously at anyone who got within a meter of the masterpiece. The crowds were not so bad yet to keep us from reading the whimsical informative signs that suggested getting close enough to see where Rembrandt that incorporated a self portrait peering from behind the main figures. Quite cool and of course whimsical. Of course, all of Amsterdam seems to be cool and whimsical.

Our plan proved sound as within an hour or so the crowds became oppressive. We regretfully left the museum a couple of hours after our arrival to begin a quite exploration of Amsterdam. We spent the rest of the day doing the Amsterdam touristic thing. We walked along tonnes of canals, took a canal boat ride, had a wonderful Dutch beer or two, and even checked out a curious neighborhood where 1960s smoke still hovered and the local residents seemed to be in houses kept apparently too warm but waved at me but not Barbara from remarkably large windows. 

Another tram ride to amortize our transit passes took us to the outskirts of the central area where a three dimensional version of "Night Watch" was the focus of a park. The walk back to the Cruise Terminal provided us views of lots of cool 17^th Century churches. We even found Amsterdam's Chinatown where we were amused by, who would have guessed, whimsical statues.

As Silver Cloud won't be sailing back out to the North Sea until 8am tomorrow morning, we will consider taking a tram or two after dinner to see the spectacular city and its canal bridges all lit up after dark. Unfortunately "after dark" is awfully late in June here.

Antwerp, land of the Severed Hand and the Cut Diamonds

Wednesday – 12 June 2013 – Antwerp, Belgium

Antwerp is 25 miles from the sea. The arrival up the Schelde River makes approaching Antwerp by ship very much like arriving by riverboat. We docked right downtown where the very impressive cathedral (what, a European city with huge cathedral?) looms over the main town square. A very ornate town hall (what, a European city with a very ornate town hall?) has a curious statue in front. Antwerp's name is derived from a Norse expression meaning, "The City of the Severed Hand", based on a legend about, uh, a severed hand apparently. The one in the town square squirts water, not blood. Just as well.

We walked the extremely lovely business district streets to one of the most impressive rail stations I've ever been to, just to gawk. (what, a European city with....well you get it). I didn't want to go anywhere, but it would have been fun to find out what that lady I had words with in the morning had spent on her tour today--just for my our amusement. 

We then explored the nearby diamond district. Antwerp is diamond central for the world. Many different dialects--of Yiddish--are spoken in the small but very intense few blocks of this district, as the industry is dominated by Orthodox Jews. We visited the Diamondland exhibition to see a few diamond cutters at work and many more retail salesmen at work and returned to Silver Cloud for lunch as the drizzle started. Our only stop on the way back to the ship was to check out an old fort guarding the harbor and its adjacent statue of a man with crotch itch.

Ghent Pictures

From Oostende: A Tale of Two Cities or the Beast and Beauty – Bruges (pictures immediately below) and Ghent

Tuesday - 11 June 2013 – Oostende, Belgium

Oostende is a beach resort, although like many European cities I suppose it has its charms including yet another cathedral, canals with locks, and other features common to the "low countries".  The view of the expansive white sand beach as we sailed into the little but busy harbor was striking. So was the nearby railway station with its gigantic collection of commuters' bicycles. Red sideways mark the bike paths and pedestrians are best advised to avoid venturing into any pavement in Europe that is colored red to avoid the way of bikes.

Barbara and I avoided the $99 per person, "Bruges On Your Own", bus transfer sold by the ship by going directly to the train station and purchasing two four euro train tickets. We were in Bruges in 15 minutes, saving $190 before we were in Oostende a half hour.

Bruges, Belgium

I had visited Bruges in the mid-1990s and found the town very charming if a bit touristy. In the almost 20 years since then Bruges has become very touristy and just a little bit charm remained. That is, the town hall is still pretty, but it's a museum now and the toilets are locked. Just saying. The streets are pretty if you avoid the endless string of overpriced lace shops, tourist souvenir shops, and especially the very overpriced chocolate shops. One shop was selling "fine Belgium chocolates" molded into male and female body parts. (No circumcision jokes please.) A bunch of Japanese tourists were finding this store most amusing. Instead Barbara and fought our way through the throngs of people milling about and worked our way back to the train station via the very lovely canals filled with many dozens of old tourists being hollered at by loud speakers. A few scenes on the walk were quite lovely—as most of Bruges used to be.

Ghent, Belgium

For an additional six euro each we continued on the fast train line to Ghent, avoiding another $129 per person ship's tour. A 1½ mile "less than one mile, the sign at the station said" walk to get to the very nifty main town square was interesting. Ghent is a real city with lots of medieval and typical old European architecture. We enjoyed a few hours strolling about the downtown as well as a nice lunch of smoked salmon with real Stella Artois beer, not the overly sweet imitation sold in the US and then took a modern tram back to the station for the 35 minute ride back to Oostende and Silver Cloud.

The savings of almost $400 by using the very efficient and comfortable local train service was a topic of discussion between me and a fellow passenger who had purchased the ship's tour. She was not amused when I told her what we had done. A matter of fact, she sought me out the next morning to accuse me of "doing the sort of thing that causes ship's tours to be cancelled for lack of interest." I asked her what her point was. Made my morning.