Kiel, Germany

Today we visited Kiel, a busy port in Germany. Dad visited here a few years ago, and stayed for a few months. So I'd heard plenty about this place and wanted to see for myself. We cruised in on a beautiful, calm morning and I awoke as the ship slowed to pick up the harbour pilot.

The harbour is lined with all sorts of ships, boats and docks. On the starboard side coming in, I saw the Kiel Canal, a number of navy vessels, and plenty of other sights.

We docked at the cruise terminal directly opposite the German Navy Yard. Sitting on our balony, we counted 14 navy ships, and 3 submarines parked up in the Navy Yard.

There was a motorbike gear shop here I wanted to visit, a 40 minute walk from the ship. This shop opened at 9am, and otherwise the main shops opened at 10am, so we headed out around 8am towards my shop first. The walk took us right into the inner harbour, past the train station, and then a few blocks beyond. It was a lovely clear morning, and many people were commuting by bicycle. We saw some interesting purpose-built electric cycles used by posties.

I did make a few purchases at my store, then we wandered back into town. From here we got a great view of the harbour, the Stena Line ferry had since arrived, and you can see our cruise ship in the background.

Here we found a big indoor mall, and ventured in to find free WiFi. We found a vendor selling Currywurst, which is a Bratwurst sausage cut up, covered in a spicy curry sauce, then with curry powder sprinkled on it. A local delicacy (well, from nearby Hamburg). Served with fries. Very tasty indeed, I wonder why I've never heard of them before? We did a little shopping and purchased some clothes and shoes, then wandered back outside into the glorious sunshine through the pedestrian shopping centre.

We got back on board mid afternoon, and sailed around 4:30pm. By now the sun had shifted, so again from the starboard side we had a nice view of the other side of the harbour. Plenty of nice homes, yachts and beaches. Out near open sea, there is a U-Boat museum/memorial with a U-Boat on land. We had been told this U-Boat can be walked through, and was used for the filming of Das Boot (the German mini-series / movie).

After that we retreated for the usual evening dinner and on-board entertainment. We intentionally had a late night, staying up till midnight. Our course took us under the Storebælt Bridge (Great Belt Bridge), which spans 18km from Denmark to Sweden. This is the longest suspension bride in the northern hemisphere, and when our ship passes underneath we have 5 metres clearance. So it's high! Even at midnight, there was a nice glow from sunset. It was incredible to see how big it was as we passed under. Large trucks driving across looked like ants, and the bridge had radar on it presumably to detect stray ships.