Voyage 2008: Chapter 3

4 Dec 2008, Arnis, Kappeln, and other fun places, 54 21.60 N/ 010 12.60 E

Thursday was mostly cloudy but a lot colder with some hope for sunshine. Denise called her mother and planned to spend a couple of hours with her. The rest of the gang decided to explore our adopted town, Heikendorf. Denise dropped us off at the local harbor and we decided to do some dock walking. Not the best plan as this was the coldest day so far. Still it was quite fun. We strolled the nearly deserted marina and stumbled upon a 80' sailing yacht, SY Mulligan. Afterwards we headed for the Zentrum for coffee and cheese at Carri's and then back to the house. When Denise arrived, we all ran for the car and headed for Arnis, home of Jule III's boat builder.

Arnis was about 60 km away from Heikendorf but the trip was as interesting as the destination. We saw large modern windmills, vast expanses of farmland, small villages with roofs thatched with reeds, and of course the River Schlei where Arnis lies. Wolfgang tried a 'short cut' but the ferry was not running so we had to loop around and go through Kappeln on our way to Arnis. Arnis is not a big town, in fact it is barely a villiage, but it is typically German. Sadly, no one was around as this was not the busy season and many folks were on holiday.

We found Jule III's place of origin, where she became a yacht (see Die Yacht ) but again no one was around. Still it was nice to see this place where 30 years ago Jule III was commissioned. Matthias and Paulsen work primarly in wood and the interior of Jule exemplifies their craftmanship. Not bad!

Next stop was a stroll through Kappeln where, of course, they have a Weihnachten Markt which we had to check out (Glühwien and sausages). Ann found some silly Santa sticks and then had to buy one. Sigh. We will never get all of this stuff on the airplane. Kappeln is a nice old town on the shores of the Schlei which is much larger than Arnis. After we had our fill of Kappeln, we drove back to Kiel to refresh ourselves at their Weihnachten Markt. Though we were tired, we had time to go to the Traugmbh restaurant where Bob had pizza, of course.

5 Dec 2008, Exploring the coastline (and shopping), 54 21.60 N/ 010 12.60 E

Today was a lazy day and we did not leave the flat until 1000 LT. Ann and Denise wanted to shop (of course) while Bob and Wolfgang wanted to explore the western shores of Kieler Förde. We headed to the northwest tip of the Förde where the lighthouse near the Strande stands. It was cloudy with many trees in the way so our photographs did not look too great. Next we headed for the Fredericksort light where the Förde narrows. Still cloudy and hazy but not bad for a short hike and photographs.

Our next stop was the Kieler Kanal where we spent nearly 30 minutes just watching all of the boats passing through the locks. Wolfgang and Bob made a beer bet. Bob said that a Panamax vessel could traverse the locks while Wolfgang said no. Google said yes and Bob enjoyed his beer. It is amazing the traffic that traverse these locks. They have two sets of two lock chambers so that they can handle all sizes of ships and yachts at the same time.

We met Inge of SV Stella Maris at the local computer store and volunteered to help her configure her wireless router. She invited the four of us for a early dinner followed by conversation and then the wireless. They have a very nice place on the eastern side of the Förde near the Schwentine River. Stella Maris is in Islas Canarias and they will head back there in late January. Bob found the problem with the router; the DSL circuit was not making it to the house so there was no Internet signal. We'll come back later to see what we can find.