We see the see, but not the sea

Saturday was the big review (sail-by) and we were now only a hundred metres from a  great viewing point. We sat there until the last boat crossed the startline. Why not? It was a lovely day, and the locals were saying it was the best week they've had in a decade, weather-wise. Our German friend from the boat yesterday had sown his lawn expecting the guaranteed rain Kieler Woche would bring!

The German Navy's training ship Gorch Fock II, the lead ship in the review.

A crowd trying very hard to miss the spectacle

You could step from boat to boat (but you'd get wet)

A late-comer

We'd heard about another feat of engineering worth seeing, the Rendsberg Schwebefaehrer und Hochbruecke. This was a bridge built to get trains over the Kiel canal but at sufficient height to allow tall ships to pass under. (incidentally, the aforementioned Gorch Fock had to have it's mast shortened to fit under.) The distance from the Rendsberg railway station to the bridge was too short to allow trains to climb to the height, so they had to build a loop long enough for this to happen. There's a whole suburb within that loop now. Slung under the bridge was a gondola that carried up to 4 cars across the river at once - that is until Jan 2016 when a freighter smacked into it, or v.v. 2 passengers injured and no doubt very shocked! Since it isn't running it was a lovely quiet spot to park up for lunch.

Our lunch spot

You can see the beginning of the loop off the far end, but the near side of the loop runs through those trees over there too.

Trains can still use the bridge. This is the long ramp up the south side.

If we get a chance we may take a train over it. Meantime, time was getting on so we decided on a campsite next to the Bistensee, a lake north of Rendsberg. It's lovely.

How about that for an outlook?

Life's just too hard

 It was a perfectly clear night too, with a lovely sunset.