Kiel; Sunday, 26 May, 2024

We had a very light breakfast, mostly because there wasn’t really any space to eat in the very small café space that the hotel had.

After checking out of the hotel we wandered over to the station to pick up the open-top sightseeing tour of the city. The tour started by the station and then headed up the Eastern side of the city centre along the fjord edge before turning in land by the Kiel Canal and crossing over it on a high bridge for excellent views over the locks that control one of Europe’s most important waterways.

On the other side of the canal the bus wanders around the local area for a little while, heading all the way back down to the mouth of the canal before heading back over on the high bridge and meandering back into the city centre, with a quick lap of the key sights in the very centre of town.

By the time we were back at the Hauptbahnhof it was already gone 12:30 so mum grabbed a seat on the waterfront whilst I headed back to the hotel to grab the suitcases and meet back up with her before heading over to the Color Line terminal to check-in for the overnight cruise ferry north to Oslo.

The checkin process was pretty smooth, with the self-service kiosk issuing everything correctly and what would have been quite a long wait to start boarding was cut short by the very friendly team offering mum the chance to board early as she had her walking frame with her.

It meant we were able to get on board, get our luggage stored in the cabins and get up onto the sun deck and grab some chairs long before the big crowds started to pour on (the ship can hold over 2,000 passengers on each crossing).

We stayed up on the sun deck throughout the departure from Kiel and up the Kieler Förde past the end of Germany and out into Danish waters.

Out of the fjord and away from any land the wind made it less pleasant to be out on the full deck, so we took shelter in a covered part of the deck for a bit longer, taking in the sail past the Danish island of Langeland and then shortly after that passing under the spectacular Great Belt Bridge the road and rail bridge that links the island of Zealand (home to Copenhagen) to Funen (home to Odense) and onwards to the mainland.

Shortly after passing under the bridge it was time to head inside and take our table for dinner in the late sitting in the restaurant. After dinner, we had a quick drink in the bar before mum turned in for the night and I headed out onto deck to take a few photos of the last of the sun, close to 11pm this far north in late May, before returning to my own cabin.