Berlin-Amsterdam 2

Passing through a lock is an interesting procedure. Because strong currents could dash a boat against the walls of the lock, it is necessary to secure the boat to tie-points in the walls. Since the boat is either rising or falling with the water, the lines must be moved up or down without losing hold of the wall. In the left photo below, the front line has just been moved down to the lower tie-point and the aft line is about to be moved. In the next photo, Darryl is holding a line that is about to be released. At center-right, Roy is holding the boat-hook that he uses to move the lines. The right-hand photo is the Herbrum lock, where we had to wait for three hours before being allowed into the lock, because of higher priority commercial traffic. Once the sport boats were cleared, the lock was filled to capacity. The woman in the boat to the right of ours had been speaking German to Darryl for about 15 minutes when one of the British men on the other side called out to him in English, and Darryl answered. At this the woman exclaimed, "Oh, you speak English! That's much easier for me." Since Moira flew a German flag because of its registry, she had assumed that we must have been German as well.

We had been heading almost due West since leaving Berlin, but when we got to the Ems River we turned north. At the mouth of the Ems is the city of Emden on the edge of the North Sea. We spent the night at Emden and had planned on spending another day there because of reports of bad weather. When we woke up the next morning the bad weather had not yet appeared so we decided to move out quickly and cross the river to the Netherlands. As we headed west once more, we passed a bank of the ubiquitous modern windmills (left) that generate a great deal of electricity in Germany and the Netherlands. It was quite hazy, but we were able to see the Dutch town of Delfzijl (next photo). That town was small, but had a number of tourist shops as well as a grocery store where we picked up supplies (center-right). As we left Delfzijl to enter the Dutch canal system we passed a sign (right) giving instructions in Dutch, German and English for reporting in.

The weather cleared appreciably as we continued west ... we enjoyed the beautiful weather while it lasted. There was less traffic on the Dutch canals, but we did see other boats once in a while (left). An old-style windmill stood out nicely against the fluffy white clouds (center-left). Our next stop was Gronigen. Like many Dutch towns it was laced with canals (center-right). We were impressed by the number of bicycles that we saw here and in other towns in the Netherlands, but they did not come close to the number that we would see later in Amsterdam (right).

To our surprise there was a carnival in full swing in the center of Gronigen, a curious juxtaposition of modern frivolity against a back drop of historic architecture (left). We tied up in Oosterhaven (Eastern harbor) along with a variety of boats from small and modest to large and luxurious. One of the buildings was painted brightly (center let). By the time that we got to Dokkum it was May 16, and the weather was getting worse. The heavy overcast, and worse, would be with us for most of the rest of the trip (center right). That night we stopped on the outskirts of Leeuwarden at the Nieuw Jachtclub (new yacht club). The following morning a heavy fog gave an other-worldly impression ... that is the sun near the left side of the picture (right).

On May 17 we stopped in the town of Sneek, docking right in the center of town. We lunched at a canal-side cafe, then visited the town. In addition to the typical canals (left), the town had a historic water-gate that was a prominent landmark (center left). From that structure one got a picturesque view of the town (center right). In response to several suggestions to "have one for me" before I left the U.S., I toasted all of my friends with a bottle of Dutch Amstel (Amstel is the name of the river for which Amsterdam is named).