On May 23rd we began our transit of the Kiel Canal (Nord-Ostsee-Kanal). We needed to go with the tide again to get up the river to the Brunsbüttel locks, but we also wanted to sleep in and use a little more of the wireless Internet we had paid for the night before, so we didnt leave until 10:45 am With the current, our motor, and some wind, we made good time, reaching at locks around 1:00 pm Youre supposed to call for permission to transit when you get there, so I did that, all the while watching all the boats that had left ahead of us head into the lock. Whew! They told us to hurry up and get in there and they would wait. It was a full lock, and we rafted up with a Danish boat after squeezing past a huge motor yacht that was rafting with another huge yacht. Id been hoping to raft with the British boat Gulliver II that Id talked with the night before, but we couldnt manage that. One of the Dutch boats would have been good too. Mostly, I wanted to be able to communicate with the people a little. Of course, the Danes spoke English, and they were very nice, so it was no problem. The Kiel Canal is rather pretty. It is lined with trees with bicycle paths on both sides. There seem to be a lot of campgrounds along it too. All of the bridges are high with at least 40-meter clearance. It made us realize that we hadnt simply gone under a bridge since the Panama Canal; they always had to open for us. Motoring along at 5 knots, we were passed by all of the other boats who locked <b>...</b>