This picture was shot at April 1st in Langeliniehamnen in Copenhagen.
In the afternoon it started to snow!
Sunday morning we left Copenhagen in rain. It was a bit misty too but it was not worse than we could sail across the Köge bugt and go to Rödvig. The wind was decreasing all day, and in the afternoon the sun began to shine. We had a beautiful afternoon.
But for some reason the mist horn was blowing for half an hour in the harbour!
In Stubbeköbing Brith bought a new jacket and poses in the sun.
On April 9th we sailed from Stubbeköbing in Denmark to Barhöft in Germany. It was a wet and tough trip over six hours all in all. Barhöft was the first harbour we could find in the area, and it seems to be a very small town - or village. From the harbour we can see a small shop, the customs office - with no officers - and a rather big seaside hotel.
Brith finds a lot of her favorite spring flowers in the village.
On Easter Friday we take a walk in the big national park by Barhöft. It's a nice park and a nice day, By the end of the day there's another three guestboats in the harbour.
At right - the house for the harbourmaster and the pilots in Stralsund harbour. We can see it from the boat, but it took us a day to find out that the harbourmaster has his office here!
On Saturday the 11th we sailed down to Stralsund. It didn't take more than en hour so we were there early, knowing that the shops would close early.
But that did not help! We tried to find the harbourmaster and were told by the police to look for a yellow container at one end of the harbour. There was no yellow container! Other people told us to look here and other to look there! No harbourmaster.
Finally we decided to stay were we had landed, by the Klappbrücke in the Querkanal, and went into the Altstadt to find some fresh food for the holidays. Of course - here in the city, Die Altstadt, there are no shops for food! When we asked at the touristoffice they pointed out the only one and told us to hurry! We went into the shop five minutes before they closed and all the nice fresh food was already packed aside for the holiday! But anyway - we got what we needed.
And we walked around and saw also those fantastic buildings from many centuries ago. The Altstadt has in fact been saved thanks to the lack of developement since World War II!
After lunch we made yet another trip through the town center. This time making a trip on a tourist-train, with a guide telling us all about it in German. We did not understand much, but it was good anyway.
Exactly when we were back on the boat in the early afternoon, it started to rain, so the were not many visitors to the fairgrounds close to us in the harbour.
Bibbi II in Wolgast Yachthafen. There were two other boats in the water in this harbour, both of them from town.
On Easter Monday we left Stralsund.
There was no wind as we sailed down Strelasund. And there was not the slightest breeze when we crossed Greifswalder Bodden. I guess this water can be rather nasty when there's wind from east, as it's open to the southern Baltic. And we had a fine trip down Peenestrom to Wolgast.
Of course, on Easter Monday, we could not find the harbourmaster, but we had a walk through the old town. Not much to see really. The old Rathaus of course, and the church, but this town is nothing compared to Stralsund! - Sorry!
But we had a nice sunset - and fresh water on the bridge.
We had a nice and calm trip from Wolgast to the German - Polish border in the Stettiner Haff. We crossed the border at 15:00 o'clock exactly and five minutes later we stopped by the Polish patrolboat that was stationed by the border to give our ships name and tell them what harbour we were going to.
It took us another hour and a half to come to Trzebiez. And there we where welcomed by a young boy that in fact was the harbourmaster. He showed us to the customs. The whole procedure, customs, passportcontrol and a visit at the harbourmaster's office took us a whole hour, and after that we had to move the boats twice to satisfy the harbourmaster. But then again - he treated us to free electricity!
We were hungry and quite tired after this, so we did not walk around in the village in the evening.
Bibbi II in the Interster yachtharbour in the northern part of Szczecin. At the top of the hill is the Goclaw historical monument.
A section of the West-Oder we passed today. Poland on the left side and Germany on the right. Who can see the difference?
Brith and Bibbi II in the first lock of this trip - the Hohensaaten West.
It was truly exciting to have the boat - and ourselves - lifted by the Schiffshebewerk in Niederfinow!
Our first stop in Berlin was at the harbour of the Motor Yacht Club Tegel.
The "whole" crew of Bibbi II. In the front Brith, Ingrid and Silva and in the back Robert, Linda and Anders. Here on a public parkingplace for pleasureboats in the midst of the city. In the background the "Bodemuseum" at the Island of Museums, and the Fernsehturm at Alexanderplats.
On April 24th we left the MYCT-harbour and made a tour on the canals in the city of Berlin. Finally we found a place on the Spreeufer to tie the boat to and had dinner at a restaurant nearby.
In the evening we went to Staatsoper to see Die Zauberflöte by Mozart and finished the evening with a beer.
April 25th - again a day for sightseeing and shopping. Late - very late - in the evening Brith, Robert and Silva started their journey home and there was only four of us left on board.
Between Spandau and Potsdam river Havel broadens at several places and on sunday April 26th we saw thousands of boats there.
Bibbi II in the harbour of MBC Havelbucht in Potsdam. It's a fairly small harbour and the railway is very close, with trains to and from Berlin passing every second minute.
In Ketzin we found a place in the Seesportclub Ketzin harbour.
We started Monday the 27th with a tour in Potsdam. We walked to the Sans Souci castle - which is very beautiful - and into the towncentre. The Sans Souci castle is well worth a trip by itself.
After this we continued our trip on the Potsdam Havel. This is were the Havel broadens and looks much like small lakes connected to each others. Today there were not many boats sailing so had the whole area for ourselves. - Well close to!
It was very warm the whole day. More than 25C! And between 13 and 14C in the water. I know it's foolish - but I had to take a bath! So we stopped the boat and just jumped into the water. Anders and Linda followed me into the water. It was very refreshing. Didn't feel cold at all.
In the evening we stopped at Ketzin.
The Steintor and Steintorbrücke in Brandenburg.
Let's say that Ketzin is not our favourite town in Germany. We left after breakfast and showers and continued our trip eastwards on the Untere Havel and later the Elbe-Havel-Kanal.
We passed through the old town Brandenburg and passed under the Sterntorbrücke which is only 2.75 metres above the water.
In the afternoon we were rather ancious to get some food so we stopped by in Genthin to buy some, and planned to go on for a while after that. But it was so late that we decided to stay in a small harbour in a side-canal and went into the Altenplathower Altkanal, where the chart showed a guestharbour. This canal is only about 1 metre deep and is quite narrow, and when we got to the guestharbour it was closed with wires across the entry. There was no way to turn so we had to go through the whole canal.
Finally we got back to Genthin and stayed there over night.
This shows the hard current in Elbe.
We left Genthin early on the 29th and sailed along the canal. It was a very warm day so all of us got the shorts on for the first time during this trip. But we had miscalculated the length of the trip to Magdeburg. We thought it would take about three hours, but it took five. One hour because we missunderstood the charts and another hour because of the hard current of the river Elbe.
When we had been there for a couple of hours Heidi and Eckerhard Lausecker came to us and joined us for a cup of coffee. It was the first time we met them, but Heidi is the penpal af one of our friends in Gothenburg - so we just had to meet them . . .
They brought half a dousin bottles sparkling wine and also beer from the area. We went to a nice Gaststätte and had something to eat and later we went to their new house for some coffee, beer and wine. Very late they helped us "home" to Bibbi again. - Very nice people to met!
There was only a part of the porch left - but they used it well when they bought the new house close to the cathedral in Magdeburg.
Thursday we spent in Magdeburg. Ingrid and Linda went shopping and Anders and I stayed onboard to fix a lot of things and in the afternoon we met in the city to have lunch together. We also walked to the old cathedral and some other historic buildings in that area.