By this point in the journey, my brain had reached information overload. Every time I joined a group of my fellow passengers at yet another port, I was hammered with facts and figures as we walked briskly along. Never was anything provided in writing to help my poor brain recall it later. Add to that, several "talks" in the lounge on the Emerald Sun. After breakfast this morning we gathered to learn about the Rhine, Main, Danube Canal, aka, RMD Canal.
River cruising, just for the fun of it, is only a few decades old. Rivers have long been used to transport goods, but after WWII, rail structure and highways were improved and more trucks took to the roads, leaving the rivers somewhat empty of traffic.
In its infancy in the 60s, river cruising first utilized retrofitted cargo barges. Something like rude hotel rooms and primitive facilities, tacked on an old base. As this mode of travel became more popular, several cruise lines were born, first retrofitting barges, then creating ships from the ground up, with all the amenities of a luxury resort hotel.
Another facet of river cruising in Europe, as well as the transporting of goods by barge, is the RMD Canal. The project was done in fits and starts through the years, with various sections being built, but the final stretch finally got underway in 1966, and was completed in 1992. The canal is in Bavaria, Germany, uniting the Main River with the Danube, thus creating a single navigable waterway, from the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean, to the Black Sea.
Locks figure in rather largely on our roughly thousand mile cruise. While there are only sixteen on the RMD Canal, there are sixty-eight on the total journey from Amsterdam to Budapest. While I was aware that we would eventually go through a lock, it took me by surprise when we entered the first one. We entered on the low side, so were walled in, to the point it became so dark I had to turn the lights on in my cabin.
There was so little clearance on each side, I could easily slide my window down and touch the damp walls. Here and there little ferns and other green things grew in cracks. I never fully understood the workings of the locks, but simply put, the ship goes in, and the doors are shut. The water level is raised or lowered as fits the situation. When the proper level is obtained, the doors open, and the ship moves forward.
Many of the locks have barely enough width for us to squeeze through. It's no wonder that I was wakened many nights as we bumped through them. Here you can see on the slide just how tight the clearance can be.
Bridges, in some ways, have even more of an impact than locks. There are a whopping 647 of them to glide under! Some are boring, others ornate. In the slide below, you can see a canal bridge, where the canal actually goes over the highway, rather than the reverse!
On the Danube, many are low enough clearance that we wouldn't be able to slip under them, so the sun deck rails are put down (and the deck closed), and even the captain's wheelhouse is lowered. You can see on the slide below, Captain Stuart's head just peeping above the deck as he navigates down the channel.
Emerald ships aren't what you'd call party boats, but they do like to make the cruise fun. They throw little celebrations here and there. One of the last nights aboard the ship, we were called up to the sundeck for a "high lock" celebration. For our safety, a portion of the sundeck rails had been put up. The wheelhouse was also back up for the journey through the lock.
Small glasses of blue bubbly were passed out.
It was quite a festive atmosphere as we toasted one another and the proceedings. Below, with new friends, Jane, Julie and Robin.
Below, my friend, Irma, and husband Derrick. Many evenings we sat together at dinner. Irma was my occasional swim companion, and sometimes on walks about town. Derrick had mobility issues so wasn't able to join us very often.
The high, wet gray walls and overhead lights cast a unique aura over the evening that will be long remembered.
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