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Germany has an extensive canal system, made up in part by the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittellandkanal Mittellandkanal
(Midland Canal), which helps form an important industrial
shipping route from the west of the country, all the way to
Poland.

In Minden the Mittellandkanal engages in this
verging-on-the-ridiculously-complex
aquatic interchange where the canal crosses the Weser River.
There’s usually a 13 metre height difference between the river and
the canal, so locks like
this one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Minden_Weser-Mittleland_Kanal_Lock_01.jpg
ground level photo) are needed to get vessels up and down.

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To the east, the Mittellandkanal
crosses a small river and
a road in Hanover, primarily to pass right by this
Volkswagen factory to the north.

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alt="">

Further east at Magdeburg the
Rothensee boat lift (http://www.oldradioworld.de/locks/rothen.jpg ground level
photo) was originally intended as a minor connection between
the Mittellandkanal and the River Elbe, with an aquaduct and
another boat lift forming a connection with the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbe-Havel_Canal Elbe-Havel
Canal.

Due to WWII however, the rest of the project was never
completed, and for 60 years the Rothensee lift instead lowered all
the aquatic traffic from the West German industrial centres onto
the Elbe on their way to West Berlin.

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alt="">

In 2003, a proper connection to the Elbe-Havel Canal was finally
completed, putting an end to the traditional 12 km detour. The 918
metre long
Magdeburg Water Bridge is the longest aqueduct in
Europe, and as you can see http://homepage.mac.com/doug_arrington/home/images/waterbridge2_sm.jpg
in this photo, it’s absolutely enormous! 690 metres of the
bridge are over land, and the waterway it carries is 34 metres wide
and 4.25 metres deep.

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You can read more about the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittellandkanal Mittellandkanal,
the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothensee_boat_lift Rothensee
boat lift and the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdeburg_Water_Bridge Magdeburg
Water Bridge at Wikipedia.

Thanks to Nick and Glenn.

Tags: , Across, Canal, Germany