27th june 2007 - 9pm; in the lock at aschach

the ship and the whole project is bigger, greater, more expensive, more difficult, more chaotic, more wonderful and magnificent than in my wildest dreams. I was just up on the bridge. We now finally have the "Josef" as tug and with him the 1500 horsepower that we so severely needed. we are now making proper progress despite having more water. the danube rose a whole metre in passau last night. it is the water from the mountains of my homeland. Niko impressively threads the convoy into the lock. I am still overwhelmed by what I saw. I had never imagined it to be so huge. although it's exactly the same as the model I made from wood in the autumn. but in terms of the technical, crew and organisatorial complexity, it is beyond what I imagined. Yes, I wanted all this - but smaller, easier, less complicated. perhaps less would be more? no, it's fine this way. it is a realisation of the impossible.