Hamburg Harbour 823rd Birthday

Hamburg Harbour 823rd Birthday
11-13 May 2012
This promised to be a birthday like no other, and it certainly was. On Thursday evening 11th May I flew into the city airport, and stayed appropriately enough at the Stella Maris Hotel near the River Elbe; early on Friday 12th May I walked onto the pontoon that led to the CAP SAN DIEGO. My friends and I had tickets to sail on her for the day, with food and drink all provided, plus a bar for those who needed a little more refreshment.

Hamburg celebrates her birthday, and everyone comes to the party: old ships, new ships, museum ships, local ships and visiting ships from near and far. This year there was also going to be a christening, when the new Aida cruise ship would be named. We were soon surrounded by vessels of all shapes and sizes as we cast off from the quay at the pontoon and set off in the day's Parade. Hamburg Harbour's Birthday celebrations are a very important part of the city's calendar and it was astonishing to see so many people for the three day event, both afloat or ashore.

Rickmer Rickmers

Star Flyer

Cap San Diego-style magradome roof protecting some tables when it rained

Stortebeker

MSC Lirica

Carlos Fischer in dry dock

Blohm & Voss dry dock number 11

Artemis

Airbus factory runway

An Airbus Super Guppy. Just beside it was D-NORA. It's one of three former Luftwaffe Noratlas transports that apprentices at Airbus work on, and this is one that they have cosmetically restored to display with some other historic aircraft there.

A new Airbus doing taxi-ing practice

A passing submarine

Weddel Welcome Point

Marina masts

View forward

Flags

Aft and flags

A spare

Seefalke

Scharnhorn

Borkum

Woltman

Bussard

Part of the flotilla

Freya

Refreshment

Halunder Jet

Adler Princess

Crowds near the silver balls marking the Aida Mar naming position

Mir

Rigging

Band farewell

To be continued...