Hamburg Harbour 823rd Birthday

Hamburg Harbour 823rd Birthday
Day 3, 13th May 2012 (the final one)

I stayed in the city last night, and arrived by train back at the harbour this morning. Luckily my camera was ready as I stepped off the train onto the platform:

Grimaldi's Grande Africa was way over the other side of the River Elbe, with Grande Togo nearby

Queen Mary 2 arrived, with much whistling and cheering

Stern view, right in front of me

Waving

Deutschland was at the cruise ship quay, but it was almost impossible to get near her.

QM2 Day Village and Viewing Point

Goodbye QM2, I'm off to see other things

Brickwork

A mass of masts, with the last of the sun glinting on them

I was so pleased to have been part of the Hamburg Harbour 823rd Birthday celebrations, and the AIDA MAR christening ceremonies which we viewed from SEUTE DEERN on Saturday. One of my friends has given me the link to Aida's video of the event: http://www.aida-kuesst-hamburg.de/ The fireworks were fabulous - difficult to photograph but memorable for all that.

I had seen hundreds, if not thousands, of all sorts of vessels on the River Elbe, and travelled on many of them, and being part of the Parade was great fun on Friday on board CAP SAN DIEGO.

The weather had been warm, cold, dry, sunny and overcast during the three days, but that didn't stop us in any way. The Sunday morning was fascinating from the moment I stepped off the train and watched an Aida ship sailing away, QUEEN MARY 2 arriving, another Grand Parade forming up and STAR FLYER preparing to sail. I'm told that over a million people attended the events over the three days, and I am so pleased that I was one of them.