7th May....Freezing Friday @ Blohm & Voss

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Fascination made in Germany.....

Blohm and Voss is the shipyard in which Gary is working on the refit of Mylin IV.... a 61 mtr Feadship....It is very big, very expensive and the home of the owner of a fleet of ships which includes Queen Mary II. QM II is arriving into Hamburg tonight @ 19:00....so we certainly plan to be nestled into a warm waterside bar to watch her arrival! 
A brisk walk in the cold rain then I took a fascinating walk through the underground tunnel which takes pedestrians and vehicles to the land on which the shipyard is situated. The tunnel is closed to cars this weekend due to the festivities taking over the whole city, but primarily based along the waterways. Access to the tunnel is impeded so traffic is only on foot! I hope the weather picks up as it has taken all week to construct the multitude of sideshows, bars, foodstalls, stages for entertainment....etc...etc...Not just 3 or 4 of each but 100's....and I'm not exagerating...! I'm understanding more clearly that Hamburgers are very, very good at partying, putting on and enjoying festivity! They don't seem to mind the inclement weather....a saying used around here is: "lovely weather...shame about the clothes!". Unfortunately we will miss most of it as we are heading to Berlin this weekend...although, maybe we will be safer there!??

 To actually get permission to enter Blohm & Voss, I had to show my passport and be officially invited in by GT. A hard hat and flat shoes were also mandatory. Everything was HUGE.......including my fascination of this whole new world....we walked the scenic route amongst huge buildings, cranes, expensive yachts, boats, tenders...and finally explored Mylin IV and GT's tin sheds which function as the nerve centre for data collection, collation and processing = The Office! I was greeted warmly by the refit team. It was nice to actually put faces to the people I have been hearing about during GT's time here. A very friendly bunch!
Mylin is carefully wrapped up as she is still very vulnerable....not quite ready to be released back into the water. The refit is well behind its estimated date of completion...which is one of the reasons GT was brought in 3 months ago to try and hasten the completion. His expertise has been invaluable in assisting the exercise, which hopefully, will be achieved by the end of June. After lunch in 'Chez B&V'...I left the workers to do what they had to do and battled the cold, trying to absorb the array of entertainment which had already started to gear up and was drawing the crowds in! I am seriously considering buying some thermals...so much for packing the shorts!