Elbe Tunnel...

We were impressed when we arrived at the entrance to the Elbe Tunnel, which opened in 1911.

This large lift carries pedestrians and cyclists down 80 feet (24 meters) below the surface. Separate lifts were used for vehicles for decades, but stopped carrying cars in 2023.  

Those impatient for the lift opted to walk down. 

This 1,398-foot (426-meter) tunnel connects the city center with the dockyards on the south side. 

Views back across the river.

The trail ended in an empty parking lot where we enjoyed lots of leftovers from the weekend.
 

Hangover Trail...

The Hangover Trail started in a park near the hostel.

Much of the trail twisted through the nearby streets where I stopped to admire some of the architecture. Rebuilt after World War II, St Michael’s Church was purposely built Protestant unlike many others which were converted from Catholic during the Reformation.

Fleshmob got into the act when we entered the last surviving enclosed courtyards from the 17th century. 

Krameramtsstuben (Grocer’s Apartments) were formerly timber-framed homes for widows of members of the Grocer’s Institute.

Hamburg is home to the largest warehouse district in the world with many of the buildings built on wood pilings. 

Oriental Carpet Made of Stone was crafted in 2019 as a reminder that Hamburg is the busiest entry point for Oriental carpets sold in Europe. 

 

Party Time!

The hosts of this year’s event was MERMAID H3, which stands for Mature Enchantresses Roaming in Menopausal Abundance Indulging in Devious Shenanigans. The theme for Saturday’s party was Viking Mermaid in Drag or Flip-Flops in homage to Interscandi’s Viking roots. 

While Tasty Piss and Jesus Hickey Christ combined mermaid with Viking... 

…looks like Biggles and I were mermaids in drag.

It’s hard to tell, but this section was filled with the Swedish contigency in their matching outfits.

Strandpauli was a nice beach bar along the river. Our group had a private section with a BBQ dinner and dancing. 

Opee often accompanied me to the loo so I didn’t have to walk through all the Muggles alone.

As we were the last to arrive in our hostel room, we got single beds on opposite sides of the room, but that didn’t matter. Opee forgot to take off his fishnets before crawling into my bed in our warm room. 
 

Saturday Trails in Hamburg...

Unlike most hash weekends, the Saturday trails neither started at the venue nor involved getting on a tour bus. Instead we had to get ourselves to the run start in Poppenbuttel using public transportation. Opee had to leave 30 minutes earlier for the Ballbreaker trail, so we travelled separately. Luckily we had no problems, but plenty of people managed to not get to the start on time and spent much of the day lost. 

The Medium Trail was only supposed to be 9K, but I ended up doing 14.5K since the markings were so sparse that we occasionally ended up on other trails.

I appreciated that much of the trail was shaded in the woods. 

Opee clearly had fun on the Ballbreaker.

…and at his circle. 

 

Off to Hamburg...

The following morning, we flew to Berlin. It was very cool to see the Thames Barrier from the window.

We then quickly left London behind. We opted to fly round-trip to Berlin and then take a train to Hamburg where we’d be attending Interscandi 2024 before spending two nights with Jim in Berlin. 

This was the view from our room which we were sharing with two other couples at the Pyjama Hotel and Hostel located in the Reeperbahn, Hamburg’s Red Light District. 

We grabbed some doner kebabs, then set off on the opening event: a pub crawl. We were lucky to be in the group with Wouldn’t Chew as she took us to some great craft beer bars. Along the way, Gay Sailor added some googly eyes to this fellow.

 

Graduation Time...

They were running a bit behind from the ceremony before hers, but eventually we were all invited into the cathedral. 

As much as we would have loved to have sat front and center, the need to drop off our bags at the coat check slowed us down enough that the center was full. 

At least we were at the end of a row on the side so we could still catch a glimpse of the ceremony, which opened with a choir. 

On our 31st wedding anniversary we had the pleasure of watching our eldest daughter presented as a Master of Research in Sustainable Futures, the only one with that particular degree. 

And luckily she walked down our side of the aisle and spotted us. 

Sadly we then had to kiss her goodbye as she was catching a bus back to campus for celebrating with friends and we were heading back to London before flying out the next morning to Germany. 

Here’s one more angle of Truro Cathedral caught from the train. 

The scenery was dramatic...

…including a giant white horse near Bratton Camp which was originally cut in the late 17th century. 
 

Truro Cathedral...

Built in 1910, Truro Cathedral is young compared to most other cathedrals in England, but it is very impressive and quite the location for a graduation ceremony.

Needless to say, we took a lot of photos...

…from lots of different angles.