Queen Mary 2 at Hamburg Harbor Birthday Party 2011

 

Special postmark on May 8, 2011, to commemorate RMS Queen Mary 2's (largest ocean liner in the world) visit to Hamburg to participate in the 822nd Hamburg Harbor's Birthday.

The Port of Hamburg was founded on May 7, 1189. It is named Germany's "Gateway to the World" and is the largest port in Germany. It is the second-busiest port in Europe (after the port of Rotterdam), in terms of TEU throughput, and 11th-largest worldwide.

The celebration of the harbor's birthday (Hafengeburstag) every year during the first weekend of May is one of Hamburg's biggest public events. Visitors come from all over Germany and Europe to experience the festivities. Tugboats perform "ballets", old galleons and new cruise ships are open for tours, and fireworks explode at night.

The festival this year was officially opened by Prince Haakon of Norway.

Thanks to Wolfgang Beyer from Germany for the surprise cover with beautiful postmark.

Source: Wikipedia