Theme: Space
Location: Congress Center Hamburg
Tabbie arrived in Vienna in the morning, we packed out car and had a nice drive to Magdeburg, where we would spend a night in the hotel that hosted Eurofurence 16-19.
When we arrived, Nico was already there. We checked into our rooms and had a burger in the lobby. Sadly the beautiful Piano Bar was closed on Mondays, dang!
Tabbie, Nico and I still went to the pool area and did 2 rounds of sauna. The water was a bit chilly, so we didn't stay too long. Later we still walked around in Magdeburg a bit, revisiting some of the places we had fond memories of.
We got up at 9:00 and had the - according to booking.com reviews - excellent breakfast.
It was alright, but not really worth the 22€. But at least we tried it, since we could not afford this back when Eurofurence took place here. After breakfast Henrieke went to rest a bit and Tabbie, Nico and I went to check out the green citadel, a spectacular building designed by the Austrian Architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
Sadly we did not have time to do a tour, but we took some time to appreciate the nice architecture. We also went to see the massive cathedral. On the way back we saw 2 adorable wood pigeons building a nest together. Back at the Maritim I took a shower, then we checked out and started driving to Hamburg. Sadly it went a bit slower than planned, and what didn't help was getting caught up in a massive police drug sting. They checked every car approaching the convention center, and it added about 30 minutes to our trip. We got a spot in the CCH garage, which luckily was affordable thanks to a staff discount. We got our roomkeys, quickly dropped our luggage on the room and then went straight to the CCH. We had to wait 30 minutes in line to get a staff sticker, so sadly by the time we arrived, the charity booth was pretty much set up. On this day only staff was allowed inside the CCH, so it was rather quiet. I said hi to Hai and we met Indigo, Sniffer, Dibs, Sambers and Refr at the charity booth. I did some booth decoration with mylar film.
After being mostly done we went to the staff lounge with Itchigo and Halite. We had some curry and a slushie.
Hurga dropped by and we chatted about how to best secure a CCC ticket, which is a hacker conference taking place in the CCH in winter. Some people also refer to it as "Eurofurence Winter Edition" since so many furries attend. We went back down to the booth and brought everything that didn't belong there to the storage cellar. Itchigo gave me a drawing that Titash did for EF 10 years ago so we could frame it for the charity auction. We went back to the room and ran into Tabbie and Nico outside, they were both suiting.
We were super tired, so we just unpacked a bit and flopped onto our beds.
We went to breakfast at 9:40 and were joined by Arin and Dario. I never met either of them before, so it was great to meet both of them. We spent a long time chatting about Europe, TFF and the first Peruvian furcon. I also chatted a bit with Aphinion. We stayed until 11 when they threw us out. Tabbie and Nico also came by. We went to the reception to pick up our new tablecloth (with fire safety certification) from the reception. We went to the room, then to the booth for the on-site charity meeting. Henrieke and I got pins for 10 years of service at Eurofurence. We hung up the banner and noticed our mylar decoration for removed. As it turns out, usually mylar film is not flammable, as it's used for emergency situations. Well, the one on Amazon was made from pure Chinesium and very flammable, so I could understand the CCH security's concerns. Henrieke and I then went to the art show to set up our shared panel. Henrieke had another panel for exhibiting her Disney art and other originals.
Skulldog, Cairyn, MrLemur and Makibox came by as we hung up pictures. Then we went to the staff lounge and I had some currywurst and chatted with Shorty and Nek0. We went back to the room and met André (The hairless master of alcohol, legendary barkeeper back when Eurofurence was back at the Ringberg) and his wife at the elevator. I told him I remembered him from the Ringberg, and Henrieke mentioned the drawing she did of him as an otter for Oma Kage. They were happy to meet people who were still at the Ringberg. We went to the opening ceremony. Since something went wrong, our seat reservation did not go through, but the seats were still free, so we got to sit fairly upfront. This year, the ceremony was spread over 2 stages, had witty writing and great animation by the animation team!
After that we went to the Art Show Vernissage, a charity event where you could see the art show early (and get tiny mozzarellas and olives on toothpicks). Goddy also joined us there. We chatted a bit with Cairyn and met many friends there like Katara, Ashanti, Kebi, etc. I left to get some food, but still checked out the rubber-crafting panel for a bit. It was interesting, but I was too hungry. I ran into Sertro, who was also looking for food. We also ran into Jazzy and Trax. The food catering in the convention center was already closed, and the food trucks had a too long line. We ended up going to McDonalds at the train station, also with a long line, but at least the service was somewhat fast. I said hi to Neop there. I went to the room with Sertro, Goddy also joined. We chatted about VRChat a bit. Henrieke also came and we went to bed at 1:20.
We got up at 8:15 and I went straight to the convention center with our Artist Alley supplies. It turned out that the CCH opened at 9:00, so I was a bit early, oops. I waited until they opened and managed to secure a good spot along with the other few artists who waited there early. I set up a but and waited for Henrieke, who was having breakfast. Luno set up shop next to our table. Eventually Henrieke took over and I went to breakfast. I sat with Kalaallit, later Tabbie and Nico joined as well. After breakfast I went back to our table, where 2 people already waited to get a commission from me, a nice start of the day!
I sold a few patches too. Yookie came by and stuck around a bit. Trax and Jazzy also dropped by and got sketch commissions. Also Hiero and Jipho came to say hi. I took a break to check out the rest of the Artist Alley, which was in a much better place this year. There was a lot of traffic. Henrieke had pretty good sales. At one point Greeny came by, and Henrieke took some photos with Kiki and Greeny.
The reflective cat patch Henrieke made was a big hit. Around 17:00 we started packing up. I was still finishing the last commission then. Some Disney fan came over and started fanboying over Henrieke's work. We stored our few things in the staff lounge and I went to the Dealers Den, while Henrieke went to the art show for the bird live drawing panel.
The Dealers Den was absolutely massive and really busy. This year the giant Hall was split into 4 equally sized parts: Arena stage, fursuit lounge, Art Show and Dealers Den. I said hi to Ori, who was dealing. At the EF con store I got a Greeny pin and the very last Greeny patch. I went to give it to Henrieke, who was still in the Art Show next door.
I saw that I already had 2 bids on my Sea Dragon picture, nice!
I went to help out a bit at Luno's fursuit repair cafe and fixed a few broken zippers and claws for people. Then I went to the pub quiz, were I agreed to meet up with Kalaallit and Mutz. Neither of them showed up, so I didn't have a team and had to skip it. I met Tinkerbun and Atkelar in the lobby and chatted with them a bit, then I headed to the fediverse meet.
I met Konsti there and saw someone with a really good custom Spyro plush! I picked up a pizza slice, then met Henrieke at the end of the bird live drawing class in the Art Show. Yookie was also there. We had some food in the staff lounge. Lance dropped by. I worked on a commission I got on Telegram.
Goddy was nice enough to bring us some groveries. We moved to the Artist Lounge after a while and met Arin on the way. He brought really tasty Peruvian pie. We sat together and did art trades for a while. Arven joined as well. I traded with Arin and got people to draw in Titash's book. I talked a lot with Lance. Indigo made is some nice gift art.
We got up at 9:30 and went to breakfast at 10:00. Henrieke spotted someone with a TMBG shirt and figured it would be Trip, and she was correct! Randon was there as well. We had breakfast with both of them and chatted about Croc and TMBG. In the Radisson lobby I ran into André and showed him an old photo from EF15 I dug up. I went up to the room to get into suit, and Baseball took an adventurous route downstairs using the stairs. Baseball joined the parade, which had already started. He met Yookie there, also Dario, Arin, Tabbie and Nico. At the farthest point from the hotel, the parade got stuck because of a bottleneck. After waiting around for 30 minutes and getting some photos taken while waiting, Baseball and the others headed back the way they came from.
At the CCH, Baseball met Goddy and Atkelar. Henrieke also joined. Baseball, Tabbie and Nico got some fun photos taken at the charity animal rescue car. Then Baseball went up to our room and I took a well-needed shower. Those big wings are exhausting! I drank a huel and then went to the demoscene meet.
It was nice that there was so much interest. I chatted a bit with Freya and VioletProcyon. I also ran into Mutz. Then I went to the Dealers Den, on the way I ran into someone who randomly let people try out a Hololens. I always wanted to try one, and while it was neat, the field of view was basically so small that it was hard to even find the floating windows. I stored my bag, checked the bids in the artshow and met Henrieke at the eFutro table. They had some interesting furs.
Then I went to the Avali panel. On the way I ran into Supykun and a friend of Charles Brubaker in the Artist Alley. Finally in the Avali panel, I met Sertro there of course and a nice guy from Styria. Sertro and I vowed to make it to Graz together sometime. We checked out the VRChat portal, then Sertro and a friend of his joined me to our room to recharge a bit. Goddy also joined. I missed out on PowerPoint karaoke, but I just didn't have the energy.
I went down to see the art show closing, I sold three of the four pieces I put in there, not too bad. Then I went back to the room with Henrieke and we got our supplies for Doodles for Donations. We went there for the 19:00 time slot. It was a bit chaotic as Nek0 could not be there, but we got some signs printed at the info desk and all was well. I got some quick food with Goddy, we attached the signs and I sat down and did a drawing for charity. I stayed until the event ended.
I went to check out a little panel, but the line was so long, I gave up. Then I checked out the inflatables panel, but that one was delayed. So I went to the room to get into suit. Henrieke was there. Baseball went to the pooltoy panel and checked out the dance on the way, the music was not great though. At the pooltoy panel, Eiliko took some photos. Arin and Dario also showed up of course, and I spent a while chatting with Arin about pooltoy manufacturing. There was a cute Wispy, a giant orca, and of course good sea dragons. At the panel, Grace from FluffPuff approached me and mentioned she liked the Sea Dragon art piece in the art show. She also asked if I would be interested in making pooltoy designs, and boy was I ready! I had a design idea basically ready to go, and we would go on to talk about that later!
Baseball went outside and met Fizz, Naunan, Lumi and Nico. The music at the dance wasn't good, they ruined Rhythm is a dancer, one of the best dance tracks ever, with some hardstyle remix.
Baseball then went outside again, then dropped by at the artist lounge. Apparently everyone just got kicked out by the hotel, even though the artist lounge was supposed to be open much longer. I escalated it in the staff chat and Nightfox fixed it. Baseball went up to the room again and I took a quick shower, then went back to the artist lounge. Rin, Arven, Henrieke and others were there. Sertro and Skyteks also came. We stayed there until closing time at 2:00 and went to bed at 2:40.
We got up at 10:00 and went to breakfast. We sat together with a very tired Kalaallit. Henrieke went back to the room, I went to see the auction. Henrieke's piece featuring Greeny poses sold for 1000€ for charity, nice! After that I ran into Henrieke in the lobby.
We walked around a bit, then I went to the room to get into suit. Baseball went down for the group photo. It took way too long. Baseball met Nightmarush, a fellow Austrian. Also Dario, Kwisa and Arin. Baseball flapped around a bit longer and also dropped by the NFC staff panel. After that, he went back to the room and I took a shower. I met Henrieke at the Dealers Den after dumping my bag in the staff lounge. We met Jake and Goddy there. Jake gave us an invite for his wedding next April. We looked at some fur and dropped by Dolphiana's table. It turns out she lives in Vienna now! We agreed to meet up and art-jam sometime in the future. We also dropped by Skulldog's and TaniDraws' tables.
I went to the NFC staff panel and talked a bit with Trax. I went back to the Dealers Den to drop off a sketchbook at Nwar's table, then went to the International Snack Exchange after hanging out in the staff lounge and chatting with Hai a bit. Snack exchange was tasty.
When it ended, we brought the leftovers to the staff lounge. Then I went to the art show pick-up with Henrieke where Henrieke got the art she bought. I helped her wrap the originals she brought for display and we brought all of it back to our room.
Then I went to the closing ceremony with Henrieke. I thought we were late, but it turned out we were exactly on time! It was a different format this time. Cami hosted it and went through everything at a good pace. The charity was obviously very happy with the preliminary amount of 32000€. Sniffer cried! The theme next year will be Furry Festival.
Outside the stage we met Gallen. We went downstairs and witnessed a T-Rex stampede. Beautiful.
Then it was time to tear down the charity booth. Thanks to ZenAku, Indigo and Halite, things went very fast and we had all the things packed up in no time.
I chatted with Nightfox and Tani about an idea to have an exhibition about the history of Eurofurence, they liked the idea! I brought the last box into storage and wrapped up Doodles for Donations, then met up with Henrieke again. We spent a while standing in the art show pick up line. I met PaperCalypso, one of my favorite artists! Tabbie and Nico were also there. We heard faint Drum & Bass coming from outside, so we had to check it out. It was an absolutely sick set and we spent a little bit dancing outside, until Tabbie ran out of energy. Eventually it was our turn at the art show payout and I got to cover part of my hotel costs with it.
In the staff lounge, I had some curry and fried apple with Henrieke and Indigo. I also chatted with Krauti a bit. We hung around in the staff lounge a bit longer, then I dropped by the photoshoot. Shorty told me they would be open for 10 more minutes, so if I wanted to get photos I would have to get into suit and be back before that. I took the challenge, ran through the convention center, up to the room, got Baseball who sprinted back to the photoshoot and made it exactly on time. The theming was great, they made a space station set!
Baseball checked out the dance after and met Mathiz and EzWolf there. BBF was djing. After a break in the giant fursuit lounge, Baseball met Yookie outside. Then he went to the artist lounge. Indigo, Henrieke and Kashmere were there. I got out of suit on the room, took a shower and a painkiller, had a leftover breakfast egg and joined the others in the artist lounge. Goddy joined as well. Casi was sitting on a table next to us. I wasn't feeling too great anymore sadly. Once again, the hotel staff kicked us out. There was a lot of back and forth again and a lot of miscommunication among the hotel staff apparently.
Henrieke took Kiki to the CCH and walked around a bit, meeting lots of people and other critters. I took some photos at BBF's dance.
Outside I met Claspo. I met Loewi and Saberhagen, SnowWolf's boyfriend. We talked a bit about EF14 and EF15. Snowi also showed up. Her shift started at 2am, brutal. It turns out that the time when all our things needed to be out of the convention center changed, so a big part of staff had to pull an all-nighter to make the much earlier deadline. Luckily the charity stuff was already all removed from the public space and inside the garage, which we were allowed to use the entire Sunday.
We met up with Goddy, he joined us to the room and picked up some of the things he stored there, when we went to bed at 3:00.
I got up at 10:00 with a big headache. We had breakfast by ourselves, then we already started packing a bit on the room. We went to the CCH garage at 12:00.
Sniffer, Refr and Indigo were there. We spend 3 hours indexing and packing all the charity stuff until 15:00.
We went back to the Radisson and met Goddy and Atkelar there. Goddy went to get his stuff from our room. We spend a while sitting in the lobby with Goddy and Atkelar. Trip also dropped by. He went to dinner with the Board of Directors, sadly there was no space for us. Tabbie and Nico came by, and we decided to go to Hamburger Brauhaus at 17:00. I had a tasty currywurst there.
Back at the hotel, I went to the steam sauna with Tabbie and Nico. We enjoyed a nice few and some relaxation.
Back at the room, I packed some more things and we already brought some stuff to the car.
In the lobby, I met BBF at the bar. Shorty, Reesa and others were also hanging out there. We went to sit with Marlonade, Alpha_Ki and Souvillaine. We had a little art jam, and they drew in Titash's sketchbook. Arin and Dario were leaving, so we said a very sad good-bye to them. I was so happy to finally have met Arin, and even happier he had a great time at EF!
I chatted with Grace again about pooltoy design plans, then went back to artjam. Marlonade tried out my reMarkable. Alpha_Ki, Marlonade and Souvillaine went to bed at midnight. I sat together with Tuft, Dario, Morning Light, Shuri, Grace and FluffyLightning and scribbled on my reMarkable. Henrieke worked on some drawings. I chatted a bit with Sheppy, Pan and Vulniir, said bye to BBF and we went to bed at 2:00, sadly again with a headache.
I got up at 9:00 and went straight back to bed with a painkiller. We went to breakfast shortly before 10:00. We saw RonnieNoodles and Uncle Kage but they looked like they were not in a condition to talk. We packed the rest of our stuff and checked out. Tabbie and Nico were in the lobby too. We said bye to Cee and BBF, then we dumped out things in the car and drove off. No police checkpoint this time.
3 hours later we were in Berlin at Trax' place. I said bye to Henrieke and Tabbie as they drove off to Bratislava.
I went to Kaufland with Trax and we picked up some Asian food. We had dinner back at his place and watched some B1M video about a very high-up Swiss observatory. Trax was in meetings the rest of the night, I repacked my things and we went to bed at 22:00 to catch a few hours of sleep before our trip to San Francisco the next day.
What a con! I could do this same con 50 times over and would have a different, great experience every time. There was an overwhelming amount of programming but also so much space and spontaneous action! The vibe was great and I can't wait for next year's 30th anniversary! Thanks to all the staffers who make this possible!
