This year we turn five! Not only are we celebrating by giving away an iPad 2, we threw a party of our own. Last week our London and Paris offices downed tools and joined our Hamburg team to celebrate Qype’s 5th Birthday.

Five is pretty old in internet years, so we needed a venue special enough for this milestone. So where did we head to? The Aquarium! With added snakes, naturally:

We sat down for a short talk by our CEO Ian, and the founder of Qype, Stephan (though concentrating was made a little difficult with stingrays swimming in the background):

Having offices in three different countries makes it very difficult for Qype staff to meet up in person, so this party was the first time many of us talked without the assistance of Skype! Luckily for us, the French and German Qypers are accomplished linguists and the language barrier wasn’t a problem.

Thankfully there aren’t many snaps of us hitting the dance floor, but rest assured that there was enough cheesy music (and dancing to match) to rival any wedding disco. Here’s some of our sales team looking lovely (before the drinking, dancing and debauchery kicked in):

Though we boarded our plane the next morning a little worse for wear, we had a fantastic night that we’re still gossiping about (but we’re not telling any – what happens in Hamburg stays in Hamburg…).

Thanks to Pia and the Qype Hamburg team for organising a fantastic 5th birthday party! Wonder what we’ll do for our 10th?

Photos taken by Solaris Media