"Einen Kaffee mit Milch bitte. Keinen Milchkaffee!", my friend Carina just told the waitress at a cafe facing the Grasbrookhafen. It was very important the waitress got this order right since my friend hated milky coffees that tasted weak and powerless.
As we took in the views from the cafe over Hamburg's most exciting new neighbourhood it seemed clear to me that a strong coffee was indeed what we needed.
Across the water stood Unilever's new German HQ and the Marco Polo tower and behind it lay the river Elbe and the Eastern portion of Europe's second largest harbour.
Not even 5 years ago the whole area was nothing but a giant building site and locals often joked about this so called "HafenCity". Called it a waste of time and money, even a scandal!
I even remember parking my car around here when I was doing an internship at a nearby Advertising Agency.
A couple of years later everything suddenly seems different. The buildings that now grace the "Kaiserkai" and its immediate surroundings are nothing short of astonishing, from an architectonic point of view.
Residential houses that look like a giant set of drawers rub shoulders with triangle shaped office buildings and funky open spaces that invite you to sit down and take in a truly unique view. Even the streetlamps are designer!
At the end of the Grasbrookhafen lies the futuristic and highly controversial "Elbphilharmonie", which will no doubt be a serious rival to Sydney's famous Opera House.
Costing the local tax payer an estimated total of €323 million (as opposed to the original €186 million) the construction and management often came under fire from angry locals who accused the city of spending money on pretty buildings rather than focusing on investment in education and other sectors. A claim recent governments could not deny.
However, no one can ignore that once completed (estimated for the end of 2012 and designed by Herzog & De Meuron) the new Elbphilharmonie will firmly place Hamburg at the forefront of musical extravagance.
Interestingly enough the building's full facade can only be seen from the water or the other side of the river Elbe.
Behind the "Kaiserkai" lies the "Sandtorkai", which was the first promenade to enjoy a construction boom in the early years of this millenium.
Now housing the HafenCity's first university as well as several international shipping companies it forms an interesting buffer between the iconic and UNESCO World Heritage listed "Speicherstadt" and the HafenCity's face on the river.
The city is very keen to press ahead with the completion of several other key projects such as the new metro line U4, which will eventually connect this part of town with the city center as well as other major undertakings such as the "Hamburg Cruise Center" as well as the "Science Center".
Overall the HafenCity is is Europe's largest inner city development and an exciting project to watch as Hamburg continues to cement its position as one of Germany's leading cities.
What strikes me is the speed with which Hamburg is rejuvenating itself while Berlin seems to be running out of steam.
Not long ago Berlin was hailed as Germany's fastest changing city yet today the city is poor and has run out of room to build new skyscrapers or other iconic buildings within the inner city limits.
Although personally I wouldn't choose to live in the HafenCity (my point about it being Europe's largest inner city development suffices) I still consider this area to be both exciting and surprising.
As my friend Carina and I left the cafe and began our stroll along the water I felt a sense of pride that my hometown was transforming itself from a traveler's well kept secret to one of Europe's most exciting metropolises.
