It's been a while since I wrote a post about my favourite pieces of street art in Hamburg and you guys seem to still be reading it. While this makes me very happy, one part that I like most about public art is how quickly it changes. Some pieces are gone, some new ones appeared. It's definitely time to go on a new walk through Hamburg's Sternschanze area.

Hamburg is building a whole new part of town – the HafenCity.

Apart from the Elbphilharmonie and hundreds of residential and office buildings, the city's infrastructure is currently being expanded to cover the new area.

The new subway line U4 connects the HafenCity with the rest of Hamburg and is holding up with the architectural standard of the new buildings surrounding it.

Three stops have already opened and are all worth a visit:

With two rivers, dozens of parks and a buzzing art scene, Hamburg is not just great for a weekend trip, but also to impress your friends and followers on Instagram.

Since Hamburg still excites me after living here for several years, I've put together a list of my favourite spots to visit for a great afternoon and a few likes from your Social Media-friends.

Yet another Street Art post? I know, we've seen quite a lot of public art on this blog in the last couple of weeks, but this one is special, I promise!

There are a couple of reasons why I picked Hamburg as my home-base and the harbour is definitely one of them. Being able to step out of the subway, overlooking the cranes, the water and even a beach is pretty special for a European city.

aaaalright, sometimes it's raining in Hamburg. Ok, it's raining most days between October and April and also also in between every now and then.

But it's really not as bad as people think. If there is one thing, that's good about Hamburg's weather: The city offers a huge range of activities for rainy days. There are loads and loads of shops, museums and places where you can see the rain running down the window panes.

Returning from Bangkok, I was freezing for the first couple of weeks (think 40°C difference in temperature. Sorry Fahrenheits, I have no idea how much that is for you ) and very happy to have some indoor activities to warm up right in front of my door step.

edit 2018: Janno was sold to Emmy, which works the same way.

Are you as thrilled about the new Vespa sharing concept Jaano in Hamburg as me?

In case you haven't heard of it, check out yesterday's post.

Just like with car sharing, you can now sign up with Jaano and then use one all of their Vespas, which you'll find all over Hamburg.

It happened in Indonesia. An old man at a tiny shop handed me a key and pointed at a scooter:

“that's yours”. It was green, heavily scratched and the speed indicator didn't work.

I was freaked out and definitely in danger when I started driving, but I was in love. 

You probably know Hamburg's St. Pauli for its nightlife, the red-light district around Reeperbahn or the soccer club.

But if you manage to get up early after a long night of partying, there is actually a lot to see around there and the combination of crazy nightlife and a relaxed area to have coffee with my friends, makes it one of my favourite parts of Hamburg.

I especially love the vintage and neon signs, which you will find everywhere! Let me show you...

Are you as lazy as me when it comes to sightseeing? I get distracted quickly and quite often end up having drinks in the middle of the day instead of looking at all the exciting things I had planned.

Fortunately Hamburg is a great place for people wanting to see a city without moving:

It has two rivers and hundreds of canals running through it, which means you can see most of the city by boat.

This is the second part of the new category on Journey to Design summarizing the best restaurants for people who are into design and into food, one city at a time!

When I "researched" for the first post about Hamburg (aka forced my friends to have dinner with me at every nice restaurant in town), I realized that there are way too many nice restaurants in Hamburg to fit in one story.

So this is part two of “Hungry for design” featuring Alpenkantine, Altes Mädchen and Elbgold in Hamburg.

this is a new category on Journey to Design summarizing the best restaurants for people who are into design and into food, one city at a time!

And what could be a better start for that than my hometown Hamburg?

This is part one of “Hungry for design” featuring the restaurants Bullerei, Witwenball and Marend in Hamburg.

There are a couple of things I consider highly luxurious:

This includes champagne showers, soaking up the sun on a private yacht, anything involving learjets or staying in hotel in the city you live in.

So when Superbude invited me to stay with them in Hamburg, I didn't hesitate for a second, although or just because their hotel is just a 15 min walk from my apartment. I had wanted to look at this hotel/hostel for ages and never really found an excuse: now it was here.

"Who would've thought an island that tiny would be big enough to hold all our old boyfriends?"

Sex and the city "Where There's Smoke"

If you could design a space for the café that makes the best cakes in town and is specialized in decorations, what would it look like?

There you are, standing in front of me. Tall and beautiful. I feel tiny standing next to you.

I've been coming to see you for almost ten years now but you are still playing hard to get.

You have this sparkle, I can see the city reflect in your eyes. On a sunny day they appear bright and blue,

if it's raining it looks like you are crying.

I heard people talk about you. You're high maintenance and we can't afford you they say.

But they probably haven't seen you yet.

I love yoga. I love how I walk into the studio and how everything is just quiet and peaceful. My teacher says it's the room's aura, I think it's just good architecture.

Have you been to a café and asked the waiter if you could buy their cutlery, furniture

or decorations because you liked it so much?

Well, I have and every time they said no and that's why I was really excited when I found Salon wechsel dich. This hard to pronounce name means something like "swap salon".

Their concept is so simple that I was wondering how I did not have this idea myself:

You can buy everything you see: the chair you sit on, the candle holders and even the plate your delicious sweet waffles are served on. They also have a shelf for smaller pieces like jewellery or handbags with a great selection that I haven't found anywhere else yet.

What's better than wandering through a city and finding little gems of artwork around every corner?

Fortunately, Hamburg is a city that values good street art and after the sudden death of Hamburg's most famous graffiti artist Oz last September (sadly he was hit by a train while spraying) street art has been given an extra push of attention.

edit: I've done an updated walk through the Sternschanze area, with some new pieces.

I like to be around pretty stuff. That can be a nice apartment, nice clothes or nice people. For me, the way the room I'm staying in looks, can really make my day.

When the city of Hamburg started building a new part of town in a discarded harbour area, a new subway line came with it. And to my delight, they decided to make it special, to create a space, that makes people happy on their commute to work or on their way to the supermarket.

The first stop to open was “Hafencity universität”, a place bringing a whole new meaning to the word subway station.