exploration makes a better world

August 1
The 1000 lakes are actually more than 180000 (one hundred and eighty thousand!), and this morning i didnt know what to do with them. There i was in the middle of Karelia, the Lake District, and i wndt have liked to leave without checking them out, at least a little. One option was a [...]

July 31
I dont know exactly why i expected this trip with so much excitement. Maybe because it’s “off the beaten path”, maybe because everything is “on the edge” and has to work perfectly within narrow margins for it to happen, donno, but i was bursting with excitement.
Train was at 7:15am. Well, yeah, had to cross [...]

July 30
I’m at a terrace in the center of Rovaniemi, surrounded by talkative Finns. I am wearing shorts and a Tshirt. It’s 9pm, sunny and warm on the Arctic Circle.
The first impression in the Rovaniemi railway station were the probably American boy in flipflops. Dude, you’re on the Arctic Circle!!
Out in the street, though, I [...]

July 29
The first target in Helsinki was the railway station, to buy tickets for the next destination. The lady at the counter was called Ms. Ruotsalainen, which I found very cool :). That’s when I felt it - I’m in Finland!
When you leave your luggage at the railway station, you should be careful and take [...]

July 28, 23:41
Announced by a lighthouse

and overtaken by a boat,

We reached the Åland islands around 11pm, the first and last stop on the way to Helsinki.

Funnily enough (or maybe not), the red light had moved from west to north, falling behind the harbor

where another Viking Line ship was anchored, empty.

We docked next to it,

and when [...]

July 28, 21:13
Live transmission from the deck of the ship Marinella: sunset.

Before getting here though, the highlight of the short visit in Stockholm was meeting Stefan. Very pleasant, ideal for battery-charging before the Final Call of the North. I’m sorry that I haven’t spent one more day here.
After a “recovery sleep” till 10am, loading up [...]

July 27
I couldn’t leave Oslo without paying them a visit. I mean, I literally could have, but it would have been a pity.
Train to Stockholm was leaving at 4pm, so I took a boat to Bygdøy, museum island. First stop, at the Fram museum,

specially built to host the famous polar exploring ship.

Started by Fridtjof Nansen [...]

July 25-26
The simplest way to see some of the fjords is “Norway in a nutshell”, a package trip taking you to the most famous UNESCO heritage fjords. Train from Oslo to Myrdahl, one of the most scenic train routes in the world, from there bus to Voss, and then by boat to I dont’ remember [...]

July 23
The first words I heard in Oslo were “stai, ţine asta”.
Turned around - 2 blondes. I thought I heard wrong. But then - “La cât vine autobuzul?”
Come on, that’s too much Romanian to be just in my mind. So I turned to them and asked them for the Storgata street - “nu vă supăraţi, [...]

July 22
Before leaving the crazy Is(ce)land, a few things that any normal visitor should do in Iceland, but I didn’t, for lack of time or will.
Stuff I didn’t DO

Take part at the “runtur”, the famous weekend barhopping activity. Starting Friday night and lasting till… sunday evening, people drink up at home, then hit it for [...]