Trondheim - Bronnoysund (Torghatten) - Stokkvagen - Lovund - Mo i Rana - Moskenes - Sorvagen - Svolvaer - Narvik - Tromso - Alta - North Cape

After finishing my research stay in Trondheim we embarked on a six-week roadtrip all the way around northern, central, and eastern Europe. The first episode included much of the beautiful coastal regions of Northern Norway, such as Torghatten (a mountain with a hole), the puffins of Lovund Island, hiking the stunning³ mountains of Lofoten islands, crossing the Arctic Circle, the "Paris of the North" - Tromso, the reindeer-strewn loneliness of Alta, and - finally - Nordkapp.

North Cape - Karigasniemi - Inari - lost island - Rovaniemi - Oulu - Manamansalo - Pihlajaniemi - Helsinki

Merrily on we went back South. Not even a busted exhaust pipe managed to stop our progress, thanks to some awesome mechanics in the "hamlet" of Karigasniemi, just south of the Norwegian-Finnish border. This part of the trip was a little more relaxed, with shorter legs of driving and several multi-night stays. For instance, we rented a canoe and spent the night on a deserted island in Lake Inari, accompanied only by huge numbers of furry little lemmings (and even more lemming corpses...). A little further south we visited Santa Claus's Village in Rovaniemi and eventually settled in a beautiful Mökki in the lost wilderness of central Finland, complete with our own lake and two Saunas. Another day south we finally drove into Helsinki, the first major city in weeks.

Helsinki - Tallinn - Riga - Paluse (Aukstaitija Nat'l Park) - Vilnius - Warsaw - Krakow - Kosice - Oradea - Brasov - Ploiesti - Bucharest - Tulcea/Crisan

Daily another country, another language, another currency for the first few days. Landing in Estonia by ferry we hit Riga on the first day, then found some unexpected beauty and wilderness in eastern Lithuania, before moving on into Poland by way of Vilnius. Then Slovakia, then almost a week in Romania, from the Hungarian border all the way towards Ukraine, close to the black sea. Beautiful.

Ploiesti - Sibiu - Szeged - Maribor - Ferlach - Munich - Gutenswil, ZH

The return was more or less routine, a few days of driving on country roads and highways, taking a peek into Hungary, some R&R in my home town and on to our new home town, Zurich.