Jesse, Jack and I took a very early morning ferry from Tallin back across the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Helsinki was founded in the mid 1500s by the Swedish king, Gustav Vasa in what was … Continue reading A Walking Tour of Helsinki
After visiting the Hill of Crosses in the morning, Jesse and I continued north on our return back to Norway. We didn’t get very far before … Continue reading Rundāle Palace
The Hill of Crosses is a site of Catholic pilgrimage where since the 1800’s crosses, crucifixes, and rosaries have been placed. In 2006 it was estimated to contain over 100,000 crosses! We didn’t count ourselves, but that number must have … Continue reading The Hill of Crosses
After spending most of the day at Kursiu Nerija, we finally made it to Vilnius pretty late in the evening. Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania and the largest city in the country, named after the Vilnia river. It is … Continue reading Night Scenes of Vilnius
On the southwest coast of Lithuania is the Kursiu Nerija (Curonian Spit) National Park a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is located on a narrow peninsula that juts out from the mainland. To get to the spit we boarded a … Continue reading Kursiu Nerija National Park
Jesse’s uncle Scott was in Tromsø for another day, and quite interested in going for a longer and scenic hike. We had lots of options to choose from. There are so many great hikes in the Tromsø area, and … Continue reading Summiting Store Blåmann
Summertime in Tromsø means evening hiking with the late evening sun on the rare sunny and warm days. This evening, Julia joined us today on a hike to Middagsfjellet on Kvaløya. This hike starts from a small parking area on … Continue reading Middag on Middagsfjellet
This evening Jesse, Jack and I went for a short hike to Åsfjellet, a 336 m (1102 ft) hill. The trail started from a parking lot and headed out on a dirt road past a number of cabins. When the … Continue reading A Jaunt to Åsfjellet
In Colorado I used to bike or drive part of Overland Trail to work everyday, a very straight and flat section. This hike that we did today, was nothing like it. Jesse had kind of a crazy idea to hike … Continue reading An Overland Trail
The weather has been so good this week that Jesse planned an evening hike on Lakstinden near Sommarøya. Lakstinden is a relatively short hike, only 5 km (3.1 miles) round trip and 455 m (1492 ft) tall. The trail head … Continue reading Colorful Lakstinden
A Lost Microbiologist 