In 99 Days Around The World.: About spontaneous and touching moments

I change now blog language to englisch, because maybe there will be more and more international readers.

I send you greetings from Yekaterinburg, the so called capital of the Ural. I have here already 4 hours time difference to good old little Switzerland. Tomorrow morning at 6:30 local time I will continue my trip around the world with the Transsib to Irkutsk and Sea of Baykal. There I'm going to stay a little bit longer - 5 days - and I would like to hike around the sea. After the stay there I go on for my first Intrepidtravel-guided tour in Mongolia, really lookin' forward to it! :)

Most of the time I'm very fine, but yesterday I had a small philippsche crisis :) here in Yekaterinburg - I really missed my home and especially my lovely girlfriend. But a nice SMS from her and my world was again fine :-) My travelling equipment such as rucksack and trekking shoes prove themself all - great thanks to Simeon from Baechli Bergsport in Zurich Oerlikon and the guys from Transa in Bern! (and by the way: the heavy rucksack is not heavy anymore at all, I could walk with it now for days thats a nice feeling :-)

In St. Petersburg I had I shock for some hours, I made a errant step with my left foot because there was a hole in a stair step. I had heavy pain in this night. But taping, some cream, praying and good thought from my russian friends and from switzerland was helping. The next morning I had as by a miracle a good feeling again with my foot and I could start with the Transsib experience. Wow, absolutely great, I'm so thankful!

I'm very happy because I have the opportunity to meet so much different people and I can learn from them. Learn from land and country. Touching hearts and be touched...this is life...When I was driving with the Transsib trough the endless forests of the russian taiga, it came always the same thought again and again: "Outer growing is useless when you don't have also inner growing" Means: You are allowed to grow on the materialistic side, but, you should also know or learn how to deploy your resources in a greater sence - have a heart for others... it is so easy and I think in a greater context it makes you happier than any ferrari...
Yesterday I also realised, that when you wanna get to know the world you have to go to the world. And you also get to know better your home place, because you know then also other sides/places/peoples of the world. And of course, you can appreciate more your home and your friends you have. Because nothing you get is self-evident...

My highlights 'till now: Many touching meetings, the awesome sunsets and sunrises over the russian taiga (sometimes hard not to share this impressions with your best friends...) , spontaneos painting- and tree-planting session in St. Petersburg, the World Championship Ishockey-Match Finnland - Switzerland with a lot of Swiss Fans and the really really lovely City of Yekaterinburg with a lot of green cosy places (I had a absolutely different picture in my head. This is also a result of travelling, I realised it in the beginning of my journey: You're confronted with the real world and you have to correct sometimes some pictures in your head :) ).
A lot more details I would like to present you when I'm home again.

I already can tell you all, when you only had one little thought in your head to travel around the world: So do it, let things go and don't have fear, just trust and you will make your experience of life...

Let's go on to Sibiria. I love to go on a step further. For inner growing....

Thanks so much for your thoughts on me and my trip, and for the support for this trip!

Miss you all, miss you Spaatz... :-*

//here some impressions in pictures, they say more than 1000 words//

Start in Burgdorf 5.5.2012 7:45 (the small green bag is the birthday present for my girlfriend :) )

Philipp from "Die Linke". Nice political discussions and also about god and the world :)

Luebeck. The City of Marzipan (yes, I have some in my rucksack :) )

A spontaneous violine concert on the finnlines ship on the way to Finnland. It was great, especially the blonde girl was playing an incredible solo. I think she is a very big talent. All the audience was standing up after her solo and gave a loud applause...

The two guys from my room on the ship - Joachim is russian with german roots and now he lives again in Germany. Aulis is finn and lives now half-half-a-year in Finnland and Austria (his wife is from Austria). He is artist. I learnd a lot from this two very nice persons...miss them!

Incredible sunset on the sea...

Harbor in Helsinki. Just walking around a little. I like this City, could imagine to live there :)

The most original swiss fans which I met in Helsinki. And we saw each other again in the fan area in the evening and also through the whole night :)

Suomi and Swiss Fans together. Switzerland lost, but you could get another impression during this night... :-)

My finnish salomon breads - unfortunately one of them couldn't resist an attack of a seagull :/ :-)

Tramway Line 3T/3B in Helsinki. With this roundtrip-line you can make the best sightseeing of the city.

The new fast train between Helsinki and St. Petersburg. It brings you from one to the other city in 3:36 hours instead of 6.

On my arrival day in St. Petersburg on May 9th there were festivities - Day of Victory (world war 2)

Spontaneous painting session with Mascha to beautify another "Friends"-Hostel in St. Petersburg.

The painting- and planting-crew with the result :-) "When something is not that beautiful how you would like it, then just create it different" :)

Another colorful moment: VW-Beetle meeting in St. Petersburg.

Engineer Nikolai which I met on the Transsib. Because my russian vocabulary is still little, we tried to communicate in pictures and drawings. I like him even I didn't get to know so much about him. He has a strong charisma and a lot of positive energy. He is a creator.

The fish was still little frozen, but the 3-course-meal was very tasty - especially the typical russian (I learned it is originally ucrainian) soup "borscht"!

Train Station in Yekaterinburg - Arriving time 5:52 local time and 3:52 moscow time (all the trains using moscow time. You have to make such conventions in a country with eleven time zones).