God made the Alps and the Rocky Mountains. He made the mountain goat, so that at least some animal could cross these steep mountains and have fun meanwhile. Men made the Land-Cruiser. And such a car I have.

No limits! No track too steep. And most of all: no stopping for minor obstacles like dead-end streets. Well, or so I thought. But then it happened: I reached Alaska's capital, Juneau. In no time I felt like Burt Reynolds when facing police cars coming from all directions. I felt trapped. No matter how hard I tried, there was no way out!

I don’t claim this a sound piece of research, but as far as I know, there are not many countries or states with a capital situated on a remote island with no street and no bridge connecting it to the mainland. Alaska, a state which is in many aspects a bit different, does have such a one.

For a long time Fairbanks and Anchorage both claimed the right to be the capital – and when they could not agree and none wanted the other to have the status as a capital-city, they left the right to Juneau, the old capital of Alaska. But what is Juneau good for else than governing some not-want-to-be-governed Alaskans?

For one thing, Juneau is situated beautifully between high mountains, slopes with very green trees, some waterfalls…. Secondly, the forest around Juneau is indeed more than a forest: it’s a real rain-forest with leaves bigger than the average head of a music-student from. What do you want more? Well, you could say that you want this all for yourself. Or, at least you might not want to share it with the passengers of five huge cruise ships a day.

One thing I now know for sure: I will not set a foot on a cruise ship, never ever! Swimming nursing home! People seem to be super bored and in order to forget about this, they plunder the buffets and marvel at the dishes at the captain’s table or, most important, they go shopping. On the ship in the nice boutiques. In every harbour in the souvenir shops. And it is not really important where you are: Ukrainian gems in Alaska? The heck, why not? And if there is a shop called “Little Switzerland” selling Swiss watches… …well, wasn’t this just what you desperately wanted? And while you are there, why not going to the absolutely authentic Alaskan bar which comfortably includes another souvenir shop and where you don’t run the risk of bumping into some real Alaskans?

Well, I escaped the masses that seemed to wear all the same rain jackets (“Alaska 2006 Adventure Cruise”… …adventure? Yes, SURE!) and found my hostel up on the hill. After the nightly encounter with a (luckily friendly) brown bear on the parking lot of the hostel I climbed Mt. Robertson the next morning. Beautiful. And due to Mt. Robertson many of you will get post-cards now!

Why? I explain: I said I climbed Mt. Robertson. Yes, that’s right – but how to get down again? With the cable car! The ride down costs... …nothing! But in order to obtain a ticket you must visit the souvenir shop and invest 5 Dollars at least. I could think of nothing better than buying post-cards. 25, to be exact. So if you wanna have one, send me an email – first come, first served.