So finally, we made our way through the Northwestern part of this country, passing Saint Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург) and the wonderful region of Karelia (Карелия), and then arriving after a train ride of almost 33 hours in Apatity (Апатиты) this morning.
Northern Karelia, around midnight:
Over long distances the railway is single-tracked only:
From Apatitiy to Kirovsk (Ки́ровск) it is only a 30 minutes drive, and after some shopping we are now here in the Khibiny teaching and research station of Lomonosov Moscow State University. Due to the midnight sun there is no hurry at all, so while Tatiana is already working in the library I am in concern of our physical well-being: today, the menu will be Russian ravioli filled with deer and a special sour cream sauce. Today’s weather conditions: clear sky but frosty, as is so far our accommodation.
Overview of Kirovsk…
…and here we will live and work during the next weeks:
Cheers, Sven and Tatiana
Arctic Research 
Fritzi
Dear Sven
Greetings from Bern! Enjoy the midnight sun…we enjoy the red wine 🙂
Fritzi
Sven
Hey Fritzi – they even have Caucasian smoked cheese here which would be perfect to red wine – nevertheless, we still have some works (vulgo: science) to do… See you then @ Lötschberg or elsewhere when I am back, and enjoy rainy summer in Bern :–)