We stayed in Stary Smokovec, Slovakia and this was a view from our hotel room window. This amazing view is the result of hurricane-strength winds that swept this region in Decemember 2004, just a month before our arrival there.

Although the landscape looked as if a powerful bomb went off there, I didn't find it depressing or even disturbing. Just a show of natural forces. I was curious about the impact on "locals'" lives but people around here were not very talkative.