As you can probably guess, I loved this puzzle. Cake and desserts are some of my favourite subjects to puzzle, so this was great. I did the map of Italy first, then the light green non-Italian countries, and of course, the edges were last. With this kind of border it would be quite frustrating to start with the edges.

I actually haven’t tried many of the desserts here, but I often eat Tiramisù, and even make it myself. I don’t think I’ve ever had Sicilian Cannoli, but they played a part in the Godfather III, so I certainly know of them.

There all look delicious, and I would love to try them:

For the puzzle challenge, this was #30, a puzzle published in 2024. Ravensburger has some nice ones this year!

This is easily the most fun of all the Disney puzzles I’ve done. Lovely colours, and the details are not too small, or too big, but just right 🙂 I think I may be keeping this to do again.

For the puzzle challenge, this is #17, Disney / fantasy.

One of the more difficult items on the puzzle challenge list is #24, “fits no item on the list”. That means a long list of things that are not allowed to be in the puzzle, including letters, fruit or a forest. Especially letters ruled out a lot of puzzles. Some would count this as #23, “out of the comfort zone”, but large areas with the same colour don’t really scare me, I have something much worse in mind for #23… For me, this is #24, “fits no other item on the list”.

I did the edges and the innermost part of the circle first. After that I started using the map where you can see the exact cut (so that you always know exactly what piece shape you’re looking for ), and I also sorted the pieces by shape at that point. Then I started filling in the corners, and finally I did the circle from the outside in. At first, I found it a bit boring, but in the end I couldn’t stop and stayed up way past my bedtime to finish it.

A really fun and easy puzzle. I don’t time myself puzzling, but this must be one of the fastest puzzles I ever did. Pretty much everything in the image looks familiar, although not everything is stuff that I would specifically connect with the 90’s (like cassettes, LPs and lava lamps).

I chose to do this puzzle now because the bonus puzzle challenge for February is a ring (the kind you put on your finger), and there’s a yin yang ring in the image:

This is a vintage Ravensburger (it says copyright 1981 on the box), and the quality is fantastic. I was also happy to find the puzzle complete and in good condition.

Viking Line operates a ferry/cruise service between Helsinki and Stockholm (they have other routes as well, but especially in the 80’s, I’m pretty sure this was their main route). You would be hard pressed to find a Finn who has never been on one of these cruises, although nowadays the route to Tallinn in Estonia is probably more popular.

You can’t make out the name of the ship on the puzzle, but of the two ships that I’m aware of from this era (Viking Sally and Diana II), this looks a lot more like Viking Sally based on the images I was able to find.

Viking Sally has quite the history. Viking Line operated the ship from 1980-1990, and during that time, there were two murders on the ship. A Finnish business man was murdered in 1986, and in 1987, a German student was killed and his girlfriend severely injured in a brutal attack. The second murder is still unsolved, although a Danish man was tried for it just a few years ago, over 30 years after the crime. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough evidence for a conviction.

After Viking Line sold the ship, it finally ended up with Estonian shipping company Estline, and they named it Estonia. The Estonia sank in a storm en route from Tallinn to Stockholm on September 28, 1994, after the bow visor had been broken off in the rough seas. The sinking was very fast, and 852 people lost their lives. Only 137 survived. The closest rescue station was in Turku, Finland, and the survivors were also brought to Turku. While most of the passengers were Estonian or Swedish, the impact of the disaster was felt in Finland as well. Most people who were around then will be able to tell you when they first heard of the sinking. I may have been one of the last people to find out. In the morning, I left for the University Library without listening to any news (the sinking had happened around 1 am). I spent the day studying, and I didn’t really talk to anyone. On my way home, I wondered why so many flags were flying at half mast. When I got home I turned on the TV, and only then, late in the afternoon, did I hear about what had happened.

The ship in the puzzle may not be Viking Sally, but it looks very similar. You can also see the seam of the bow visor:

For the puzzle challenge, this will be #20, a vehicle that I’ve travelled in.

I’ve done this puzzle once before, but that was another copy. I got this one when I bought about 60 puzzles at once (it worked out at less than 2 EUR / puzzle), and while most of them have been complete, this one wasn’t. There was actually a note in the box saying two pieces are missing, but it turned out to be three.

I had intended to use this as the Disney puzzle for the puzzle challenge, but I have other Disney puzzles, and this will instead be #25, at least one piece missing.

Puzzles with lots of tiny details are not usually my favourite type of puzzle, but this was quite fun, and it fits right in with the puzzle challge as #22, “there are letters in the puzzle”.

It’s always such a pleasure to start a Ravensburger puzzle after doing other brands for a while – I guess there’s not much doubt what my favourite brand is. This was every bit as entertaining as it looks – I loved it.

For the puzzle challenge I’m doing, this will be #3, a dream (the Finnish word means something that you’d very much like to do, not the kind of dream you have at night).

By the way, I found one of the missing pieces I was complaining of around New Year. I’ve started wearing oversized fleece hoodies at home, and they all come with a giant pocket in front. You can probably see where this is going – I found the missing piece from Miami Beach, 2024-01-06 in one of those pockets. Unfortunately, I had already passed on the puzzle, and I have no way of finding out who got it (I used the recycling room in our building).

Lovely little puzzle, and very fast to do. It says Made in the Czech Republic on the box, but the quality is the same as with Ravensburg produced in Germany.

Not my kind of image, and that’s putting it mildly. I’m glad to finally have this done, it’s been sitting in my pile for a few years. Even though I don’t like the image, it was actually nice enough to do.

I did like the penguins, though.