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In 2004, Norbert Schöbel and his partner Thorsten Baensch started walking from their adopted home in Brussels to Munich, the city of Norbert’s birth. This was the first big step on a Grand Tour of more than 3000 km tracing a circle across Europe in 155 days over 12 years and 7 months. Hamburg, where Thorsten grew up, was also part of the trip as well as Berlin, Prague and many other cities, towns and villages. They walked through seven countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

This large sized book of 768 pages is the report of their quest. It documents the contemplative aspects of hiking and the discovery of ordinary yet oddly man-made landscapes and intriguing places. This illustrated travelogue with detailed maps created for each day features a borderless Europe and takes the reader on a journey marked by various leitmotifs such as danger, death and nature. This feel-good book is a celebration of the simplicity of walking together on one path, in a time of vast complexity and divergence.

Note: Von Ort zu Ort is written in German with short English summaries for every stage.

Thorsten Baensch (DE) is trained as a bookseller and book manufacturer in Hamburg, Cologne, Munich and New York. He studied painting in Brussels and Milan. Since 1995 he has published over 80 artist’s books and editions with his publishing project Bartleby & Co. He teaches book design at the Arts² College in Mons (BE) and regularly gives courses at art colleges, for example in Arles, Bremen, Brussels and Liège.

Norbert Schöbel (DE) studied political science and business administration in Munich and in Aix-en-Provence. In 1990, he went to Brussels and worked for the European Parliament, the Representation of the Land of Rhineland-Palatinate and the European Committee of the Regions. Since 2002, he has worked for the European Commission in various capacities and has been working for European cooperation in the field of vocational education and training since 2014.