Our time in Europe was wonderful. Cold but fine and no wind so we managed the temps without any problem. The presenation of Phil's UNESCO medal was part of a big international education conference and this is the Australian delegation.
There were nine medalists from countries as varied as Ethiopia, Finland, Mexico, Argentina and Bangladesh. Phil was the only one from an english speaking country. It was so good to meet up with educators from so many places who had all done really interesting things.
Phil's daughter Jenny and her husband John are both teachers and came to Switzerland for the ceremony and stayed on for a holiday.
While we were in Geneva we spent a few
hours at the Red Cross Museum -
very sobering and confronting but you
have to admire the workers who go into
these dreadful situations and risk their
lives and wellbeing to help.
I found a few great eco shops in Geneva - this florist had these tubs made out of tyres from Columbian buses turned inside out.
After a week in Geneva which included a lot of embassy receptions and meals out with family and friends we went to Prague with 5 of the other medallists for a 5 day study tour. The Czech government are co-sponsor of the medal which is named after one of their C17 educators.
Phil never misses an opportunity to chat up a pretty girl and he doesn't let his lack of proficiency in Czech language stop him.
We spent an exceedingly cold day at the UNESCO heritage town of Kutna Hora - these Russian tourists had the right clothes for the conditions.
The meals in the Czech Republic were wonderful - extremely varied and our
only criticism was that there was more food than we could manage most days.
We had some very sophisticated meals as well as a typical pub lunch of hearty soup and dumplings here.
Prior to this trip we had only been to Prague in Summer when it was packed with tourists and the temps hovered around 38 deg so it was a change to see it in mid winter.
The Christmas markets in the Old Town Square were just beautiful . The sun set around 4pm but the christmas lights were fabulous. I think people in the northern hemisphere take a lot more trouble with decorations at Christmas - i guess they aren't thinking about holidays at the beach the way we are at that time.
A classic shot of Prague Castle from Charles Bridge
We had been planning to have a meal with our friends Thorwald and Jill from our Canberra church for ages so what better place to get around to it than Zurick. They were there for about 6 weeks at a church and we just stayed 2 nights. We had a lovely day with them - it is always great to be shown around a city by locals ( they lived there for about 20 years when Thorwald was teaching at Ruschlikon Seminary) - they know all the good places that tourists would easily miss. they also knew the best restaurant for lunch.
T
They took us to a beautiful shop full of Swiss made goods. I loved this hand made nativity set - i decided it was too fragile to bring home before Phil had time to work out whether our bank balance could stretch that far. There were so many beautiful things - lots of wooden toys and beutiful clothes but the prices were astronomical.
Zurich is a very elegant city and lots of the shop displays were just gorgeous.
This is a very clever coat. It has a zip down the front and the back -you can just make out the zipped in panel at the front - the panel can be turned upside down when you are pregnant or zipped into the back if you want to put the baby behind.
We even managed a few days back at Seaford before flying home. We never miss a chance to walk along the Seven Sisters and they looked their best on this cold but sunny afternoon
We even got to help put up the Christmas tree with a warm fire at out backs. Andy, how do you survive in shorts when the rest of us are thermally challenged?
