I'm baaack...!

So where did October and November go???

I cannot believe that I missed out on October and November. Work certainly kept me very busy with some long days and as a result I did not have a lot to show for my stitching in October which I found very frustrating. And, November? Well, I went off on what my boss calls my "annual pilgrimage" to the USA - more about that later...

Poland

I had planned to do quite a bit of stitching in Poland, but a. I was exhausted each evening b. I didn't have a comfortable chair in my hotel room to sit on and stitch and c. my Polish hosts were incredibly generous and kept me busy most evenings including a personal night time tour of Warsaw, when I got to visit the home of my childhood heroine - Marie Curie's childhood home - here I am outside the house...



Marie Curie's childhood home

Decorated entrance to a restaurant in the old town

One of the Amber shops in the old town - I looked but could not afford to buy!

Of course, I had to eat as well!!

I had had no idea of how badly damaged Warsaw had been during World War II. Most if not all of the old city, much of which was medieval, was bombed by Hitler and so what you see today is a reconstruction. Then of course came Stalin and the communists, but over the last 20 years there has been much building of very modern offices.

Old City Square

Look - Marks and Spencers. I even saw the odd Tesco's bag!

One of the new office blocks

A smart shopping street

The Josef Piludski University for Physical Education where I taught

I greatly enjoyed my first trip to Warsaw and the students were enthusiastic and if nothing else came to have a greater appreciation of how the environment impacts on people's ability to interact and participate and the managers of the both the student union's bar and local hotel certainly got a lesson on universal design especially in relation to wheelchair users!!