Delft

Welcome to eye wateringly breath snatchingly toe numbingly raw skin removing cold Delft with solid, inpenetrable cloud and on-off icy rain, home of master painter Vermeer and a city famous for its blue and white pottery. We all arrived (by tram) around midday at the main town square (pictured) to discover that nothing seemed to be open. Then, as we huddled to discuss our options, a 2016 graduate from our school (yes really - he's attending Delft university for aeronautical engineering), walked across the square and along with 'merhaba' and fond greetings, we had a quick tourist level of introductory information about our surroundings and then sojourned forth toward the part of town that was open.  Robin and I left the students to roam as a group and we walked between the canals - not unlike Amsterdam.  Oh my but it was astonishingly cold. 

After thawing back at the hotel for a couple of hours, Robin and I went to down town Hague for dinner. The temperature may have risen by 1ºC, but it was still viciously cold. Evening gathering of kiddy winkies to discuss and engage in strategic planning for the conference begins tomorrow, and the lobbying of resolutions in the various committees is expected to be brutal - our assigned country to represent is the United States !!

Total daily step count: 14468 =10.10 km walked today