A FAREWELL MESSAGE FROM MR. TONI STRNIŠA, SPOUSE OF SLOVENIAN AMBASSADOR, H.E. MS. TANJA STRNIŠA
DSA walking group
Dear Members of the DSA Walking Group, and dear readers of Czech & Slovak Leaders,
It was a great pleasure and honour for me to be able to share my knowledge and joy of sports activities with the members of the Diplomatic Spouses Association Prague (DSA).
For four and a half years, I was the leader of the DSA Walking Group. During that time, I organised and led over 120 walks in Prague and quite a few walks outside of it, discovering famous and lesser-known places, especially parks.
In total, we walked almost 800km. The communication within the group was done via WhatsApp, which made the organization of activities flexible and simpler.
I organised the first walk on 12th December, 2019, in Stromovka Park, and the last one on 12th June, 2024, to Prague’s Petřín Hill, to see the roses in bloom.
The Walking Group was probably the most visible and visited group within the DSA. It was also the only active DSA group at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participation in the walks depended on the weather or the time of year, as well as the place we were going to. On warm days there were more than ten of us, and on colder days we were four to six. Over the years, the Walking Group has had a total of 45 members.
The walks were primarily about walking, but also about talking and socialising, learning about Czech history and culture, natural sights, learning about plants and animals, and picking various natural fruit. After the walk, we often continued socialising over coffee or tea in cafés or residences.
This made it easier and quicker for the new members to integrate into the diplomatic community, faster and easier for us to get to know each other and become closer through the Walking Group, and for the new members to get to know Prague and parts of the Czech Republic.
In addition, we have diligently photographed all the walks, and have therefore created a comprehensive photographic record of our activities and precious memories, which, thanks to Mrs. Svetlana Codreanu, the spouse of the Ambassador of Moldova, have been published in the DSA newsletters. We presented the outgoing members with a book of photographs at the end of their stay in Prague.
Dear members of the DSA Walking Group, your friendship and joy of walking gave me the motivation to organise and lead a walk every Wednesday morning.
I would like to continue the walks after my departure from Prague too, and I warmly invite everyone to join me on my walks around Slovenia.
Thank you!!!
Toni Strniša, Slovenia August 2024