”All under the same European Sky”

2007-2008

This story is written by members of our ”sky” team.

One day a happy little cloud woke up just above Finland. “I’m big enough to see the world now. I’ve decided to find out more about the little ones down there, to see

what’s on their minds from North to South of Europe”, it puffed proudly to all its friends.

In the evening it reached the west coast of

SwedenSweden, where it met a mother, who told the little cloud a touching story about her daughter,

Marilyn, who had died. It was a sad story, but also full of faith.

When she walked home from the hospital, she looked up into the sky.

She saw the most beautiful clouds she had ever seen, and then, just in that moment, she knew

that her daughter was in the Paradise.

“Can a cloud help people to feel better?” it was thinking while it

was flying to GermanyGermany.

There it found an old friend: the Rainbow! “Maybe the Rainbow knows the answer”, it thought and said “Hello” to his friend. “You know”, it continued, “I see so many sad and cruel things happening on the world below, people are crying desperately. Is there any chance that I could do something for these poor and unhappy people?”

The Rainbow was very old and wise and he thought for a long while, then he answered:

“You can do something, when you bring some colors back to their lives!”

And so the little cloud did. It chose red and gold to paint

the whole sky!

Above the plains of PolandPoland it met other happy clouds. Its little heart could hardly stand so much

happiness! Its mother has always told that friends are very

important, so it made a lot of friends who decided to show the way to Czech Republic.

They were talking, laughing and having wonderful time together.

The cloud had never been in Poland before, so it listened to them carefully.It was impressed by Cracow and promised to come back to this city soon. After travelling for a whole day the cloud fell asleep, as the next day was also full of adventures.

They were going along the longest Polish river – The Vistula!From Gdańsk, through Toruń, Warsaw, Sandomierz to Cracow. Polish friends, who were really hospitable, showed the cloud plenty of interesting places during their route.

“Wake up! The morning sun welcomes you in the Czech RepublicCzech Republic”.

The cloud woke up above the mountain called Kralický Sněžník. It was very dry weather and the local clouds did not have enough water to fill up the rivers. Our cloud was strenghtened with the water from the northern coast, so it started to rain. The land returned to life. It didn’t take much time and the brooks and rivers started running.The grass turned green, the birds sang happily, the trees grew a bit.

The cloud looked down, watching its reflection in a lake proudly. Today the cloud did a great job, the brooks and rivers led its waters into the three European seas: the river Morava brought the cloud’s raindrops to the Black Sea, Liptov brook flowing into Orlice and Labe (Elbe) to the Nothern Sea, and the river Nysa Kłodzka led its water to the Baltic Baltic Sea. Sea.

“To celebrate what I have done today I have to dress in my favorite colors and invite the other clouds to a party”, it decided. The clouds were dancing in the sky all the night to find themselves above France next morning.

Yet, the cloud felt quite sad, because it was one of the most polluted cities in Europe, because of the exhaust fumes and the smoke from factories. How difficult it was to breathe here!But it was happily surprised by the « velib », the buses and the tramways! It realized that the public transport network had been improved since its last visit. So, the French tried to use their cars less to solve the air pollution problem.

Now the traveling cloud, reached Paris.Paris. He could see world famous

monuments such as the Eiffel tower and the

Arch of Triumph.

The cloud eventually decided to go sightseeing because despite pollution, Paris was worth visiting. It thus went through beautiful streets and admired the architecture.

Then, it wandered through nice parks: Monceau, the Tuileries…trees, fresh air…

What a nice time he had!

Then it decided to follow again the birds, until the night came.

Because the days were great and beautiful, the Portuguese sky made a peaceful bed

for our tired friend. Together with it the sun also decided to relax and before the moon

rose up they both looked back and thought : “What a journey!!! Another day has

finished…”

The moon kept an eye on it,

all night long.

Nextearly morningit was a surprise: it could feel the hot breathof Africa and thought how urgent was to stop for a moment and think of that huge continent in front of its eyes.Because of its natural curiosity, the cloud wondered how could be that land and the people living there, and thought that they couldn’t be too different to those it had seen travelling over Europe’s sky. Maybe, in a future journey, it could cross and discover. By now, it was fascinating to learn about Europe and its people.

It was in a hurry; it wanted to pass over SpainSpain and listen to people’s wishes about living peacefully and

looking after the land, the water and the air.During its journey, the cloud had listened that many

people thought that way and they wanted to preserve nature.

And the cloud believed that if they really wanted,

they could get it...

The morning sun found it over

Italy..It was near

Monfalcone and could hear the

birds singing happily in

the park near the River Isonzo. But not so far away it could

alsosee some black

smoke …

“What’s that?”, it asked some birds that were passing

by.

“It’s a factory and they produce paper” they said “and

there you can see the chimneys of the shipyard.

Monfalcone is famous for the cruise ships its shipyard

produces. It gives work to a lot of people, but it also

pollutes the air.”

“Oh, I see” said the little cloud.

It said goodbye to the birds and went on towards

GreeceGreece

It followed the afternoon wind over Adriatic and Ionian

Sea. It waked up over West Athens’s two mountains.

On the hill of one it could see a nice Botanic Garden but on the other a big burned area. Trees and bushes

were begging for rain to be alive again. Other clouds on the sky informed it about the summer

disaster that had happed on Parnis mountain.It felt sorry for the poor mountain and burst in tears.

On its way to Athens it has been afraid of the angry mountains of Peloponnesus and it had decided to avoid

them, keeping its water. Now it could offer a relief to the poor trees and plants of

Parnis! It became the happiest cloud of the sky when heard the

thirsty Earth thanking it for its gift!

Flying over a lake it met some children. “Hi, people, can you hear me? Can you see my reflection on the lake? Please, take my advice and respect the beauty of the

Nature and the value of the water. If you don’t, you will be sorry very soon”, it told them and dived for a while

in the blue of Aegean sea.

Its heart was beating!

It was really flying above the Mediterranean sea!

“Please, people, keep it clean” it thought.

From the sky it could recognize the land of Cyprus, a little island with many beauties. Many people were enjoying the sun and the sea. Going further down the cloud was shocked seeing the almost empty dam. Unfortunately it was another waterless year. Everybody had to save water.

Our little friend flew above Our little friend flew above PafosPafos and continued and continued its journey to its journey to NicosiaNicosia, the only divided European , the only divided European

capital due to Turkish invasion since 1974.capital due to Turkish invasion since 1974.It looked to some clouds with the form of a It looked to some clouds with the form of a

bridge connectingbridge connecting earth and sky earth and sky and it get more and it get more worried about the people who couldn’t go to worried about the people who couldn’t go to

their homes.their homes.At the same time it felt so lucky because it was At the same time it felt so lucky because it was

free.free.

The cloud was so excited with its journey! It admired so many beautiful places, it met people from different countries and cultures, but all with the same

worries. It had made its dream come true! But it had an inner

need to pass a message to people: PLEASE, PRESERVE THESE PRECIOUS BEAUTIES PLEASE, PRESERVE THESE PRECIOUS BEAUTIES

FOR THE GENERATIONS TO COMEFOR THE GENERATIONS TO COME

Path of cloud’s Path of cloud’s journey:journey:

1. Sweden2. Germany3. Poland4. Czech republic5. France6. Portugal7. Spain8. Italy9. Greece10. Cyprus