Hello From Away followers! I apologize greatly that I haven’t posted in some time. The days just seem to blur together and before you know it, a week has gone by. Yesterday I was thinking of what could entertain and cheer me up and I thought that I would love to hear about other people’s experiences for the duration of this time. So I decided to do that for all of you guys! In this post, I am going to talk about what I have done in the past few days and give some suggestions on how to stay happy, healthy, and entertained. Luckily, we have composed a schedule for “homeschooling” which gives us a little bit of structure. It helps us stay on task and prevents extreme boredom. Here is a link to our schedule. Link. I find that having a schedule (even if it is loose), helps a lot, especially now. A few other ways to stay entertained are listed below.

 

• It’s good to go outside once a day. Even if it is just in your backyard or on your balcony, you have to get some fresh air every day. Our family goes on bike rides and walks around the neighbourhood a lot. You just have to stay 2 metres away from others.
• Find something that you really enjoy doing and practice it.
• Think of a project that you’ve always wanted to accomplish, now might be a perfect time.
• Enjoy spending time with people in our household, you might be stuck with them for a while. 🙂
• Read a good book or listen to some podcasts that interest you.
• Stay optimistic, remember, we are in this together.

You guys probably already saw this video but I thought it was absolutely hilarious. Video. 

Hello From Away followers! I am delighted to be posting again. Today I am going to document what we have been doing the past few days, talk about the next few days, and make some observations about this whole Covid-19 thing. I should probably start on Saturday the 21st. On Saturday, our family was getting a little bored of staying home practically all day and we were looking for sources of entertainment to subdue our extreme boredom. We thought that we should start an 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. The dilemma was that we didn’t have an 1,000 piece puzzle. Luckily, our aunt Clare had 2, and the generously lent them both to us for the duration of the break! That was entertaining but we were also lacking fresh air, so my mom made an executive decision that we were going on a bicycle ride. The bike ride was actually very enjoyable except for the fact that we were underdressed and were all frigid. There’s always next time. In addition, we baked blueberry lemon scones. We think that the recipe had a typo because it took a lot longer to bake than it said it would. Anyway, the scones were scrumptious and here is a link to the recipe if you want to try making them. Link. The next day, Sunday, was a pretty low-key day. We stayed at home most of the day, excluding when we went to the schoolyard after lunch for a bit of fresh air. Another thing we accomplished was creating a schedule for “homeschool”. At the moment, we have reached our max GBs of photos but I might be able to find a way to post it later on. Similarly, today we didn’t leave the house much, however, we had a schedule to follow for the first day of “homeschool”! In the morning, we read our books, did math, wrote letters to our step-great-grandmother, Tillie, and started to make ice cream in our ice cream maker for (perfect segway into) my birthday tomorrow! Yep. That’s right. My 11th birthday is tomorrow! I am a bit bummed out that a lot of things are closed due to the virus but I will make the most of it. I feel like my parents are planning something. On the topic of the virus, I, personally, am not too worried about getting sick with the virus, I am more worried about the virus keeping on spreading and doing damage to the world we know today. The elderly population is most at risk so I hope that everyone can stay healthy and happy. Signing off, Evan.

1. Are you asleep?
2. Your name
3. The other end of the rope isn’t tied to anything.
4. Brad was a window cleaner and he was cleaning the windows outside the building. He opened the window and jumped into the building.
5. If you move half every time you will never reach the door.
6. The letter E.

I am sorry I didn’t post the answers yesterday. It slipped my mind.

Hello everybody! Today I was bored so I looked up some riddles and puzzles to keep me entertained. I am going to share some of them with you and tomorrow I will post the answers to them.

What question can you never answer yes to?

What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you?

     A horse is tied to a five meter rope, six meters away from it was a bale of hay. Without breaking the rope, the horse was able to get to the bale of hay. How is this possible?

Brad stared through the dirty soot-smeared window on the 22nd floor of the office tower. Overcome with depression he slid the window open and jumped through it. It was a sheer drop outside the building to the ground. Miraculously after he landed he was completely unhurt. There was no cushioning, so how did he survive?

If you’re 8 feet away from a door and with each move you advance half the distance to the door. How many moves will it take to reach the door?

I am the beginning of the end, and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround every place. What am I?

If you have any riddles you’d like to share with me. I’d be happy to try and solve them

Hello everybody!! I know this blog is called From Away and it’s supposed to be a travel blog about an amazing 6 month trip across Europe and Asia. However, during this three-week break from school due to Covid-19, I’ve been bored so I have decided to come back to the blog for the school break. I will write what I am doing off from school and give tips on how to stay entertained during this long break from school or work. I am deciding to call my posts From Home. So far, I have had a pretty entertaining 3 days. On Saturday, we cycled to Bloor Street and bought groceries. Also it was Pi Day! The first three digits of pi are 3.14 and it was 3/14. For Pi Day, my Mom and I made an apple Pie and BTW, I know the first 101 digits of pi. I’ll save you the trouble of looking at 101 digits of pi. On Sunday, we went for a neighbourhood jog for some exercise. We also watched an episode of Survivor season 26 (we are going to binge watch it over the break). Today (Monday), we went skiing at Hockley Valley. We were hoping to go to a different ski hill but due to Covid-19, basically all ski hills except Hockley Valley near us were closed. Luckily, Hockley was open for one more day then most ski hills and we went on the day it was closing. I have reached my max GBs of photos but I will try my best to describe stuff as best as I can. Feel free to leave comments and I will try to respond to them as soon as I can. What are you doing to stay entertained? Signing off, Evan.

It is hard to believe we will be back in Canada in just a few days and I feel truly lucky that one of our last destinations was a personal favourite. It helps to appreciate this experience even more! We just spent 10 days in the south western Algarve (thanks to great recommendations from family and friends) and if you are an ocean/beach/coast lover like me, the scenery doesn’t get much better than this.

A four hour train ride or similar length drive from Lisbon will land you in the south western corner of Europe. The chilly Atlantic Ocean stretches out before you and paths down from the towering cliffs lead you to pristine beaches offering lots of personal space, as well as slightly busier ones where you can marvel at surfers in action. This corner of the coast is devoid of big hotels so the vibe is very sleepy. It also feels incredibly safe. Our hosts were relaxed and friendly, and it felt like a place where you you would never really need to lock your door. A perfect pace after being on the road for 5.5 months.

With a rental car you can choose a different beach everyday, pack a delicious picnic and you are set. The temperatures in June are around 25 degrees (perfect with sunshine and a breeze). The waters are a much colder 18-20 degrees so swimming is basically a no-go without a wetsuit. You don’t have to feel guilty about reading your book all afternoon while your kids make sandcastles/rock climb and then just run into the surf for a minute to refresh every so often.

There are also awesome walks and hikes to be had. You can stroll along the tops of the cliffs at Cabo Sao Vicente and look down at crazy, cliff edge fisherman while truly feeling on the edge of the Earth. Being close to the wilder, west coast makes for some stunning sunsets and our best evening included a drive along the Pontal de Carrapateira – a 9km dirt road between Praia Amado and Praia Bordeira. We drove this route with endless photo stops, but biking or walking it would also be very accessible.

By the end of our stay we were inspired to try some surfing lessons and while we would all qualify ourselves as true beginners, just wearing a wetsuit and walking on these postcard beaches makes you feel pretty cool. Our first surf day was at Praia Amoreira. This beach is unique as hills give way to dunes and then a wide sandy beach, while at the south end a river flows out to the coast alongside the cliffs offering a warmer spot to swim or take a dip. I am already planning a return trip (in my mind) to this corner of Europe one day, and will hopefully brush up on my Portuguese and surf skills in the meantime! Care to join me anyone?

Hello! It feels good to be posting again after my little holiday from the trip in the countryside. In this post I am going to tell you all about my experience in the Italian province of Tuscany!

In the morning, we walked from our Airbnb in Bologna to Autovia Car Rental. We picked up our car, it was a Hybrid Kia Niro. We started to drive toward our accommodation, Villa Barbaiano. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant called La Martellina in a small town called Santa Cristina. We all ordered porchetta (pork) sandwiches and the adults got coffee and Chianti Wine (the wine from that area) . We continued to drive and eventually got to Villa Barbaiano. Denise and I were really excited because there was supposed to be a pool there. When we got there the host said the pool was closed. We were really bummed and mad because the place advertised that the pool had been open since June 1st. The host was also very unwelcoming and the beds did not have blankets. After the host left we decided to look on Airbnb for  a place with a pool. After searching Airbnb we decided to have dinner. After dinner I looked some more on Airbnb and found a place that looked good so I saved it, and went to bed.

The next morning we went for breakfast in the closest town to Villa Barbaiano, Monte San Savino. While eating at a cafe we booked the place I had found the night before. We walked around Monte San Savino, went up the clock tower and then drove back to Villa Barbaiano to pack up before moving to a better villa. We were happy to arrive at Agriturismo Tontenano that night and the next day we planned to drive to Siena for a daytrip.

Here is the Campo (main square) in Siena. We had bought groceries and had a delicious picnic on the Campo. The Campo is shaped like a shell. Twice a year on the 2nd of July and the 16th of August, the Palio di Siena bareback horse race is held around the edges of the Campo. This  event involves all 17 districts of Siena. The winner is the horse that is first to cross the finish line after three rounds with or without its jockey. (The jockeys sometimes get thrown off). A lot of people hang out at the Campo and have picnics. We wanted to climb the tower but it was too expensive💰and it was 503 steps to the top!

On our 2nd day at Agriturismo Tontenano we went to a sheep and goat cheese farm near a town called Montalcino. We got a tour of how they milk the sheep and the goats and they showed us their sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs. The tour guide said the farm used to use Sardinian Sheep but they needed to graze far out of the farm and apparently wolves would hunt the sheep in the daytime while they were grazing far away from the farm. The farm used to have 1000 Sardinian Sheep but they have lost 500 due to wolf issues. Now the farm has invested in French Sheep that are fine with staying in the barn most of the time.  At the end of the tour they gave us  6 different cheeses to try. My favourite was the fresh goat cheese.

This is me diving into the pool at Agriturismo Tontenano. The pool was 16 x 8 metres big and ranged from 70 centimetres to 3 metres in depth. I think I might rate the Agriturismo Tontenano pool a 9 out of 10. This was my 2nd swim since Koh Chang in Thailand so I was excited to have good enough weather to swim in.

Here is the playground at Agriturismo Tontenano. The 2 ring hoops were good for doing flips. There was also ping-pong but you can’t see it in this picture because it is beside the pool. We had a great time in Tuscany and I hope I get to go again! 

Hello loyal readers. It’s Becca – Evan & Denise’s aunt and Jess’ sister. What a thrill to be a guest writer on this blog! And what a treat to join the Rosen family on part of their travels in Italy. It is a country I have been wanting to explore.

When Jess and Dan suggested going to Bologna, I said sure! I did not know much about Bologna, and didn’t have much energy for travel research – as many of you know, I have a 3 month old baby who has been keeping me occupied 🙂 The little I did know about Bologna is that it is famous for food – and as many of you know, I am famous for eating, cooking, and just thinking about food. So this sounded like a good destination to me. Happily, Bologna offered delicious food and more.

A unique feature of Bologna are the porticoes that cover its sidewalks. We learned that there are 45km of porticoed sidewalks in the city. We walked only a portion of them, but we covered a lot of ground. Pushing a new baby cousin in the stroller was a good motivator for our walks, as you can see in the photo below. I don’t think I pushed it once the whole time.

One of our longer walks was to the university, which is the oldest in Europe founded in 1088. There we visited a museum showcasing scientific artifacts, experiments, and wax replicas of body parts used in the medical school. We also ventured just outside the historic centre to a big park called Giardini Margherita. This was a highlight for me. It was a sunny warm day, and there were lots of people enjoying the park – lounging in the grass, playing in the playground, and strolling on the paths.

Our accommodation was an apartment in the Centro Storico, close to many of Bologna’s attractions including the Due Torri (two towers), Piazza Maggiore, and Quadrilatero district. The Quadrilatero is home to delis, fishmongers, and produce stands. We did some good eating and shopping in this area. One day we had a lunch of fresh handmade pasta and another we bought picnic food at Salumeria Simoni. Some delicious highlights included marinated white anchovies, caramelized figs, and squacquerone cheese (kind of a cross between fresh mozzarella and cream cheese, native to the region around Bologna). On our last full day in Bologna, we took a mini train/bus to the Santuario Madonna di San Luca, situated on a hill with beautiful views over the city and countryside. It is also possible to reach the church on the Via San Luca, a nearly 4km walkway with over 600 porticoes leading from the city and up the hill. This route is used by people participating in processions to the church, and from what we saw, also by joggers and dog walkers. The story of the church is that there was a sign from god to bring an icon of the Madonna from Turkey to this exact location in Bologna (don’t quote me on this! It’s just my best recollection from the audioguide on the mini train). It was certainly a scenic setting.We finished the day back in the city at Piazza Santo Stefano where we partook in the local custom of aperitivo, early evening drinks and snacks. Jess had an Aperol Spritz, I had a Campari Spritz, Denise had a virgin mojito, Evan had a mixed fruit smoothie, and Dan had a local micro-brew beer.

While we were sitting in the square, we spotted our arch nemesis – a boy wearing a Golden State Warriors t-shirt! We had a good laugh trying to think of one liners to razz him with. In the end, we let him be as he was just a kid. Raptors in 7 baby!!!