The kids started school this week so we are finally getting some normality. It was a tough start on Monday morning, but we gradually get into the rhythm of things by the end of the week. Just in time to have two more weeks of vacation! That’s just poor timing. As they have trimesters we happened to get here in time for the end of the first trimester. At least the girls seemed to get along well with their new class mates and teachers so that bodes well for when they start back.

Walking, walking everywhere!

One thing that is very clear after not having a car for over a month is that you walk a lot. Like a lot, a lot. I turned on a step tracker on my phone for the fun of it and this week I have reached 85.000 steps. How accurate it is I am not sure, but if nothing else I can feel it in my feet and legs. Just as an example it is 1.3km (0.8 miles) from our house to the kids school. I walk them to school in the morning and then I go home again. In the afternoon I do the same to pick them up. That is 5.2km (3.23 miles) just there. And if you want to take the bus or the train you still have to walk to the bus stop or station. Hopefully my feet will get used to it and not be so sore in the future.

The week went fast as it generally does when kids have school and you have to drop off, pick up and make dinner. That leaves the weekend for the fun of exploring a new place. On Saturday Anna and Kassandra went to the National Gallery to see an exhibit by Yayoi Kusama. Lots of polka dots apparently. You even got to stick a few on the wall yourself. Isabelle and I stayed home as she was not feeling well. It might have been all chocolate she ate during the week as they celebrated Easter at school. But today we all headed to the botanical gardens. Because of a charity run downtown the tram stop where we get off the train was closed so we had to walk (like I said, walking everywhere). So after having walked to the gardens we only explored a tiny portion as the Royal Botanical Gardens are huge. But we also got to enjoy Queen Victoria Gardens which is a public park that we walked through to get there. So we got to see a few statues, a bunch of sculptures and some memorials before we got to see a some interesting flora. As we walked by the Shrine of Remembrance we decided to get up to the lookout balcony before we left. So all in all we did a day with a lot of walking, but also some interesting things to see along the way.