Above: Steps taken this trip, as measured on my phone.
Swabbing
Today I had my single outing during my week in hotel quarantine. I was guided down to the lobby for a PCR swab test down the throat and then up both nostrils. I was then guided back and unlike last year, I have a key to my room to let myself back in.
New Covid-19 variant
More significantly, the WHO had in the last couple of days been studying a new variant found in southern Africa. Today, they officially named in Omicron.
In the next couple of days, countries responded by closing arrivals from southern Africa.
Walking
This trip has been a bit of a killer on the feet. Europe is best enjoyed on foot, even if it means bad blisters on the feet/toes. In quarantine I finally had a chance to lookup my walking stats. I had some pretty big days exceeding 20000 steps (or nearly):
- 27 Oct: 20693 steps. Initial explorations of Nicosia upon arrival from New Zealand.
- 28 Oct: 26999 steps. Walking the Green Line in Nicosia.
- 29 Oct: 21663 steps. Walking around Nicosia’s City Walls.
- 30 Oct: 22040 steps. Exploring Paphos’ Tomb of the Kings, other sights and the waterfront.
- 04 Nov: 30381 steps. Exploring Venice on foot.
- 05 Nov: 25173 steps. Exploring Venice’s outer islands.
- 06 Nov: 22032 steps. Exploring Verona as a stopover.
- 08 Nov: 19853 steps. Exploring Bergamo as a daytrip from Milan.
- 16 Nov: 28649 steps. Revisiting the sights of Paris.
- 18 Nov: 26565 steps. Revisiting the sights of Istanbul.
- 19 Nov: 23532 steps. Waterfront and Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.
It is no surprise I feel like the rest in quarantine and also when I was in Douchy.