Thank goodness sledding is outdoor exercise, aka, an essential reason to leave the house!
Well, at least it's exercise for the parents :)
There have been so many regulations in the past few months with COVID-19, that it's hard to remember what they were - so I just looked up a timeline. But throughout it all, with the full and partial curfews, outdoor exercise has been permitted. And now since the ski slopes are closed until at least December 24, they're a great spot to find snow and go sledding!!
Ok so here are the regulations:
31 October: From Tuesday, 3 November, a second lockdown will take effect throughout Austria. Leisure travel will not be allowed, restaurants can only offer takeout, and events will be cancelled until 30 November.
12 November: Shops have to close at 7 p.m. at the latest. The nightly curfew has been extended until at least 22 November.
14 November: Lockdown will be extended until at least 6 December. From 17 November, non-essential shops must close and you are only allowed to leave the house for essential errands.
2 December: From 7 December, certain rules will be relaxed, whilst others will stay in place. Hotels will remain closed to leisure travellers. Restaurants and bars will remain closed for dining in (delivery remains allowed). Shops and personal service providers like hairdressers may open, subject to strict social distancing. From 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., you may only leave the house for essential reasons. Museums and libraries may open again, but other cultural institutions such as theatres cannot. Cable cars may open on 24 December.
8 December: From 19 December 2020, if you are travelling from a risk area, you will have to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival in Austria.
18 December: The government have announced stricter lockdown rules from 26 December. The stay-at-home order will be in effect 24/7, and non-essential shops will close, among other measures.
21 December: The new, stricter lockdown rules will be in effect at least until 17 January. From 22 December until 1 January, flights from the United Kingdom are not allowed to land in Austria.
But despite all of the above, our life here remains pretty much the same. When the schools closed during the lockdown there were certain exceptions for those who could still attend - and our children qualified primarily because they have a "learning need" as non-native speakers and were still allowed to go to school. The Kindergarten seemed to run as usual (parents aren't allowed in though) and the Volksschule was just run as a daycare center where the teacher on classroom duty just assisted on an as-needed basis as the children completed their "homeschool work" independently.
And in our free time, which we have a lot of, we went sledding at some beautiful nearby mountains:
Maiszinken Mountain:
(Might have been a few regulations broken in that last photo ;)
