Hi readers! I hope you’re all well and ready for an adventure!

Today, we rode on a train through the jungle… and through some more jungle… and then, through some more jungle. You won’t believe it, but I even thought I spotted a tiger (or should I say, “stripped” a tiger?)

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We’re in the country of Laos, in a little town called… (are you ready for it?)… Luang Prabang. [Lew-ang Pra-bang] I love saying it with a cool accent. Three times loud!

Luang Prabang… Luang Prabang… Luang Prabang! 

Sooo fun!

The little town is in the north of Laos, close to the border of China. Can you find it on a map? 

It’s suuuper hot here, being a tropical jungle and all. So yesterday we decided to go for a swim… in a waterfall, of course. Here’s a picture of the Kuang Si Falls, about an hour drive from Luang Prabang. 

Getting into the water felt… terrifying! One, the water was quite cold (and I’m a warm water kinda gal, like mommy). Two, there were these giant biting fish! Ok, so they were actually tiny, but they would nibble on your feet. Come to think of it, they were quite ticklish!

After the waterfall, we walked a trail through the jungle and came across a sanctuary of moon bears. Luckily, they’re herbivores, which basically means they’re vegetarians. (Dad’s Note: Herbivora is derived from Latin herba 'small plant, herb' and vora, from vorare 'to eat, devour') They were super duper cute and were my favorite animal for the rest of the day. 

Now that we were cooled off, we were ready for our next jungle adventure… which was to ride on… not a car… not a train… not a plane…

… but an ELEPHANT! (I wish that rhymed. Umm. Elephane?)

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Mommy and I rode together and daddy had an elephant all to himself. To get onto this ginormous animal, which are taller than you might think, we had to climb up a tower and then onto her giant shoulders. Don’t worry, the elephant weighed enough to break a scale, so we were like a fly on her huge back. 

I loved riding on these graceful creatures. They are so peaceful and calm. When they walk, you can hardly hear them and their feet are soft and gentle. We saw a herd of water buffalo, including one newborn (so cuuute!) and walked along the banks of the Mekong River. 

It was nice and calm all the way up there, on top of such a gentle giant. I liked daydreaming, looking off into the jungle and imagining all the other animals out there.

After a long day of adventure, I was looking forward to dinner. We went to a Mongolian bbq restaurant, which was really fun because I got to burn a bunch of zucchini. (Whoops!)

We’ll write again from the next stop…

Cheers,

Frida

P.S. I had something to write here, but I totally forgot. See you next time!

P.S.S. I remembered: PAPERMAKING! When we made paper in the traditional Laotian style - with mulberry bark - it was really, really wet and squashy, like a zen garden. It was so much fun and you got to design it with different colors. I totally recommend it.

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The adventure continues… and we have moved up north to the country of Thailand. You may have heard of it because Thai food is so famous (and delicious), but it also has amazing ancient history. In fact, we went to the ancient Siamese capital, Ayutthaya. Owly’s friend Ossy reports from the reclining Buddha above!

Feel free to write in with your questions for Frida and Ossy- they love hearing from you! And we’ll reply in the next postcard.

In the meantime, you can see the postcard questions and replies below to her last postcard from Kuala Lumpur. It includes pictures of beach pigs and the second largest lizard in the world… walking right up to Frida in the street! Check it out below…

Finally, if you didn’t get a chance to read the last one, you can do so here:

All the best,
Anya Leonard
Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom and Classical Wisdom Kids

Postcard Replies to Kuala Lumpur

Hi Frida, 

I think they built the Petronas Towers by using trained monkeys. The tops look like there is thunder on them. I like those buildings! 

- Finn (age 7) 

Frida: I like those buildings too! They are really pretty. Do you know they look like Siamese buildings because there is one section connecting them. What’s your favorite animal? 

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Hello, Hello, Konnichiwa, Hola Frida! 

Did they name the Petronas Towers after Harry Potter? 

It sounds fun not to go to school. What is your favorite place you have ever been? Have you been to Germany? I’ve been there. If you have been, do you think it’s fun? I think it is. Where do you stay when you are traveling the world? Like, do you stay in a hotel? 

What’s the best activity you’ve ever done? Mine are surfing and playing softball. 

- Tiger Lily (age 8) 

Frida: I have not been to Germany, but I think it would be very fun. My mom went when she was 14 and she talks about the great chocolate. Hmm..... chocolate.... Do you like Chocolate? I stay in Airbnbs or hotels. Sometimes we stay with friends or family. 

One of my favorite activities I like to do is an invented game I call, Pet Store. This is how you play it: First, you get a notepad. Then you draw lots of animals and you write their name, how old they are and if they are male or female. Then you can pretend to sell them, and when one of your friends says they want one, you tick it off. That’s the game! Bye!

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Hi Frida, 

What are the [Petronas] buildings made of? 

- Abby (age 6) 

Frida: Bricks, glass, metal and maybe some others things that I do not know of cuz I’m not a builder.... But my grandfather was! 

[Upon googling, we find it is made of reinforced concrete, steel and metal - Frida says: Aha! I got it right!]

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Hi Frida, 

You have the best family ever! Where do you live? Where do you go on trips?

- Gatecie (age 6) 

Frida: We go to lots of places! I’m sure your family is just the same amount of niceness just in a different kind of way. I live in Argentina most of the time. Where do you live? 

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Hi Frida, 

What are all the places you’ve been to on your trips? “Cheeky Monkey” is Australian. I heard it on Bluey. :) 

- Rosalina (age 6) 

Frida: Cool! My dad is Australias and my grandad also calls me a Cheeky Monkey because I eat so many Freddo Frogs (Freddo Frogs are a special Australian chocolate Frog). In total I’ve been to 39 countries. Some of my favorites are: Norway, Greece and Italy

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Hi Frida, I like traveling too!

-Your friend (boy- age 6) 

Frida: I’m glad to have another travel friend! What’s your favorite part about traveling? My favorite part is trying the food aaaannnd walking around the places (as well as getting lost!) 

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Hi Frida,

What is it like there? Where’s Owly?!

:)

- Gold (age 7)

Frida: Owly is studying in Argentina where we normally live… but now we are in Thailand. Thailand is very pretty. There are lots of pigs on the beach! The piglets were cute…

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Frida, 

Just say, “PLEASE STOP monkeys!!”

- Enzo (age 6) 

Frida: Good advice… but I’m not sure Monkeys speak human. It would be cool if they did!

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Hello Frida, 

What does your house or hotel look like? When was Socrates born?

- Marcus Aurelius (age 6) 

Frida: Socrates was born around 470 BC, but we don’t know for sure.

We are in a hotel here in Bangkok and the other morning we walked outside the hotel and there was this big sewer or mini canal. I peeked into it and yelled to my mother, “LIZARD! BIG LIZARD!” Apparently it was the second largest lizard in the world… called a monitor lizard. We also saw a baby lizard which crawled out to say hello to us. I was a bit nervous since we don’t know if they are poisonous or not. Fortunately, he eventually walked back into the water.

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Hi Frida, 

How do you start, and create, a YouTube channel? Is it hard? What do you record your videos on? On a scale from 1-10, how fun is traveling? 

-Cash (age 9) 

Frida: I think traveling is 11. To start a youtube channel, it’s not hard - you just need to not show your face in any of the videos and it’s usually more fun to share things. Like, if you have a youtube channel, you can share the things you learnt that day with your friends.

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By Frida

Helloooooo dear readers! It’s so much fun to write to you again. How are you doing? Would you like to hear a stooooooory? I’ve got one for you today...

When we arrived here (I’m only saying “here” because it’s very hard to always write “Kuala Lumpur”... even though it is a lot of fun to say! Wait! Back to the story, Frida, don’t get distracted!)... 

...aaaas I was saying, when we arrived “here,” the first thing I noticed was a lot of extremely tall buildings. In fact (as our taxi driver told us), one of the buildings here is the second tallest in the whole world. And I said, “Wow, we’re really spoiled with tall buildings these days!”

Seriously, they are everywhere. The super tall one here is called the Merdeka 118, probably because it has 118 stories (including 5 underground). It is still the tallest building in Kuala Lumpur, which is the capital city here in Malaysia. (Wait, did I mention we are in Asia? Well, we are.) Here it is, towering high over a street market …

My favorite skyscrapers, which literally look like they made a scraping wound in the sky, are the Petronas Towers. They actually look like Siamese twins, as they are joined by a bridge, connecting them in the middle. Here’s a picture of them, all lit up at night:

I imagined they built them like this: By running from one building to the other and back again, placing one brick at a time, until they got to the very tippy top. 

Then I thought, “Wait, how would they even do that? They’d need to be the best marathon runner in the world and the best rock/brick climber in the world.” 

Then I thought, “I bet they have a whole team of people, working day and night, building it high into the sky.”

What do you think? (Feel free to comment below… and don’t forget to share our Postcards!)

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Even more amazing than the modern skyscrapers were the sacred temples. A sacred place is somewhere people go to worship. [Dad’s Note: The word sacred comes from the Latin sacrāre, which means “to devote.”]

We visited some of them this week. 

First, we went to a Muslim temple, which is called a mosque. It was very interesting learning about how the people there prayed, which they do five times every single day. I think it would be too hard for me, going up and down (and repeating!) all day everyday.

Even so, the building was beautiful, with intricate carvings and even semi-precious gemstones in the walls. 

And here’s one of me, inside. As you can see, we had to cover our hair and wear baggy dresses. They were pretty, but veeery hot!

Next, we went to a Chinese temple, where Buddhists pray and make offerings to their gods. The temple had lots of stunning carvings of dragons and tigers and roosters. (Wait, what? Roosters? Yep, even roosters. They were in a special garden out back.)

Inside, where there was actually air-conditioning (aaahhh...aaair-conditioning...), they had these big red containers which held a bunch of long, green sticks. The idea is that you pick up a bundle of sticks and drop them. Then you choose the stick which “sticks out” the highest and read the number. Next, you open the tiny drawer of the same number and pick out a little scroll, which has your fortune on it. 

I got number 4, which was apparently very lucky. Mommy and daddy got two and three. 

On the last day, we went on a nature excursion. We started at Batu Caves, where we had to climb millions and billions and trillions of stairs (ok, not that many, but still a lot!) There were lots of monkeys there, even one with a cute little newborn. 

But they were quite “grabby.” One of them even tried to steal my mom’s purse. Daddy called him a “cheeky monkey.”

At the top of the stairs were more Buddhist temples and statues, but they were all wet from the water in the cave. In fact, we were all bathed in our own sweat. Time to cool down!

After the caves, we drove to a nearby river, where we saw an eagle feeding at sunset. Then, when the sun went down, and after we had dinner, we went on a boat to see the fireflies. It was actually a little scary at first, because it was dark and the boat was rocking back and forth, but I got used to it after a while. 

One of the fireflies even got caught in my shirt, like a flashing little stowaway. Finally, the boat driver gave everyone nets, which we splashed in the water to make the bioluminescent plankton glow.

They kind of looked like bright, blue stars in the murky, black water.

Of all the sacred places we went to in Malaysia, my own favorite was... NATURE! (Also, the monkeys were super cool!)

Ok, that’s a long one for today. Until next week...

Selamat tinggal! (That’s farewell in Malaysian ;-)

Frida

P.S. Extra special thanks to our Classical Kids members, whose kind support make this work possible. For about $4/month, you too can share a love of the ancient world and help our mission to bring ancient wisdom to future minds.

If you’d like to join our growing Classical Kids community please consider becoming a member today. Thanks!

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Welcome to our latest postcard. If you are new here, today’s story is actually Part III in a much longer story. 

The first part was called The Judgement of Paris. (You can catch up on that one here.) That one involved the goddess Eris, who’s apple started the whole adventure. 

The second part is the story of The Wooden Horse. (You can read that one here.) 

Today’s part involves the story of their return home, which I believe is the most interesting of all… 

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After ten whole years of fighting, it was finally time to go home and lay on the couch and drink some hot chocolate. But in the ancient world, life wasn’t so easy... Their return home was full of crazy adventures, monsters and angry gods!

Our main character here, as you probably well know, is named Odysseus. (That’s why his journey is called “The Odyssey.”) The story begins with Odysseus stuck on Calypso’s island. Although it was a pretty island, and he liked his friend Calypso, he still missed his family, including his wife and son and puppy dog. 

So he prayed that Zeus would one day let him go... which is exactly what the king of the gods did. But this angered Poseidon, the sea god, because he hated Odysseus’s hair style (nah, just kidding... he just didn’t want him to escape so easily!)

So Poseidon crashed his little barbie doll-sized raft in his giant waves, but Odysseus was able to escape. Actually, he doggy paddled to the nearest shore, where some young ladies were gossiping. There he met a king, who gave him lots to eat and drink. Sooo... he ate like a pig... and told the story of his adventures so far.

First things first, he got stuck in a cave with a giant cyclops who wanted to eat everybody. But, he managed to escape by huddling under a sheep and throwing a burning cinder in the beast’s only eye. (This is the real reason why Poseidon was so mad... and probably still is, to this day.)

The cyclops screamed, “Who blinded me?” 

Odysseus replied, “Nobody!”

Then, when he returned to his ship, he foolishly gave away his name, Odysseus. From then on, the gods were after him. 

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Next, they landed on the island of Aeolus, the keeper of winds. This king was kinder, and gave Odysseus a bag of winds to help him sail on his way. All was going well, until his men opened the bag and let loose a hurricane. Whoopsie!

The waves crashed his ship against the shore of another island, where the Laestrygones lived. There he met a young woman, who invited Odysseus to dinner. 

“My parents would like to have you for dinner,” she said... with a very suspicious smile. 

Odysseus agreed, and followed the young woman to the palace... only to discover, she meant it literally. They were cannibals. They really wanted to EAT Odysseus for dinner!

Once again, it was time to escape. Odysseus and his men ran for their lives, probably using table knives as swords and plates as shields. Unluckily for Odysseus, the Laestrygones smashed all of his ships... except one. 

Phew! All this adventure and we’re not even halfway through the story! We’ll have to continue with the rest next time. Look out for our next postcard to come!

Erroso!

Frida

P.S. Extra special thanks to our Classical Kids members, whose kind support make this work possible. For about $4/month, you too can share a love of the ancient world and help our mission to bring ancient wisdom to future minds.

If you’d like to join our growing Classical Kids community – and share this work with the Little Learners in your life – please consider becoming a member today. Thanks!

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Remember the last time when I told you about the judgement of Paris? Well, the story about the wooden horse comes after that. You can read about it in a book called the Iliad by Homer… but I’m also going to tell you about it today. 

Helen lived in a palace in Ancient Greece. Everyone agreed that she was the most beautiful woman on earth (but I think my mommy is the most beautiful woman in the world). 

Helen was married to a very strong king named Menelaus. He wanted her to stay by his side forever and ever. One day a young prince named Paris (as you very well know) came over and because of the love arrow you heard in the last story, he took her away to his house/castle in a place called Troy. 

When Menelaus found his wife missing - you can probably guess how furious he was. You can right? Well, if you can’t I will tell you. He stormed around the place, breaking everything, until a guard said: Chill big guy!! Why don’t we do the most sensible thing? And Menelaus said, ahhhh… okay. 

So, they did the most unsensible thing! Which was…sending thousands of battle ships to Troy. All the other kings in Greece decided to help him get Helen back. Except for one guy, Odysseus, who didn’t want to go, but they persuaded him. 

When they got there they began throwing up ladders and climbing up the walls… but the Trojans had better tactics and flicked them away like mosquitos. They battled for ten years until right when they were about the give up….STRIKE!!!!!!!!!! An idea came to Odysseus’ head. It was crazy… but it just might work. 

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So, everyone began to chop wood and slowly by slowly, Odysseus’ plan took shape. Finally, it was there! A giant wooden horse! 

All the ships sailed away… but Odysseus and some of the army stayed inside the horse. When the Trojans woke up they were very surprised because there was a giant wooden horse in front of them. 

One of the men from the army said this was an offer to Athena to give them good luck (with his fingers crossed behind his back). So the Trojans decided to bring it in, because they thought it would bring them good luck too. All day they threw a party. When everyone fell asleep that night on the tables and on their beds… Odysseus and the soldiers sneaked out, creeping through the dark and…

CLINK! SLASH! STAB!

…went the swords. (Don’t worry! They didn’t kill any people… only the soldiers). Then they took Helen back and everyone was happy… except Helen who missed Paris.

After that comes the story of the Odyssey. We’ll tell that one to you guys next time! 

Erroso!

Frida

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It all began with a lovely, peaceful wedding party. All the gods and goddesses were celebrating and enjoying a glorious feast. I imagine them dressed in purple silk robes. (Back then, those who wore purple were very rich or powerful.)

All the guests were having an awesome time, but nobody invited the goddess of chaos, whose name was Eris. (In Greek, her name means strife and discord. Her Roman name was actually Discordia... but I like the name Eris better.)

But Eris had a plan... a plan that would ruin everything!

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On a shiny golden apple, Eris wrote the words “ti kallisti” which means, “to the fairest.” Then, she tossed it into the middle of the wedding, through the golden gates. Three goddesses – Hera, Aphrodite and Athena – saw the apple and read the words. 

Of course, each goddess thought she was the most charming and beautiful of all. Soon they began to quarrel. After a while, they asked the king of all gods, Zeus himself, to solve their argument. Clever Zeus, knowing a thing or two about women, decided not to get himself in trouble, and so asked a mortal to solve the problem for him. 

That man was named Paris.

Each goddess tried to bribe poor Paris to give the prize to them. Hera offered to make Paris a powerful king. Athena offered to make him a brave and famous warrior. Then, last of all, Aphrodite came in and said to her fellow goddesses, “Ha! You know nothing about men! I will offer him the most beautiful woman in the world!”

Paris responded to each in his own way. To Athena, he replied, “Eh, nice... but I don’t really like battle.”

To Hera, he said, “Eh, good... but not really my style.”

But to Aphrodite, he replied, “Oooh, now you’re talking!”

And so, the goddess of love had her cute little son, Cupid, fly over and shoot a golden love arrow into Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world. She immediately fell in love with Paris and sailed away with him to his home in Troy. 

When her actual husband, Menelaus, found out, he was fuuurious. And so began the Trojan War... but that will be a story for next time, my friends.

Until then, erroso from Owly and I.

Frida

Fun fact: Erroso means goodbye in Ancient Greek!

Now, what’s your favorite Greek myth? And if you were Paris, what prize would you have chosen? Write in and let me know!

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I would like to take you on an epic journey around a beautiful site.

We are in the city of Rome. We love Rome-ing around Rome. One day we were looking around Rome when …(tan tan tan!) we saw the Pantheon. (The Pantheon is a building with a giant dome in it. It is very pretty.) 

Outside the building we saw... the biggest crowd ever. The tourists came from all over the world. I heard at least 15 languages or more! There were people selling everything… from scarves to ice-cream to weirdo little flingy thingies, like mini helicopters, that fly up into the air and then fall down into the crowd. 

The line was enormous, like a giant anaconda. Mommy and daddy bought me a strawberry and vanilla ice-cream (gelato), but I had to eat it very quickly because you weren’t allowed to take it in the Pantheon, nor did I want it to melt in the flaming hot sun. 

Once we were inside, I was mesmerized. One of the most famous things about the Pantheon is its roof. It is absolutely stunning. It also has a giant hole in the middle, called an oculus.

On April 21st - Rome’s birthday - the sun shines through the hole and hits the entrance of the temple. This is for the emperor to walk through in the shining sun. (Too bad if he didn’t have sunglasses!)

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Every other day the light shines upon a new painting around the Pantheon, giving us a new story to learn. 

But… what in the world happens when it rains, you are wondering? You may think the rain pours through the oculus and floods the whole building, maybe even ruining the paintings.

Actually, the Romans were very intelligent. They made the floor slope downwards to a big drain. So when it rains, the water flows like a stream toward the drain and down into the ancient Roman plumbing system. 

When I got out I was excited that I had seen the Pantheon, one of the roundest buildings I had ever seen. It felt like time for a triangle pizza, or even a square one.

Well, that’s all for today. Until next time!

Frida

It’s rainy and yucky out today, but I don’t want you to feel yucky, so I’m going to tell you a bright and happy story. 

Recently, my family and I visited Houston to see my grandparents. While we were in town, we went to a ballgame, ate at Taco Bell and even went to see NASA.

(Taco Bell might not be that special for you, but we don’t have it where I live, in Argentina, so it’s a special treat for me!)

Now, you might not think NASA has anything to do with the ancient world, since it’s mostly just giant machinery and rockets and stuff, but NASA uses lots of ancient Greek and Roman names, as I found out!

So let’s start at the beginning. When we first arrived at NASA and walked through the metal doors, we saw a room full of huge machines. Next we took a shuttle to see a spaceship that actually took real astronauts into space…

BUT along the way, we saw some cute deer AND the famous Longhorn Cattle. They were eating their grass and staring at us. (I bet they were thinking, “Hmmm... I wonder if she’s going to write a postcard about us?”)

When we first saw the humongous shed out in the field, I thought it would be full of more cattle...we were in Texas, after all. But, lo and behold, inside the shed we found a real spaceship!

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It was called the Saturn V, even though it never actually went to the planet Saturn. The name comes from the Roman god of wealth and agriculture. The Greek version is Cronos. 

Anyway, it was part of the space program called Project Apollo. There were 14 Apollo missions, including Apollo 11, which landed humans on the moon for the first time ever. 

Here’s me touching a REAL rock from the Moon!

The Apollo missions happened fifty years ago. But don’t worry, now they’ve started a new space program called Project Artemis. 

Did you know that Apollo and Artemis are ancient Greek twins? Apollo is the god of the sun; Artemis is considered the moon goddess. They are the children of Zeus and Leto… they are very important in mythology… and also in Space!

So no matter where you go... even to space... there are lessons to be learned from the ancient world.

Until next week!

Frida

P.S. Owly didn’t come to the Space center, so her good friend Laika (the first dog in space) came instead… so she’ll be sending a video shortly showing you around…

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By Frida 

On a full moon night, we walked along the stone paths through the village. No cars could be seen or heard. In this town, the roads are made of water. The taxis are boats. And there are more bridges than any fairytale place ever had. 

I am talking about... Venice.

We arrived at one o’clock in the morning. I was both excited and a little scared. After all, it was pitch black outside and we could barely see where we were going. Fortunately, we didn’t fall in any of the canals! After walking forever, we finally arrived at our little apartment. And what do you think I did right away?

“Zzzzzzz... Zzzzzzz... Zzzzzzz...”

The next morning we spent roaming around…. not Rome! After all, we were in Venice. I couldn't believe how many people there were! They must have all been sleeping when we arrived. It was packed. The first thing we did was get coffee (for mommy and daddy) and a chocolate croissant (for me). It was super delicious. 

Here is one of the thousands of bridges. There were so many boats below, it was like a traffic jam. 

I couldn’t stop imagining what it would be like to go on one of the gondolas. These are sort of like canoes, only much bigger and more beautiful. They have comfortable seats and little cushions for parents to put up their feet and relax. The happy men who paddle them wear striped shirts and sing songs in Italian. 

“When the moon hits the sky, like a big pizza pie, that’s amore...”

The next day we walked by a store filled with colorful masks. I set my eyes upon a purple feline mask, which was covered in glitter and floral decoration. What do you think?

A few nights later, we went to an old fancy restaurant. We ate too much seafood and had Italian ice-cream (gelato) for dessert. I was extra excited because we were supposed to go on a gondola ride after dinner. But, lo and behold, by the time we were finished, every gondola we saw was covered in a big green sheet. They were all closed. I thought we’d never get to go on one. 

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Finally, on the last morning, as we were leaving our apartment with all our bags, we heard a man singing under a bridge. His gondola was available! And he could even take our bags, too!

The ride was a little wobbly at first, but very comfortable. The water was shimmery and greenish-brown. Our gondolier took us through winding canals and past a great big house with a weird gate around it and lots of overgrown vines. He told us this house used to belong to... Marco Polo, the famous explorer from Venice who traveled the world! 

[Classical Wisdom Kid Club Members: we’ll have a cool lesson and games about Marco Polo later this week. I know he’s not exactly classical… but he is just TOO COOL not to learn about!]

Along the ride, I let my fingers dip into the cool water. Peering into the deep green canal, I imagined a beautiful mermaid swimming below our boat. I’m glad we got to go on the gondola after all and see the city from the streets made of water. 

Later that afternoon, we started our journey across Italy to Rome. I was just about to fall asleep when I heard my mom yell, “Flamingo!” I looked out the window and saw a flock of pink birds eating brine shrimp on the water. It was fabulous. 

That’s all for today. See you again next week! 

Frida

P.S. We also went to the Gallerie dell'Accademia and saw a lot of paintings! I was able to recognize a few of the Classical persons and stories (with help from my mom)… Can you tell what they are? We’ll put the answers in the next postcard!

I hope you are doing well! In case you didn’t catch our postcard from Armenia, covering trains, museums and Australian father’s day, check it out here:

As you can see, the ancient shoe was not disgusting after all!

Please write in your questions and comments to Frida about Armenia! We’ll post them next week. In the meantime, enjoy the postcard replies to Tbilisi, below.

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom Kids

Postcard Replies to Tbilisi

Hi Frida & Owly!

Is it pretty there? Do they have ice cream in Tbilisi? How was the museum? Can you try to find paint supplies? Do they have that there? 

-Roxy Snow (age 7 - I'm about to turn 8!) 

Frida: Yes, there was ice cream and it was great! It was fun to watch them because they were making it by hand on a freezer thingy-thing with fresh berries and chocolate and milk and creme. We went to LOTS of museums in Tbilisi - one was about Neanderthals and that was my favorite. Tbilisi is a big modern city, so they probably have paint supplies. Do you like to draw? What’s your favorite animal? Bye!

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Hello Frida & Owly!

Was your cake like a snow world?! 

Berry  (age 6)

Frida: Not exactly, more like cheesy… but still yummy!!

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Hi Frida & Owly,

Have you seen any mummies in Tbilisi? 

- Finn (age 7)

Frida: I’m not sure if we saw mummies - but we did see some terrifying skulls! Would you like to see a picture of them?

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Hello Frida & Owly,

What is your favorite candy in Tbilisi? 

- Kai (age 6) 

Frida: I can’t remember any candy… but I do have a random fact about flamingos for you! Their beak is built so the top is smaller and the bottom is bigger, so when they eat upside down it works perfectly. They are also filter feeder! I saw some recently, but I’ll tell you about it in the next postcard.

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Hi Frida & Owly, 

Why have you been going to the museums? 

 - Chicken Head (age 9) 

Frida: Because museums are fun and I want to write about them… and make videos with Owly. Do you like museums?

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Hi Frida & Owly, 

How did Zeno's family get rich? 

 - Antonio  (age 9) 

Frida: I don’t know, I think they were merchants? They travelled on the seas and traded things. My mom says they had special snails that made purple dye.

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Hi Frida & Owly,

Have you seen any status of Zeno or the Stoics in Tbilisi? 

-Taylor (age 11)  

Frida: No, I don’t think so… but I did go to Pushkin’s favorite bathhouse! At the bathhouse I sat by a steaming hot tub. Pushkin was a famous poet from Russia.

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Hi  Frida & Owly,

Why were you guys looking at skulls? And why were they all different sizes? 

- Hamburger (age 9)

Frida: Ohh good question! Also a hard one. Skulls are interesting and very fun to imagine what they would have looked like. They are all different sizes because sometimes they were different kinds of early humans, like neanderthals, and other times because they are male or female or younger or older.

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Hello Frida & Owly,

Did you at least take 100 trains to get there (Tbilisi)? 

- Box (9) 

Frida: No, to Tbilisi I took a plane from Athens to Tbilisi… but I took a train to Armenia. It was awesome!

Today I am going to tell you about this mind-blowing excursion. Including sleeping overnight on a train (and waking up in a new country)… touching the most ancient shoe in the world… and celebrating Australian Father’s Dan in Armenia. 

When we opened the carriage door, the sun had already set down to sleep. Luckily our cabin had a light and four bunk beds. I thought it was like our own little apartment, only on a moving train. It was super hard falling asleep because I was having so much fun climbing on the ladder, but I eventually closed my eyes and drifted off. When I woke up, I looked out the widow and saw a beautiful view of the landscape. We had crossed from Georgia into Armenia. 

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While we were in Armenia, we went to the history museum. There we saw a shoe… but not just any old shoe. Apparently, this was the most ancient shoe in the world, over 5,000 years old. Luckily, it was behind glass so we couldn’t smell it! I bet it would have been disgusting! 

Speaking of shoes, we also saw an impressive shoe goblet. Apparently, ancient people really liked their shoes. I like shoes too… but I don’t think I’d like to drink out of one. Would you?

We also saw an ancient carriage, used thousands of years ago to carry dead people to their grave. This one even had a skeleton in it. Creepy! There were lots of swords, too, as well as some beautiful ancient statues of gazelles, birds and deer and lots of clay bowls, too. The statues were so realistic they looked as though they might come to life!

There was also some weird ancient writing. My mommy told me it is called “cuneiform,” a kind of writing that was created over 5 thousand years ago:

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We also saw a giant painting with two lions, one of my favorite animals. In the next room mommy admired some ancient jewelry, including gold plated laurel wreaths.

A few days later, it was Australian Father’s Day. I’m pretty sure we were the only people in Armenia celebrating it, but we decided to go to the ballet. Actually, this was more of a present for me, but daddy liked it anyway.

Armenia turned out to be a super fun place to visit. Usually I would say “thank you” in the local language here… but the word is so long in Armenian, even the locals just use the French word…

Merci!

Frida

Postcard from... Tbilisi

Greetings readers! Today we write to you from...Georgia. No, not the state in America. Georgia the country. It’s next to Azerbaijan. (Also, you should totally say the word “Azerbaijan.” It’s super fun to say!)

This Georgia, the country, is on the other side of the Black Sea. We’re in the capital city, Tbilisi. (Also fun to say!)

We’ve actually been here for a whole month. Why did we come here, you ask? We came because of the food and the history, including Jason and the Argonauts. More about that in a second...

First, my favorite food. Here in Georgia they have a really yummy kind of dumpling called khinkali. You eat them by grabbing the top little handle, like a bunch of grapes, and stuffing them in your face. They’re really juicy and delicious. I like the potato and meat ones, made with special Georgian herbs.  

I also like the deserts here. Right now I’m eating a cream cake with strawberries. I’m imagining the strawberries are little mountains and the whipped cream is snow. Delicious!

But enough about food... (I could go on about that forever!) Back to Jason and the Argonauts...

Many, many years ago, when people wore togas as clothes, there was a child named Jason. His evil uncle was so wanting for power he killed his brother, Jason’s father. Jason was sad and had to leave the kingdom. On his way out, he said to himself, “I will have my revenge on you, toilet head uncle!”

When he was older, Jason returned to the king and demanded his rightful place on the throne. At first, the king rejected Jason. But then he said, “If you can bring me the golden fleece, the throne is yours.”

Although it seemed impossible, Jason agreed. 

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Jason invited friends. Fortunately, he knew all the most famous heroes in Greece. He sent them messages through the god Hermes and they all came to join his team. Their boat was named The Argo, so they called themselves The Argonauts. (Like astronauts, I guess… but in a boat.) They sailed past Greece and Turkey and landed in Georgia, where we are right now, in the Kingdom of Colchis. 

King Aeetes of Colchis told Jason he could have the golden fleece… only if he passed three impossible challenges. 

“Brilliant,” said Jason, sarcastically. “More challenges. Just what I need!”

In order to get the golden fleece, Jason had to tame the fire-breathing bulls, use them to plough the fields and plant dragons teeth there, then grab the golden fleece from the sleepless dragon. 

Fortunately, the king’s daughter, Medea/my favorite character, gave him a tiny cup with a magical ointment. This was to protect him from the bulls’ fire. And it worked!

Next, she told him, “When you plant dragon’s teeth in the ground, soldiers will grow out of the soil instead of plants. Throw stones at them and they will fight each other… and be banished from your sight.”

Jason did as Medea told him. Again, it worked! 

Finally, Jason had to trick the sleepless dragon. “But how?” he wondered. 

Medea read his thoughts and said to him, “Listen carefully. The king is going to trick you tomorrow night. He’s going to give you a magic potion to make you fall asleep, then he’ll kill you. You must not drink the poison. Keep it hidden in your room...”

The following morning, Jason ran with Medea to the sleepless dragon and together they threw bottle after bottle of sleeping potion into his mouth. And then...

“Zzzz... Zzzz... Zzzz... plus some dragon snoring here, too...”

The dragon was fast asleep, probably dreaming of a giant pink sloth in a bikini! 

Jason and Medea escaped with the golden fleece and got married. 

And now... you might be wondering, is the golden fleece real? Well...

Here in Georgia, a long time ago, there was an ancient tradition of using sheep’s wool to scoop the gold out of the rivers, catching it like a fly caught in a spider’s web. This would make the fleece turn golden. So maybe, the golden fleece actually was real after all. What do you think?

Well, that’s the longest postcard we’ve ever done. Thanks for reading! I’m off to do some more puppet shows. Owly has a special puppet suit on and is waiting for me. Bye!

Frida

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P.S. Our last Classical Wisdom Kids Club activity involved plenty of fun games and activities involving another classical personality: the wild, snake-haired Medusa. Our Little Learners sent in their own crazy pictures. Here, a few of our favorites…

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It’s called the Archaeological Museum of Corfu. Archaeology is the study of ancient things made by humans. 

[Dad’s Note: From the Greek “archaia” - ancient - and “logos” theory or study.]

This includes everything from spears, to ancient tools and even the Pyramids. 

At the museum in Corfu, we saw statues made of stone and also bronze. We also saw some cool statues just of heads, also known as “busts.” 

Here’s Glitter, Owly’s friend, pretending to drink from some ancient baby bottle. 

Oh, Glitter, you’re so funny!

And there was Owly’s other friend, Paddle. She was playing with an ancient baby rattle in the video above! 

Then, we went to another room to see the top of the Temple of Artemis.

This was important because it had a carving of Medusa plus two lions/panthers. And on one side you can see her two children, Pegasus and... I can’t remember. [Dad’s Note: Chrysaor – a tough one, to be sure.] 

Medusa was a young woman who was in Athena’s temple when Poseidon attacked her. When Athena found out, she got mad and turned Medusa into a monster with snakes for hair, who could turn you to stone just by looking at you... which wasn’t very fair to Medusa! 

We also saw small clay statues, used in sacrifice…

And even a cute kitty cat... oh, wait! That’s a lion! I hope it doesn’t pounce on me. I better get Medusa over here to petrify it for me. Here it is, turned to stone:

Phew! That was close!

I hope you enjoyed your magical ticket to the Corfu museum! Now, I better run. It’s chicky’s birthday party and I’m already late. See you next week! Now Flap those wings, Owly!

Bye for now,

Frida

Today we’re writing from a place called Poseidonia. Just joking. There is no such place... although there almost was. Let me tell you the story. 

We’re really writing from Athens. But why is this place not called “Poseidonia”? 

Once there was a King, who was half-man, half snake. His name was King Cecrops. He made the city strong and powerful and beautiful. All the gods wanted to protect his city. Two gods in particular loved the city. 

Those two gods were Athena and the mighty, mighty Poseidon, Zeus’s brother. 

Zeus said, “Maybe you two should compete against one another for who gets to name the city.”

They competed by giving gifts to the people. It was up to King Cecrops to decide which present was best. 

First Poseidon smashed his trident on the land and an amazing spring of saltwater came up. This represented sailing across the world. Poseidon offered them the gift of traveling over the seas. 

Another citizen walked over and took a sip of the water and immediately spat it out. “Too salty!” he said. “We refuse this gift.”

Next, it was Athena’s turn. She flicked her fingers and an olive tree grew up from the ground. One man walked over, picked an olive and ate it. 

“Yum!” he shouted. “This thing (the olive) is great!”

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It was also very hot outside. Another man sat under the olive tree and fell asleep, it was so cool and lovely. His friend tried to wake him up, but he fell asleep too. Then, a little boy walked over, squeezed the olive and said, “this will make fantastic oil, especially for my toy chariot.”

Cecrops said, “Well, in honor of Athena, I am going to name this city Athens.”

That is why, on the top of the hills in Athens, there are olive trees everywhere, still growing to this day. 

Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to go and stuff my face with delicious, yummy olives. 

Owly said she almost heard Athena whisper to herself, “Something, something, something... we win!” 

Write to you next week, after you’ve had some olives too. Just make sure to spit out the seed!

Yasas,

Frida Bowman

P.S. The school Owly mentioned in the video is Elliniki Agogi. You can find out more about the school here: https://ellinikiagogi.gr/

Postcard Replies

And now for some reader questions...

Hi Frida & Owly,

Where did you guys buy the portable clock? I want one! 

-Box (Age 9) 

Frida says: I bought it in a museum in Rhodes. It was a museum of ancient inventions. If you want to know more about it, you can watch the video we made of Owly playing with it. 

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Hi Frida, 

I missed you!! I think all the machines are cool. 

-Carsen (Age 8) 

Frida: Me too! I want to be an inventor when I grow up... but I still want to do my postcards. 

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Hi Frida & Owly, 

I think we should make robots like they did in Ancient Greece. But also, how many things did you find in the museum? What was your favorite thing in the museum? Can you make longer videos? So we could learn more about Ancient Greece. 

P.S. I can give you something Owly can have as a friend. 

-Athena (Age 8) 

Frida says: Hi Athena, there were fifty or more inventions in the museum. My favorite was the portable clock. Thanks for the offer of Owly’s friend! We’re moving around a lot now, but maybe when we get home Owly can do some Zoom calls. 

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Have you done an explosion using soda and candy? 

- Cheea (Age 6)

Frida says: No, have you? It sounds... messy. 

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Hi Frida! 

My favorite invention is an electric plane that is half pirate and half Navy…and it has missiles on its wings. Are there any tanks in the country where you are at? Because I’m obsessed with them. 

-Candy (Age 7) 

Frida says: Hmm... I don’t know if there are any tanks here. Probably??

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Hi Frida & Owly, 

I have a question…Like how does it copy pictures?!

-Sparkles (Age 6) 

Frida says: I think it might work like how you trace something on one sheet of paper and a pencil attached to a bigger circle draws it on the other piece. You can even adjust the size of the copy. 

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Hi Frida & Owly, 

You know how Owly liked the Owl? I’m going to take a picture of my wooden owl and send it to you so Owly has a friend. 

-Gold (Age 6) 

Frida says: Ooh, I think Owly would love that! Thank you!!

Owly says: Ooh, is it a she or a he? And what’s its name? 

Welcome to today’s adventure around a teeny-tiny museum in Rhodes. (Don’t worry, it’s not a museum about roads.) Actually, it’s a museum about ancient inventions. 

First of all, Rhodes is an island in Greece. The museum is inside the walls of the old town. The walls were used in ancient times to protect the city. Whenever an army won a battle, they would tear down the city walls, but these walls still stand tall and proud. 

The museum itself is pretty impressive. The first thing we saw was a special cup. It was designed to not let anybody be greedy. When it was filled to the top, it would immediately drain out the bottom of the cup...maybe getting the king’s robe wet. This would teach kings and such not to be greedy and selfish. 

Here’s Owly, having a drink from the magical cup. “Remember, Owly, don’t be greedy!” (Don’t worry... Owly never is.)

Next, we saw one of the first cranes ever invented. (No, not the kind of bird... I mean the lifty-lift kind... you know, the kind that lifts things.) It was made of wood, with three sticks arranged like a tent. It had a pole between two of the sticks with handles to turn and wind some rope, which lifted a heavy rock very easily. Here I am, just taking it for a test drive.

Next, this thing over here, which looks like a slicer, is actually something to copy pictures. It could copy them bigger or smaller. 

And here, Owly thought she made a friend... then she realized it couldn’t talk. Poor Owly. We will have to find some more friends for her along the way. 

We also saw ancient games and puzzles***. Owly was so interested in playing with them that we had to drag her out to see the ancient robot! It was the first robot ever made in history. Here’s a picture...

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The robot was used for pouring wine and water. It could even walk!

Finally, Owly found a gift store with some of the ancient inventions. I decided (after lots of thinking) to buy an ancient, portable clock. It works in four cities: Alexandria, Athens, Rome and of course Rhodes.

I put a video of it above!

Thanks for reading. See you next week for a new crazy adventure!

Frida (and Owly)

Classical Wisdom Club Members: Watch your inbox!

***We are going to teach you how to play some of the ancient games Frida saw, how to make one of the puzzles… and a SUPER COOL secret code maker so you can pass messages…

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As you may know already, we are on our Junior Grand Tour...a type of “away-schooling” that is sort of like homeschooling, but without the home. We are journeying around the ancient world to study the Classics, life and anything else that comes our way. The entire trip spans five months, eight countries and 25 cities.

And today marks almost exactly the halfway point. 

As such, I thought this would be a good opportunity to do a bit of a recap. In fact, we’ve been requested to share our itinerary so far, so that the kids can keep track of where Frida and Owly have been! So today’s video (above) tries to do just that... but here is a list of the exact places, as Owly likes to focus on different things... like cats and camels! And funny microphones on the face!

Junior Grand Tour City List:

1. Started Buenos Aires, Argentina

2. Miami, Florida, USA (for the day)

3. Rome, Italy

4. Tivoli, Italy

5. Florence, Italy

6. Antalya, Turkey (Frida calls it Catlandia, because it's full of cats) 

7. Side, Turkey

8. Tel Aviv, Israel

9. Eilat, Israel

10. Petra, Jordan

11. Wadi Rum, Jordan

12. Dead Sea, Israel

13. Jerusalem, Israel

14. Heraklion, Crete, Greece

15. Matala, Crete, Greece

16. Sitia, Crete, Greece

17. Karpathos, Greece

18. Rhodes, Greece

19. (Tomorrow: Off to….???)

We had unseasonable rain in Italy, perfect temperatures in Turkey, strangely cool weather in Jordan (fortunately since we had to AC in the desert!) and lots of wind in Karpathos.

Now in Rhodes, we’ve been dealing with the extreme heat, like so many of you the world over. In fact, it's a 104 degrees outside! Somehow we still managed to explore the archaeological site of Lindos yesterday (when it was only a 100 degrees)…but I’ll let Frida tell you all about it in the next postcard.

In the meantime, please enjoy the postcard replies below… If you have any questions, or your kiddos want to write to Frida, just reply to this email or write to us here.

We look forward to hearing from you!

All the best,

Anya Leonard
Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom and Classical Wisdom Kids

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Hello Frida, 

Can you send a picture of the shells, and a photo of where you think the statue stood? 

- Mr. YouTube (age 9)

Frida: Hiya! Here is a picture of some shells from the beach:

And here is a picture of where I think the Colossus of Rhodes stood. I think it stood here because it used to be the port of a big battleship. I think it could have been in Lindos and not the city Rhodes because the guy who made it was from Lindos. (Chares of Lindos was the sculptor of the Colossus of Rhodes).

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Hi Frida, 

What year was the Colossus of Rhodes built? How is Owly? How is the gelato in Greece? What flavor do you like? What is ice cream called in Greece? 

- Gold (age 6)

Frida: Ice cream in Greece is Παγωτό (pagoto) and it is really good here! They have really yummy chocolate. My mommy says construction began in 292 BC.

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Hi Frida, 

What do you want to eat in Greece with me? If I flew there I would eat with you. -Smash Bros (age 6)

Frida: Definitely some fish! But not octopus because earlier I saw a real octopus in the wild when I was snorkeling and its suction cups. It was hunting the fish. 

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Hi Frida,

My name is Wolf. On the statue, did people in the boats look under it? How was snorkeling? Did you keep the flute? And if you didn’t, why not? - Wolf (age 10)

Frida: When I was snorkeling I couldn't grab the flute because it was too deep in the water. And if I did, I would get my snorkel full of water and get salt water up my mouth! We don’t know for sure if boats went under the statue or around it… I like to think under though! 

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Hello Frida, 

What do you do when the Olympics are there? And do they have a lot of temples? - Shadow (age 8) 

Frida: I haven’t seen any Olympics, but the next Olympics are next year! Yes, there are a lot of temples here in Greece. I saw the temple of Athena on the acropolis in Lindos in Rhodes yesterday. Here is a picture of it: 

By Frida Bowman

Hi guys! Today I’d like to tell you about one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World...

But first, we’re in Rhodes. It’s full of...well, roads! (Actually, there are not that many... ) But there are lots of castles. I’m looking at one right now... or what used to be one. It’s really just a cliff with lots of old stones and bricks on it, but it’s pretty cool. At night, there are lights and you can see it from the beach. 

There are also many beautiful beaches around the island with thousands and thousands of pretty shells. This morning I laid on the lounge chair and collected a whole bucket full of them. Then I went snorkeling with my mommy. The water was lovely and full of fish. I even saw an old flute.

But back to the ancient wonder: The Colossus of Rhodes. 

This was a giant statue built in honor of the Greek god of the sun, Helios. It was the tallest statue in the ancient world, or about 33 meters high. It was the size of the Statue of Liberty, and was the main inspiration for it also! It was marble and bronze. Some believe it held a torch in its hand. People still argue about exactly where it stood. 

It took the people here one year to build... but it only lasted for 54 years, which is very little for such an enormous statue. It collapsed during an earthquake. 

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After that, for about 800 years, it lay on its side, in ruins. But people from all around the world – including Cleopatra, the Egyptian Queen – came to see it. Unfortunately, some people stole the parts and sold them, so it’s all gone today. 

But we can imagine what it must have looked like, standing tall on the island of Rhodes. 

For now, I’m going to eat some more chocolate and go swimming. I’ll write to you again next week from the city that was named after the Greek Goddess whose symbol is an owl. (Hint: Not Owlyville)

Frida

Welcome to another ancient story. Today I’m writing from Crete. This is my second time here. Crete is one of my favorite places, because this is the setting for the story of Icarus, which I’ll tell you all about now. 

Once there was a man named Daedalus. Daedalus was a very good man, but he was an even better sculptor and inventor! His sculptures were so realistic, that people thought they might come to life and run away! 

But the dark side of Daedalus came out when he became jealous of his nephew, Talos, all because he was smarter than him. He tried to throw him off the Acropolis cliff, but Athena rescued Talos and turned him into a mighty and beautiful bird.

Actually, it happened to be my favorite bird: a partridge. 

So Daedalus was banned from Athens and had to come to Crete. King Minos, who ruled the island, really wanted to keep Daedalus here in Crete. He made many things for the king, including a maze where the king kept the minotaur, which was a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man.

(Learn more about the Minotaur in our member’s only section, here. We’ve kept this one open, so everyone can see what our full editions are like:

King Minos even kept Daedalus’s son, Icarus, here too!

That’s when Daedalus invented something that would be his son’s fate... 

Daedalus told his son, “King Minos rules the oceans. He rules the lands and all animals that step their foot on it. But, he does not rule the heavens and the gods.”

So, he spent days and days studying birds and learning their movements. Finally, he created some elegant wings for Icarus and himself. They were going to fly off the island of Crete. 

Daedalus told his son to fly in between the extremes. Not too close to the waves or the feathers might absorb the water and become too heavy. But not too high either, because otherwise the wax on his wings would melt and he would fall like the death of an angel. 

The father and son flapped their feathered wings through the bright blue sky. But, Icarus had a strong feeling to fly high up to the heavens (maybe to meet his great grandmother?)

So he did. And guess what? His glimmering wings captured the rays of the sun and began to droop. 

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Poor Icarus fell like a bird that had been shot by an arrow straight into the sea. (Perhaps next to a goldfish!)

His father turned around only to see his son falling. He swooped down to save him, but to no avail. Icarus was dead. Daedalus gently picked the boy up and flew to a nearby island.

Now, that island is named Icaria, after poor Icarus. 

The moral of the story is not to fly too high or too low, but enjoy what you have and control your strong feelings. 

I hope you enjoyed my story. I’ll write to you again from...???

Now, I don’t know goodbye in Greek, so I’ll just say it in Ancient Greek,

Erroso!

Frida

P.S. After Icarus’s wings fell apart, there was a loose thread that a kitten found. She started playing with it and had the best day of her life. So even though Icarus died and it was a very bad fate, there was still something to help us look on the bright side. 

Coming Soon! Members: We’ll send you fun games and activities this week (Plus worksheets!) Watch this space…

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By Frida Bowman

Hi! This week, I’m going to tell you all about how a camel smells. (Yuk!)

But first, lay down in your comfiest position and I’ll take you on a journey...and don’t worry, you don’t need to do the hike! We already did it and, phew, it was hot!

We’re in Jordan. It’s the country next to Israel and it’s completely different. All you need to get there is to walk through “no man’s land.” It’s the land between Israel and Jordan, between the passport gates. It’s actually a place in between two countries.

We crossed at the Red Sea crossing. (In ancient times, “red” meant south...so this was the “South Sea.” Black was north, so the Black Sea was the North Sea.)

It was very easy. Behind us, there was actually a whole bus full of Australians. My daddy was pretty surprised to see them. (He was born in Australia, too.)

Next, we took a long taxi ride to Petra. Petra is a strange ancient city that is built into the rock. The rock was pinkish orange so they also called it the “Rose City,” because of the colors. Well, these people really knew how to make castles and temples. There was one carving called the Treasury, where I saw a little cat who I named “Treasure.”  

The hike was really hard, so we got a horse ride at the very end. It was lovely. The horse’s name was Ahed. He was a brown horse with a black mane and tail and beautiful hooves, which glimmered in the light. 

The next morning we went to Little Petra. We had such a big hike ahead of us that we decided to take a donkey ride. We got two, Jack and Laura...but Laura wandered away, so Jack took me and mommy together. He was very strong. Daddy walked, just to get in his step count. 

The trails were really hot and narrow and steep. They were so high, I felt like I was flying. At the narrow parts, we had to hop off the donkey and walk. And just to make a point, my shoes did not have any traction. I was wearing ballerina shoes, not the best idea. 

Finally, we were there, at the Monastery. I even saw a little white cat that had orange ears and a little orange tail. I named him Mony, after the Monastery. We had to rest and have an ice-cream. I got one that had peanuts and chocolate and which tasted like coco. It tasted so nice and cold. 

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But I know, you want to hear about the camel...

Next we drove to Wadi Rum, which is a giant desert. We are “glamping.” (Glamping is like camping, but with lights and big beds and a bathroom and shower inside the tent.)

When we arrived, it was finally time to ride a camel. I nicknamed my camel Sniffy, because he sniffed my daddy’s elbow the whole time. My daddy’s camel I nicknamed Sneezy, because it sneezed all over him. And my mommy’s I called Chewy, because he kept chewing some weird grass thingy-thing the whole time. (Thingy-thing is a word you say when you don’t know what to say.)

It was sunset when we rode into the desert. An hour later, we finally got off. (Bump, bump!) The camels get up and down first with their hind legs, then with their front legs. It’s very bumpy. 

When we got off the camels, we drank some lovely tea. Our guide made the tea on a fire. Mine had sugar in it. 

So, what do camels smell like? They smell like sweat. And just to give you a heads-up, camels really need to brush their teeth. Their breath smells horrible, like a trash can full of dirty diapers. But they are fun to ride and very gentle. I loved it. 

(“Hey, Chewy! Stop chewing near my face!”)

Finally, we went out on a 4 wheel drive into the middle of the desert. We laid on our backs and looked up at the stars. I saw the Big Dipper. It was bright and sideways and looked as if it was pouring something. 

Then we went back and slept in our beautiful big tent. Our time in Jordan has been delightful. Just remember, next time you see a camel, try not to go too close to its mouth. 

Thanks for reading or, as they say in Arabic, “shukran.”

Frida

P.S. We’ll be posting postcard responses later this week with more videos! Feel free to email us with your own and we’ll post them.

Thanks for joining us for another postcard from the road. We’ll get to the main event shortly (aka Frida’s Postcard), but just in case you’re new to our burgeoning community, a little background...

We’re an “away schooling” family of three – Anya, who also heads up Classical Wisdom; Frida (8), the co-author of these postcards; and yours truly, who is in charge of spilling coffee on laptops. 

Actually, that was a one-time gig, which we executed with aplomb during our very first hours here in Italy. Everyone was exactly as thrilled as you might imagine. (Mercifully, an emergency replacement is currently en route, thanks to inbound family who are due to arrive this weekend.) 

Moving swiftly along...

For now, we’re breathing in Italy, a favorite stop on the Grand Tours of yore. There is more to experience, to learn and to discuss than we can pack into the generous spring days before us. And as for the little, tiny, minuscule laptop mishap, we recall Mark Twain’s incomparable words when recounting his own tour in The Innocents Abroad...

“Memories which someday will become all beautiful when the last annoyance that encumbers them shall have faded out of our minds.”

We’re also having a great time compiling the games, in-depth reading material and printable lessons for our Classical Kids Club emails, which we send to members every week. (Thanks to those of you who wrote in with suggestions and videos of your own!)

If you missed last week’s Gladiator Games edition, in which we revisited Rome’s Colosseum, you can unlock all the course material and follow along with our weekly lessons by joining the Classical Kids Club here:

Subscribe now

Club members can also post in the comments section and join our growing community. We hope to see you over there!

For now, it’s over to Frida, who (with a little help from dad) has today’s postcard...as well as our first edition of replies!

You see, while Frida loves traveling, she of course misses her friends back home. As such, she LOVED the postcards she has already received (you can see her responses as well). We’ve posted them below! Feel free to send in your own!

A Postcard from Florence, Italy

By Frida Bowman

Welcome to another postcard from our travels. This week, we are in Florence. It is a very famous city that used to be the capital of Italy. 

The second I arrived, I felt like this was the coolest place in the world. Plus, when we got to the hotel, lying on the beds were... three, yummy chocolates! I am loving it!

Shortly after we dropped our bags off at the hotel, we went to a museum called the Uffizi. It is a famous museum. If you don’t know it, definitely Google it. It is gigantic. The halls are long and they have stunning murals on the ceilings. I was impressed. 

While we were there, I even saw a statue of Marcus Aurelius’s head! He was a very famous emperor and also a philosopher, which was very rare. I decided to sketch him. I’ll show you the picture of him that I sketched:

(And here I want to give a special shout out to the Marcus Aurelius fan club. Thanks for reading!)

Next we went to the Botticelli section and we saw a painting of Venus. There are thousands of copies of this painting, but none of them the artist touched himself, except for the original that we saw. The painting is of a beautiful woman with golden hair covering herself up and standing on a shell. In her case, she was a goddess. There is another woman giving her a cloak to wear. 

Afterwards, we went and bought a giant ice-cream. It had melon and mango, which was a great combination because it was quite hot outside. 

Next, we saw a humongous church made of marble, which was a really expensive stone at that time. Here is a picture of it:

We will write to you again next week. For now, we have to catch a train back to Tivoli. 

Until next time, 

Ciao!

Frida

Postcards to Frida (with Responses)

Kids have been writing back to Frida... so we have put their messages (with fake names) as well as Frida’s responses, below. Feel free to write in more letters to Frida! She reads and loves them all :-)  

Hi Cool Owly dude!  From cool Roxy the Wolf (7 ½, creative, and funny, and 1^st grader, and I say “and” a lot) Frida, how is your day? And how was Rome?

Frida: Great! I’m eating a nutella and cookie ice cream now. Rome is amazing! We did lots of cool stuff, like the Colosseum. 

Hi Owly & Frida, Like Marcus Aurelius, my name means gold.  I am artistic, here is a drawing for you: 

Frida: Nice picture!!! I’m also artistic! Thanks for sending it in. Owly will love it. 

Hi Owly & Frida!  

Hi, how old are you? Both you and Owly. From Snakey – 6 years old (P.S. I love snakes! How many snakes do you guys have there in Italy? It sounds like you are traveling – like you are a military kid.) 

Frida: We don’t have any snakes. Today I watched a video about two baby brown snakes that are adorable!! But know what? Owly is only a few weeks old - and I’m just eight. 

Hi Frida,

What kind of special treatment did the Roman emperors get at the Colosseum? From, San Antonio (10 years old) in California 

Frida: I guess they got snacks and drinks and they sat in box seats on the marble.  

Hello Owly & Frida! Do you like Mario? Mario Deluxe? From Box (Age 9)  

Frida: Mario? I don’t know Mario, but there is probably someone in Italy called Mario. 

-

Thanks everyone for writing in! Soo cool to hear from you! Talk to you next week!!!