Prague

Prague is an incredible place. It is like stepping into the pages of a book... spires, cobblestones, narrow alleyways, arches and bridges. It is all rather breathtaking. After being here a week the kids and I ventured forth to see a bit of this magical city.

Our journey begins by train. A one minute walk to the train station from what is currently "home" and every thirty minutes comes a train running to Prague. It is about a 20 minute train ride which is smooth, quiet and spacious.


That is more than a little magical, all on its own. I am delighted with living somewhere that public transportation makes sense and works well! The train cars are double deckers, so we always scramble to the top floor so that we have nice views. And truly the views are lovely....

It is so quiet on these cars that I can take along the book we are reading and quietly read aloud a chapter on our journey and they can hear without a problem.

And so then we arrived in the bustling big city. It is busy and crowded like all big cities. We were armed with maps and tips from our friends. A bit slowly we figured our way through trams and the underground system to find our way to a place where we hoped to rent bicycles to take a tour of the city by bike. But upon arriving we discovered that the smallest bike was still too big for Ava. So, were making our way back towards the center to cross Charles Bridge... when we saw...

paddle boat rentals!

We were able to rent a paddle boat and paddle down the Vltava River!. The day was gorgeous. The sky a striking blue, the sun warm without being too hot and the Vltava River was dotted with paddle boats, row boats and the occasional tour boat. Isaac and Ava wanted to do the paddling and the steering so I began in the back to take pictures of the views of the city from the river. 

My relaxation was short lived as Ava quickly tired of the chore of paddling. Isaac was, however steadfast in his captaining of the boat. I became the willing first mate and we all enjoyed tooling along snapping photos, oohing and ahhing over the sites, drinking sodas that were purchased at the boat launch, and sharing a chocolate.

After this delightful part of the afternoon we finally made our way to Charles Bridge.

It is that characteristic place in Prague that you simply cannot help but adore. Yet, the tourist gimmicks abound and do put a small damper on those of us old enough to know these traps. To the children, of course, it was an array of treasures and trinkets which mesmerized them even more.

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A little history, for those who are interested... The Charles Bridge began construction in the 1300's under the ruler King Charles IV. This King is an important figure in Czech History and many important parts of the city bear his name. (i.e.Charles University) He was the second King of Bohemia and also became the Holy Roman Emperor. Prague was always his city, though, never Rome, and he did much to begin the legacy for this city as a place of intellectual and cultural importance. This bridge connects the Prague castle and what is called "Old Town".

There are many enormous statues that stand on both sides of the bridge. This one all my Waldorf friends will quickly recognize... St. Christopher depicted, as he often is, with the Christ child on his shoulder.

There is also a statue of the crucifix which is vivid and dramatic. We had a moment here at this statue of Christ on the Cross as we stood on the bridge where both of my (non-Catholic, obviously) children stood awestruck and horrified. Slowly I realized that, somehow... someway... they had not ever seen this image before. Yes, they were aware of the image of the cross, but never of the crucifixion. They have heard the story of Good Friday and Easter... and yet having never seen this vivid visual portrayal, they clearly had not ever taken in the... awfulness of what it means that Christ was crucified. Tears filled Ava's eyes and she asked loudly and lustily with a mixture of anger and sadness, "Who did that to him?"  I was filled with mixed emotions. I was filled with shame, to be honest.  Shame that I have neglected their spiritual upbringing, I suppose. I was struck with the familiar worry that I have neglected large parts of what should be common knowledge of those of us living on the (at least Western part) of the earth. I was also filled with angst at how to answer the questions that then flooded from them both... did that really happen? Who did it? Why? How could his friends and family let that happen? To both of my children, saying that something happened thousands of years ago means about as much as saying it happened before they were born. I was tired from the days adventures and so were they. On retrospect I lost an opportunity to just stand and bear witness to their moment of devastation here in Central Europe on an ancient bridge built by a King. I suppose if your going to be impacted by such a statue, this is a grand place to do it. I floundered though. I hugged Ava and told them both we would sit and talk over the whole story. The questions persisted along the length of the bridge and you could see that they were both mulling over this new piece of history that had become crystal clear to them suddenly. My words seemed to fail me. So, we stopped at the end of the bridge, regrouped, I promised them more information soon and we began the journey back over the bridge.

By this time we were all mentally and physically exhausted. It was after 7 pm and we still had to find our way to a metro station, then to the train, and finally home.

We got to the metro station and as I stood staring at the image of the red, green, and yellow lines I suddenly became even more exhausted. I could not make out which line we should get on. We stood there as I looked at the underground map studying it-- telling the kids not to speak to me at all for a minute-- in hopes that I would suddenly become clear as to where to go. Finally, I gave up and called my friends. (Oh, how wonderful to have dear friends here!) They told me what line to get on, which place to get off, and said they would pick us up there by car. I resisted at first... I wanted to do it! But one look at my tired hungry children gave me wisdom. "Thank you" I finally relented.

When David walked toward us at the meeting spot I was relieved and filled with gratitude. Everyone needs a friend to rescue them now and then... and this was one of those moments. We had survived our first day in Prague. The history had touched us all deeply and the sites had filled us with awe. We look forward to our next trip to the city.

"Life is partly what we make it, and partly what is made by the friends we choose."
Tennessee Williams