Over this past summer, my family and I traveled to Prague for a 4-day getaway. In this beautiful, mesmerizing city, the one experience that stood out to me was an afternoon spent on the world-renowned Charles Bridge. This cobblestone bridge, teeming with hundreds of people, connected New Prague to Old Prague.
As my family and I stepped outside our hotel on the New Prague side of the bridge, there was a feeling of excitement in the air. We headed towards the bridge, stopping for pictures next to elegant train stations and ancient cathedrals. When we reached the foot of the bridge, I could see people playing in the water inside what looked to be big, plastic bubbles. Immediately, my two brothers and I asked my parents if we could rent the cool-looking bubbles. Grouchy as parents are, they said no at first but after some convincing, we were in the bubbles. As I got inside the bubble, I was knocked over by lady in another bubble. As I tried to regain my balance, I was once again bubble-slammed, this I me it was by my brother. After about an hour of fun in the bubbles, our rental time was up. By the time we got out of the water bubbles, I was starving!
After exchanging our money into Czech currency, I headed onto the bridge, where I could see numerous food carts with hungry mobs of people around them. Since I was a tourist, I had no idea what to eat. As I was walking past the carts to examine the foods, I came across a food cart selling what looked like really long curly fry with cheese on a stick. A really big cheese fry? What could be better than that! With the money I had, I bought two of the delicious-looking cheese fries. As soon as took a bite, I immediately knew I made the right food choice. I quickly gobbled down the fries and headed back to go find my family. As I looked around, I could feel the energy on the bridge. People from all over, from tourists to locals, were enjoying their day out on the bridge. It was truly a beautiful site to see.
The rest of my family found me and we headed towards the center of the bridge, where there seemed to be a gathering of people around something. We made our way into the circle of people to see what they were so intently focused on. I could hear people talking in the center but could not see over everyone to find out what it was. As I squeezed my way into the front, I was shocked to find a large TV playing a soccer game in the center. All these people were here to watch a soccer game! It turns out Czech Republic was in a big soccer tournament and everyone watches soccer here. As my family had no interest in watching the game, we squeezed out of the mob and headed towards Old Town.
Still not even halfway across the bridge, I see another gathering- this time much smaller. I made my way over to find people dancing and laughing. It turns out there was a marriage procession going on. As we joined into the crowd, we witnessed a traditional Czech wedding where it was very colorful and noisy.
This afternoon on the bridge turned out to be the highlight of my family trip to Prague. In a beautiful country, this was an experience I will remember over my lifetime. Hopefully, you will get to make the trip to such a beautiful city also, because out of all the trips I have made with Europe, Prague will always remain in my heart.