Charles Bridge, Pedal Boat, Torture Museum

Wednesday, May 1, 2019.  Okay, so for some reason this was one of my (and the kids') favorite days.  Ridgely says it's because although we were busy, it didn't feel busy.  Very relaxed.

Our intent was to head toward Prague Castle via the Charles Bridge.  I knew that the bridge was a destination in and of itself, but I didn't realize how much.  We got there, took tons of pictures, walked up to the top of the tower, bought a CD from a street band, bought an oil painting from the artist of the bridge and petted the dog on one of the plaques.

For anyone familiar with the story of the plaques, yes, we are aware that we will not get good luck.  Although we stood in line for it, we touched the wrong plaque.  We remembered from our research that one was good luck and the other(s) were not.  Since the kids LOVE dogs, they thought that the good luck plaque must have a dog, not a man being thrown off the bridge to his death.  Sounds reasonable, yes - but no.

In simple terms, the story as we understand it is that in either 1383 or 1393, a king saw his queen in confession.  He asked the priest (John), what she said.  John refused to tell and was therefore thrown off the bridge and died.  He is now worshiped for keeping her secret.  The plaque shows John being thrown and the queen watching.  You actually are supposed to get good luck for touching the queen.  Why her?  Yes, my simple story leaves out some important details - e.g., struggles between church and state at the time.

After admiring the 800 year old bridge, we went out to lunch.  We played Top Trump (a Harry Potter game that the kids love), and stopped back at the apartment to put left overs in the fridge and recharge for a few minutes.

On our way to the pedal boats, we saw two muskrats, we think.   So so cute.  A highlight for these kids.

Next, the pedal boat.  We spent an hour going under the bridge and around.  The kids did almost all of the driving.  Relaxing for me!

Finally, the Torture Museum.  Fascinating at first, but quickly got to be a bit much - at which point we left abruptly.  We concluded with yummy ice cream.

A wonderful day.

Locks like these are left on bridges in Berlin too.  

The muskrat.

The kids are taking pictures of the muskrat.

Fish around a woman's feet at a Thai message place.  Strange!

In the Torture Museum.

In a candy store!

Taking a rest.