My parents asked me what I wanted to do to celebrate graduating from college and without hesitation I told them I wanted to travel to Europe. My best friend and I arrived in Vienna in mid-May and the most freeing trip of my life officially began. The third stop on our trip was to Prague. We traveled by train, which meant lugging our suitcases through a completely foreign city. We got out at the station and via an old school map (and many, many wrong turns) we finally found our hotel and got settled in. While getting ready to explore the city we quickly realized my bank had provided us with the wrong currency; Norwegian krones vs Czech crowns. After a quick panic and stop by the money exchange counter, we were on our way to discovering the most beautiful city I have ever experienced.
Everyone I have talked to about my trip has asked what it was that I loved so much about being in Prague. And the short, unsatisfying answer is that I have no idea. It is the perfect blend of historic and modern, of foreign yet familiar. After one day of wandering around I felt like I knew the city map perfectly. We would spend hours wandering through Castle Prague and seeing the beautiful cathedrals. We went through the educational (yet slightly frightening) Kafka museum. We had nights out in hole in the wall bars and met many friendly locals.
The most beautiful moment we witnessed was on the Charles Bridge. At the end of the bridge we noticed a woman in her wedding dress getting her pictures taken. Her pale skin and red hair complimented her white dress and red roses perfectly. We admired her for a bit then started walking further down the bridge, not wanting to be a nuisance to her photo shoot. We then began hearing violins play and realized we were actually in the middle of this couple’s ceremony. We watched as the bride, in her beautiful gown, walked down the bridge to her fiancée waiting for her by one of the statues. The couple was two women, and I found beauty in the acceptance and love that surrounded them. They moved to many of the statues along the bridge and would have one of their loved ones talk about how the statue was symbolic of this couple. We (and a large group of other tourists) ended up spending over two hours walking with this couple down the bridge in celebration of their love. We cried when they read their vows, and we cheered when they kissed. Their love enveloped everyone on that bridge.
That day makes me think a lot about how I treat different moments in my everyday life. It makes me a little sad to think about all the beautiful experiences that I might have missed due to the rush of life. If it had been a normal day I would have looked at the bride, smiled, and continued on with my day. I would never have been able to be a part of this monumental day in this couples life. I appreciate the lesson Prague taught me about not taking beauty for granted. I was in a beautiful location with my beautiful best friend and because we were able to separate ourselves from the chaos of everyday life, we were able to celebrate the beauty of family and acceptance and love.
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