Ruminations upon Sunday September 1, 2024 in Prague, Czechia
Ever since their cousins told them about the “amazing” and “biggest waterpark ever" in Prague, our boys became fixated on going, too. Aquapalace, the largest waterpark in Central Europe, quickly became a required destination during our world tour. We bought tickets on the train to Prague, knowing that we could use them on any day of our choosing over the next several months. Uncertain about what kind of weather we would encounter, Chaim and I decided we would try to go our first Sunday in Prague. This way, we had plenty of time for a rain date should we have needed one. Thankfully, the weather was perfect. Sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky. The temperature was 78 degrees when we arrived and never rose above 84 degrees during the day. Even if it had stormed, most of the rides were indoor slides that would have been fine for our purposes.
The boys were ecstatic and could hardly contain their excitement. They are all decent swimmers and have been able to wander around waterparks like Great Wolf Lodge on their own. Unsurprisingly, they were up and ready first thing in the morning. We ordered an Uber that took us to a hotel forty-five minutes outside the city. Upon entering, I thought there might have been a mistake because there were giant signs welcoming us to Brazil. Turns out, Brazil was the theme in the hotel and the waterpark. We reached the entrance to the waterpark, showed the attendant our tickets and received wristbands like they have at Disney to enter and exit the park, and to purchase items and additional rides. As soon as we passed through the gates there was a young woman selling single use waterproof phone pouches. We thought about it and then decided we were going to focus on making memories more than capturing memories. Politely declining, we moved onto the massive locker room where we stowed our stuff for the day – for a small fee of course. (Now I'm slightly annoyed because I can't find a decent photo for this blog post.)
The boys spotted a lazy river as soon as we entered the waterpark. They jumped right in and then we didn’t see them for a while. The river was a bit deeper than we expected and we fretted a bit over Shai and Matanel. They looked perfectly happy and there were lifeguards, so we pushed our worries away and reminded the boys to watch out for one another. Our children can fight like all siblings do. But man are they protective of one another. They are excellent at watching out for each other. I don’t know how we inculcated such a strong sense of brotherly protection in them. Perhaps it was having only each other during the first COVID year, or that I am constantly subtly and not so subtly messaging to them that they are each other’s best friends, or it’s both of these AND because they are really good kids and have a tendency to watch out for everyone around them. Whatever the reason, we know we can trust that they will watch out for each other, making it easier to leave them to play without us hovering.
Eventually, Chaim and I joined them on the slides only to discover just how risky some of these slides are. As the boys wrote in their pieces, there was a moment when each of them thought he was going to die. Chaim and I had similar experiences. The wildest slide in the park was teeming with people. There was no lifeguard at the top telling us when we could go down, how many of us could go down at once, or if there was a height requirement. For the record, there were no height requirements. Only age requirements that not a single person followed. Well, when in Rome…The twins had already been down Monster Canyon multiple times by the time we realized two of them were too young for the slide by six months. So be it. We joined them on the waterslide and went down all together.
The first part of the slide was no big deal even though I was banging into people left and right. However, the second part of the slide was a completely different story. I found myself being dragged under water for many seconds at a time, popping up for barely a second to gasp in some air and glimpse the boys to see they were still alive, before being dragged back under again. I am 5ft 3in and a fairly solid 135lbs. Our biggest child isn't even half my weight yet. I began questioning how any of my children, or anyone else’s children for that matter, could survive this slide. Additionally, because so many people were on the slide at once we were all banging into each other. The poor adolescent in front of me. I could not keep myself from kicking him in the back every time we rounded a corner. I felt terribly about it, but he didn’t seem to care in the least. We had left America and all of the safety requirements far behind. It was obvious we were not in Kansas anymore. Everyone made it down eventually. Crazy ride accomplished, I determined I never needed to experience that slide again during heavy traffic.
After lunch we took the boys to explore the spa, which boasts multiple saunas and steam rooms at varying temperatures and in local and Finnish styles, ice baths, a pool and a bar. It was a short visit. The rules required that spa patrons wear no clothing. Instead, one could opt to wear a towel, a large white bed sheet that would go see through when it became wet, or naked. Somehow, we managed to raise our kids with a strong sense of modesty (at least in public.) They were shocked to learn that there are people who willingly walk around naked and who will sit in steam rooms and saunas naked, too. The strangest part for me was learning that it was a co-ed space. There were no single gender rooms anywhere in the spa and no age restriction. Just like at the “Penis Museum” we were quick to exit because the boys were very uncomfortable.
I love saunas and steam rooms and was excited about having a chance to visit one during our stay in Prague. Toward the end of our day, I returned to the sauna alone and enjoyed my experience. Of course, I was the awkward American who tried to remain covered the entire time even when I was in the hottest rooms. I tried out every room and enjoyed every moment while doing my best not to look at all of the naked people around me. For the most part, I found it very relaxing. However, my American sensibilities were rattled when I saw completely naked early adolescent girls hanging out in a pool that also had completely nude men. Now I knew we were not in Kansas. An hour later I gifted myself a virgin mojito, which was more like a lime slushy and then returned to the waterpark where Chaim and the boys were gearing up to leave. We exited the park, ordered an Uber, and headed to Pizza Shelanu to ensure the boys had eaten enough that day. Exhausted, we returned home about 8:00PM, showered, and went to sleep.
While we all had an incredible day overall as a family, I cannot ignore the fact that my personal experience was enveloped in a gray cloud. That morning, I had awoken to the devastating and tragic news that six of the Israeli hostages were murdered after 300 days in captivity. As everyone else in the house was waking up and getting ready, it was all I could do to keep myself from breaking down and dragging everyone else down with me. For a moment I wondered if we should cancel our trip to Aquapalace. I think I would have had our children been older and could have appropriately mourned with us. But, I did not think our children would have had the ability to fully grasp why we were changing our plans to mourn fellow Jews whom we did not know personally. I spent much of our time at the park checking the news, grasping for updates and any glimmer of hope. Being so far away from my community, family, or friends was weighing on me. It is during these times that we come together to lean on each other, to sing psalms, to cry, and to share in one another’s grief. These are communal moments that I depend on to remain strong in the face of so much hate. It was hard to be so far away from Kansas.
