Playgrounds Save Prague Vacation

We knew when we decided to take our young twins on a trip to Eastern Europe that we weren't going to be able to see many museums or eat in fancy restaurants. Our eighteen plus months of being parents had taught us there were limitations to what could be accomplished when traveling with children. But we desperately needed a change of location so we chose Prague and Budapest, fascinating "first-world" cities with the added allure of a communist past, for our two-week trip.

At the Park in Prague

Our first full day in Prague, we joined a paid walking tour of the Jewish area of the city. Unfortunately, both kids were rather restless so we left the tour early and headed to a playground we had noticed near our hotel. We found it pretty interesting to watch Czech parents interact with their kids, noticing similarities and differences to American parenting customs.

Swinging in Prague

The next day, we decided to get the playground out of the way first thing. This was a very wise move -- after playing for an hour on the bare, communist-issued equipment (swings, see saw, and slides), the kids were happy but tired, so we were able to successfully see some sights while they napped in their stroller.


We followed a similar routine for the rest of the vacation--visit the playground right after breakfast and enjoy a couple of stress-free hours seeing adult-oriented sights.

Budapest's Statue Park

After lunch, we usually chose family-oriented attractions such as the Budapest Zoo. We made sure to let the kids run around the many pedestrian plazas we encountered and we welcomed opportunities for spontaneous fun. One of our happiest times was when we let the kids splash in their diapers on the banks of the Danube River. They got filthy, but both had a terrific time and we got some great memories.

We had no illusions that our children would remember the haunting beauty of Prague's Charles Street Bridge at twilight or the impact of visiting communist era relics in Budapest's Statue Park, but our kids definitely benefited from 10 happy days with mom and dad, uninterrupted by the distractions of home.