Our Family Travel Blog #21

On the morning of our second day in the Czech Republic, I woke up early and went out for a walk alone, leaving my daughters at the hotel. The sky was overcast.

I had actually been planning to take the subway somewhere and enjoy a cup of coffee, but then my eldest daughter called, and I had to hurry back.

That day was shaping up to be a busy one. I was scheduled to meet each of two Czech friends separately in the morning, and in the afternoon, friends were coming all the way from Hungary and Slovakia to see me.
In fact, it took quite a bit of effort just to arrange where and when to meet everyone in a single day. I had also wanted to see two people who had taught me Czech in Tokyo, but that proved impossible, so I didn’t get in touch with them.

Amid all this, figuring out how to respond to my eldest daughter’s wish to “go somewhere” became the main challenge of the day.

チェコ二日目の朝。私は一人、早起きして娘たちをホテルに残し、散歩に出かけた。空はどんよりとしていた。
本当はこのまま地下鉄に乗って、どこかでコーヒーでも飲もうと企んでいた。ところが、長女から電話が入り、急いで戻ることになった。
この日は、午前中にチェコ人の友人二人と会い、午後にはハンガリーとスロバキアからわざわざ来てくれる友人たちとも会う予定で、忙しい一日になりそうだった。というか、たった一日でどこでいつ会うか予定を組むのに一苦労した。東京でチェコ語を教えてくれた二人の人にも会いたかったが、さすがに無理でコンタクトをとらなかった。

そんな中で、長女の「行きたい」という願いにどう応えてあげるかが、この日の課題でもあった。