Through the city of Prague flows the Vltava River. Prague is know as the city with a hundred towers but could also be called city of a hundred bridges, according to Prague.net. There are over three hundred bridges within the city. As you cross some of the main bridges, you often can see a fantastic view of Prague, including but not limited to the castle, the dancing house, and ornate spires and towers. But, take a step lower and the views and experience from the river Vltava itself can be unmatched.
One experience I took part in was a paddleboard tour on the Vltava. Our group began the trip at the Yacht Club CERE where we met up with our guide, Ondra. He is a student studying at the Technical University here in Prague for engineering, but he enjoys spending time outdoors and guided us as we learned the basics of paddleboarding. On the tour, Ondra led us in keeping our balance and steering the board but we were also able to enjoy discussions with him exploring Czech culture, perceptions, and sharing about our own experiences and culture. We learned that he is from a small town about an hour from Prague but recently moved here to go to university. Genevieve discussed with Ondra about her cultural theme which is focused around physical activity in Prague. Ondra informed us that about half the people he knows enjoy spending time outdoors, working out, and staying active while the other half enjoy spending most of their time sitting around and drinking beer. We talked with Ondra about the name change of his country from Czech Republic to Czechia. He said he hadn't realized there was a name change until a few years ago when he was backpacking in Norway and was meeting with some locals and trying to describe where he was from. He told them the Czech Republic but they didn't quite understand until someone stated "Oh, you mean Czechia?" On a previous tour I had taken, the guide did not like the name change but she was also a bit older whereas Ondra seemed to accept it as the name of his country without any disagreement. Another discussion we had with Ondra was about stereotypes. It was interesting because there is a very similar word in Czech so he knew exactly what we were talking about. He informed us that the stereotype of Americans is often that they are fat and lazy but we were surprised that their was no stereotype of Americans being loud. He also told us that it is believed that the United States and Russia are getting very friendly. It was fascinating to learn about Czech perceptions of others as well as to have insight into certain norms of the Czech people. The views from the river were also beautiful. It was a great chance to see the Dancing House from a different angle and the Castle from below with the river Vltava in the immediate foreground. The experience is listed on AirBnB and I loved getting the chance to have discussions with Ondra with Prague as our background.
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