That's right, I am a criminal in the eyes of the Prague Metro. They just don't know about my crime.
Today I was going to visit the Jewish quarter, but to the shame of my ancestors I was unaware that today is a Jewish holiday and everything was closed. Instead I took the metro out to a far less tourist populated spot called Vysehrad. The metro in new towns is always intimidating because I never know what type of ticket to buy, but fortunately there were English directions. I bought my ticket and enjoyed the morning at Vysehrad.
After eating goulash soup and bread for lunch (people on Adkins would not do well in Prague), I went to the metro stop. Unfortunately there were no ticket stands! I hadn't thought ahead to buy my return ticket. In Hungary I saw this all the time at less busy stations and wondered what the controllers did with people who had no ticket and no way of buying one. I decided to risk it, I'd noticed no controllers on my way out to Vysehrad.
The metro stopped at the station I planned to transfer at, but I decided (out of terrible guilt) that I could walk the rest of the way back to my hostel. I went to exit the metro station and there were controllers checking tickets as people left!!! So I now write to you from a Prague prison. haha, just joking. I sidestepped the controllers by going over to a map on the wall and when I saw in the reflection that they were preoccupied I made my escape. In other countries, I've heard the fine can be really steep (see blog on Bern, Switzerland) and I know that controllers are not always willing to listen.
I don't think the Prague Metro is going to miss the 18 Czech Crowns ($1 US).
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2 comments:
Oh my goodness, a double-whammy. Not only did you cheat the metro, you did it on Shavous, the Jewish celebration of the giving of the law!
Good thing I lost the number to my secret contact in the Prague Army... ;)
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