The Metro

The metro has become my new bff in Prague.  Honestly, I didn’t use it that much the last time I lived here.  The main reason being that we did not really venture that far from where we lived, or school, or where we went out.  Which speaks to the awesome location of dorms, but also a lack of an adventurous spirit.  So, we pretty much walked everywhere.  These days I still do a lot of walking, but the public transportation here is CRUCIAL.  Especially when you start out living in a dorm waaay out in the boonies.  I also think I hesitated to use the public transportation a lot before because I was afraid I would get lost.  What a weenie.  It’s not hard at all!  And I’d like to think that I have now mastered it.

 

Metro Map

Now I have been on the metro/subway/tube in other big cities and I can say I have never encountered something quite like the escalators in the Prague metro.  These are very steep and fast moving escalators, and I used to be deathly afraid of them.  Maybe yet another reason I didn’t use the metro a lot back in 2005.  My friend has told me that Kiev’s escalators are much longer and steeper, but I have never been to Kiev, so I couldn’t say.  I did hear that actually the metro was built so far underground as to act as a bomb shelter, if we ever got to nuclear war. I once saw a grown man hesitate to step onto the down escalator so many times that he eventually had to back off to let other people on.  It was, in a word, hilarious. And also I think demonstrates that it is scary to people who might not be used to it.  But I have to say, practice makes perfect.  Most people (the scardy-cats) stand to the right holding onto the railing as they are going down, or up, so people in a hurry can walk right past them.  I used to think, who are these people running past me so fast?? Do they have some sort of death wish?? Well, I wonder no more, my friends.  I can now zip zip bop past those slow pokes with the best of them!

I had a long ride into the center from Hostivar when I lived in the dorms, and still a fairly long ride out to school, so I usually listen to my ipod on the metro or tram, along with the all the other young people.  It used to irk me that so many people always had their headphones in over here, but now I find it somewhat necessary, especially on public transportation.  It is a great distraction from the many things you see on the metro that you don’t want to: kids making out, homeless people trying to talk to you, drunkards trying to talk to you, etc.  My fave albums to listen to so far have been The Clash’s London Calling and Jay-Z’s the Blueprint 3.

Ahh, to me, this album is perfection.  Great music to really get you and keep you pumped up.  Perfect soundtrack for walking down the street or through the crowded metro stations.  Must listen to’s: Jimmy Jazz and Spanish Bombs.

Definitely not as good as the original Blueprint, but dang, I was impressed!  I really wasn’t expecting that much from Jay-Z this time, but to me, he really delivered.  Must listen to’s: Empire State of Mind and Off That

 

 

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~ by prahakatie on October 30, 2009.