- I’d like to stay overnight in Prague if possible.
- Of course. That will be 58 euros. Would you prefer sleeping or sitting?
- Sleeping, please.
- Okay. But I can’t sell you a ticket. We are locked out of that part of the system.
- Okay. Sitting, then.
- Sure. With the summer promotion and the in-person discount minus the Wednesday tax, that will be 210 euros.
- Is there anything cheaper?
- Yes, but you’ll have to stay overnight in Prague.
- Fine.
- Here’s your ticket, and your change.
- But I didn’t pay yet.
- It’s okay.
- This ticket expired yesterday.
- Shall I search for a fare for you on a future train to Krakow?
- Can you give me directions to the airport?
Now on the train, it’s so relaxing. It’s like people used to behave in libraries when I was little: people whispering quietly and making tiny excuse-me noises when they brush past one another. Even the border patrol checking passports: although there are three of them, heavily armed and decked out with high-tech gps shortwave hausaufgabekontrollgetriebe, they’re quiet as a mouse and you don’t hear them until their retina scanners have turned your eyeballs into barcodes.
