Monday, February 21, 2011

The Moscow Metro!



Word to the wise...do not...do not walk through the “out” turn style at a Moscow metro station!  Steve and I were metroing home from a dinner party Saturday night and discovered that, at 12:30 a.m., the metro authorities start to close down certain metro exits, (each station typically has two ways to enter/exit).  We discovered our exit was locked - so we turned around to make our way to the other end of the station.  Since our end of the station was closed, I made the fatal conclusion that  it surely wouldn’t matter which turn style I walk through (the “out” or the “in”).  In the photo below, you can see there is nothing stopping a person from walking through the "out".............so I did............and oh my goodness.............



The dreaded "out"...



Have you ever had your knees simultaneously clocked by a sledgehammer????  The Russians make it very, very clear when they don’t want you to do something...the slats on the sides of the turn style (above) have this device that shoots out in an attempt to fully maim anyone trying to beat the system - or, in our case, trying to find their way to the nearest exit.  A taser may have felt better.  I had to hobble around and walk it off for a minute until I regained consciousness......and......bonus round....I set off the metro alarm in the process.  And that puppy is no tinkling bell either.  Blaring sirens!!  I thought for sure Steve was going to have to bail me out of the slammer...  Alas, we made it home without authoritative incident.

The Moscow metro system is renowned for its incredibly beautiful stations  - they are on the "must see" list for visitors, (more to come in a future blog with details).  The metro carries 8 million people every day (more than the subways in NYC and London combined) and is extremely reliable - a train arrives every 2 minutes, on average.  It truly is the best way to get around town...

Most stations have very long escalators (used as bunkers in war time)

Typical sign in a station - nyet Angliski (English)! 

Another sign showing which lines transfer at which stations...

Kiosks found outside most stations with clothing, pastries, etc...

1 comment:

  1. Ann, What a scary story...I hope your legs are feeling better. The photos are also incredible...it's much cleaner and attractive than London's tube!
    xo, Amy

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