“Down Under”, Russian Style.

Many experienced travelers are aware Moscow metros are deeply patriotic, artistically beautiful and quite extensive. But since only one tenth of one percent of all Americans have ever traveled to Moscow, they are unaware of their cleanliness, efficiency, reliability and station depth.

Station Depth you say, what is that? Stalin was among many things, paranoid that his country might be bombed/invaded by the Germans for quite some time. Consequently, as the Russians constructed much of their metro system in the 1930’s, the stations and the rail tracks were placed quite a distance below street level. According to locals, Moscow is also dotted with hills which added to the need for consistency from station to station (Other than Sparrow Hill.)

Just to give you a flavor of “Down Under” Russian style, I filmed one of my many trips down the escalator at a typical metro stop.   The video, about 87 seconds long, takes you about 1,152 Down Under!  On your journey to the metro train you might notice a few interesting things: how long traveling 87 seconds down actually feels; how squeaky clean the surrounding are; and, the peculiar leaning up and down of escalator patrons to avoid slipping backwards.

Oh, by the way, a Metro ride costs about 1/3 of a New York City subway.