The Most Amazing Moskva Metro

Moscow has just about the most amazing and largest metro system in the world and you believe it when you use it. Besides the fact that there are over 11 lines with stops being created all the time, and the fact that 8 million people use the metro everyday in Moscow, and that it connects the center of Moscow to the far reaches of the city boundaries (traveling about an hour or more to the end of each line from the center)… All that, and Moscow’s metro is incredibly decorated too! Statues of Lenin, other leaders, great writers and poets, etc. decorate the halls of various metro stops. Mosaics of Russian victories, the communist people and important symbols decorate the halls and ceilings of the metro stations. Gorgeous carvings of the same also line the walls and ceilings. Great history lessons could be taught by bringing students on field trips to these stops! I feel I learned something about the Russians or their past every time I traveled through those halls. I loved looking up and also seeing the beautiful chandeliers hang from the ceilings of many metro stops.

Living in Moscow this past month has really made me re-think transportation in the US! Not only is the metro an atleeshna (excellent) way to travel, but when you walk outside, you have available any form of transportation you’d like to your next destination; there are mashrutkas, buses, electric buses, taxis and of course, walking!

When people travel outside of Moscow, as I have done several times now, they choose one of the many types of trains for travel. I’ve taken the night train a few times and let me tell you, we seriously need to invest in something like that in the US! You turn your bench into a bed and rest while you get to your next destination…and it doesn’t cost too much either! I loved it. You can also meet all kinds of people while traveling on the train...and maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll even sing few songs with them too.