riding the metro

in moscow, the metro stations are really beautiful. but that's not what i want to blog about.

there are roughly 10-12 million people living in the city, and with the suburbs it's around 12-15 million people. of course no one knows the exact figure because of the "illegals" or other people not officially registered as residents of the greater moscow area.

the moscow metro has a daily user rate of 9 million people, as they say. according to lonely planet, that is more than the new york and london underground taken together. interesting, eh.

now can you imagine how many people are whirling around in these underground passages every single day?!

the mornings are something of the worst. streams of thousands and thousands of people. literally. so when you are unlucky and you have one of them really busy stations on your way to work, oh boy... no way to avoid getting physical...

when i arrived to moscow and started using the metro, all i wanted to do once i finally got home in the evenings was to take off all my clothes and check my entire body and count all the new bruises i got that day from riding the metro. no joke.

i mean, if you are people-phobic, don't ever come to moscow. but even if you're not, be ready for some heavy body contact. you will be touched, shoved, hit, pushed, run down and over.

the best part is always when the doors open and you are trying to get in. there is so much pushing and shoving and elbowing and racing to the seats! sometimes it can be a challenge trying to get out of the waggon when everyone else is trying to get in and get that one free seat on the bench...

my advice? get some good shoes, put on a really grim look on your face, stick out your elbows and dive head-forward into the masses with an attitude that this is war!

the only way for physical survival...