Thursday, January 3, 2013

Can't wait to ride around in that Mondeo!

The subway system in Saint Petersburg, is frightening. I keep reminding Peter that I have never seen a subway before. I have seen a MAX and a BART, but I Think those are pokey little puppies compared to the Subway system.
First you have to stand in line to get a token, Peter or his mother usually do this for me because I am American and can't say ahdeen (1) well enough to get by on my own. 2) NO PICTURES, means no pictures. See that cop there, and those 500 cameras there, that means no pictures. Also would you or your bag like a periodical pat down prior to passing through the token turn style. Good, hold still. 3) Escalators of doom. They go pretty deep, and they are scary. Peter and his mother have said that they will occasionally stop while people are riding them, and people are always riding them, and they will go flying. Sometimes you take two sets of escalators to get down to the tunnel. Open tunnel or closed tunnel, depends on whether or not there has been a large amount of suicides. Many times the tunnel looks similar to the MAX, only more people. Other times it resembles an elevator, large doors that only open when the train stops.
Train design, they look like they are from the 60's honestly. Maybe you in one from the 60's maybe one from the 90s. The design works so there is no need to improve. Handicapped and trying to ride a subway tough luck.
You know how awesome/fast or whatever you say about BART or MAX, nope not really. The SPB subway jerks very quickly stops very quickly and doesn't stop as frequently as MAX. (This is my number 1 complaint about MAX it pokes around, and it stops every 30 seconds. Sometimes you just need to get to Interstate Kaiser, or the airport. Or from Hillsboro to PSU, but not with the MAX that will take hours! It's Oregon!)
The subway stops running for about 4 hours in the early morning for passengers and switches to a cargo type system. What are they carrying and why, not sure yet.
Also today, we made it to the classy cemetery. Which as you know, I hate cemeteries. We then went around  to the metro the long way. It was huge, and people were praying in the small church. Peter was uncertain as to why they were lined up. The cemetery was located next to where he had stayed for a while when he lived in Saint Petersburg, apparently the neighborhood is very nice in the spring/summer. As for now though everything feels muck and barren from the snow.
This is the entrance to one of the subways, sorry no pictures inside. 

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