Metro Madness

I apologize for not writing much lately. I have a bad case of "senior-itis." I'm not a senior in high school or college, but I am a homeschooler and the Spring time brings promise of projects getting finished, hours of the kids being outside, and simply put; no school.

Officially my husband's contract ends in August. This doesn't mean we're leaving, but we are behaving as if this is our last summer in Moscow. My husband is the master of hair-brained schemes. I have found myself reluctantly following him to the ends of the earth only to discover that the results of his ideas are profound and wonderful. His latest idea---visit and photograph every one of the 185 metro stations in Moscow which span 305km (190mi). The best part about this plan is that a metro ride costs only 28 rubles (about $1) and we ride as long as we want.

So every weekend, we run off for a couple of hours to tour the underground greatness that is the metro. We are struck by the beauty of the stations and also intrigued by the people who use them. They are intrigued by us as well. Standing in a metro station taking pictures tends to draw attention in such a dismal routine.

Last Saturday we left our house at 7am to travel a particular line. We forgot about the Russian holiday the week before and the strange arrangement that it requires of employees. It's like this. If there is a holiday on Tuesday, you get the day off, but you have to work Saturday to make up for it. It begs the question, why have a vacation day at all? What's the difference? Anyway, what we thought would be a leisurely ride turned into a cutthroat, shove-all to get a standing spot inside the moving wagons. As I flexed every muscle in my stomach and legs, I discovered, for the first time, why it is Russian women have such nice legs.

As of today, we have completed 44. To begin, I am posting a picture of the metro map itself so you have an idea of what we're trying to cover.