Subway, Metro, Underground, U-Bahn . . .

During my lunch today I found this interesting little photo-article about the World's Most Impressive Subways. Of course, Moscow was represented as numero dos, or should I say "dva?"

For those of you who haven't had the privilege of traveling to the Motherland, I can vouch for both Moscow and St. Petersburg as having overwhelmingly beautiful metros. And I am an expert of metros (okay not really). But I have ridden on the following systems: Madrid, Barcelona, London, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and NYC (in that order)!

What I love about the stations is that each one has a theme and is decorated accordingly. If the stationed in named for a famous writer there will be sculptures of the writer, his prose will be in mosaic on the walls, floors, or ceilings. There might even be paintings depicting scenes from his stories. Another theme is sport; these stations are near stadiums and are a tribute to athleticism and ancient Greece. Regardless of the theme, I've got to agree that "praising the common man" really suits me when I'm cruising around town enjoying the luxury metro stations! They also use escalators (that are insanely steep) so it helps when your are a little worn out at the end of the day or if you want to chat it up with your traveling companion.

Thank you Wikipedia for the following photos of Moscow's stations:

And here are a few from good 'ole St. Pete:

I don't know about you guys, but after seeing these NYC's stations kind of make me want to barf!