Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Travel
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 07-02-2012, 06:37 AM
 
57 posts, read 147,615 times
Reputation: 28

Advertisements

Please forgive cross-posting -- I'm not sure what forum here is best for this question.

I'm an American currently vacationing in Moscow, and I'll be here for the next week. I read Russian a bit (the alphabet is no problem), I can speak the basic "survival" phrases, but I am absolutely terrible at HEARING the language. When I hear people speak Russian, the words go too fast, and I know too few of them anyway, and 98% of it goes over my head.

I've been doing ok with the basics so far, but I am nervous about taking the Metro.

Could anyone describe the process to me? For my destination, I will only need to use the green line, and it looks like I can pick that up at the Tverskaya station. I just need to buy two tickets, right? One out and one in? It sounds like all tickets cost the same, so can I really get away with going to the ticket window, saying "Dva," and handing over my (28 x 2) rubles?

I've looked at a couple of websites, and they make it sound very simple...but I'm nervous because, embarrassingly, I've gotten a bit lost in the NYC subway stations, and I'm good with English. :-)

If anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 07-02-2012, 09:05 PM
 
Location: Maryland
1,534 posts, read 4,255,030 times
Reputation: 2326
I'd call the US embassy and ask. I'm quite sure they can provide any necessary information and advice you need.
PS - enjoy the most beautiful subway in the world (in my experience). The stations are literally works of art!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-02-2012, 10:22 PM
 
Location: NH Lakes Region
407 posts, read 1,556,414 times
Reputation: 539
That is pretty much right... go up to the ticket window, tell them how many tickets you want, and plunk your money down. You can pick up a really good pocket-sized metro map in case you get adventurous. You may get lucky and find someone that speaks English (more likely now than years ago) if you run into problems. My advice, if you are going to be taking more than the one trip is to pick up a couple extra and maybe explore a little if you have time (will save you the stress, in case you have to take another ride!!!) ... as the prior poster said, enjoy the ride. The ring line especially is a work of art. They actually have metro tours which are well worth it.

Just like most other metro systems, each line has a color and the name of the station at the end of the line in the direction you are going. If you're staying on the one line, it should be easy. The only confusing part can be when you arrive at your station.... if the station has more that one entrance/exit, if you know which street you want to come out on in advance it will help you find the correct exit (I think the signs will tell you which street the exit will lead you to.) If you are staying at a hotel, talk to the front desk and they can probably help you out.

Enjoy!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-02-2012, 11:23 PM
 
57 posts, read 147,615 times
Reputation: 28
Spasiba to both of you. I am going to try it today! (It's almost 10am, and I think it's late enough that rush hour should be over)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-02-2012, 11:48 PM
 
943 posts, read 1,839,663 times
Reputation: 618
come back safe and tell us about your trip I am going next year..... what to hear all about your trip.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-03-2012, 10:21 PM
 
57 posts, read 147,615 times
Reputation: 28
I will! My metro adventure was very easy yesterday. Snafu's instructions were right on the money. Thanks!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-04-2012, 07:29 AM
 
Location: Maryland
1,534 posts, read 4,255,030 times
Reputation: 2326
Quote:
Originally Posted by =Lavender= View Post
come back safe and tell us about your trip I am going next year..... what to hear all about your trip.


There is a strong possibility that you will be enchanted with Russia on your pending trip, we definitely were.
We did a 2010 Moscow to St. Petersburg river cruise and fell in love with the country. We'll definitely be going back.

A useful tip - if you carry any US dollars for exchange, be absolutely sure that the bills are as new as possible and have NO marks on them, otherwise the exchange businesses will not take them in Russia. We ask our local bank branch manager (who is a friend) to put aside newer, unmarked bills for us prior to our trip, made the exchange process painless.

Some folks on our tour got jammed with non-acceptable US currency. $50s or $100s get much more scrutiny as they are common denominations for counterfeiting, we only took 20s and had no problems. While I wouldn't advocate carrying a lot of cash on any trip, we always take a few thousand just in case, sometimes available cash machines don't work for whatever reason and many smaller shops don't take credit cards.

We got the tip from a friend who had been to Russia in '09 and had a problem with his US dollars being marked up and not exchangeable. Happy travels.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-04-2012, 09:17 AM
 
943 posts, read 1,839,663 times
Reputation: 618
thank you for this info. I am exited about this trip . also looking to add Helsinki to my trip via St. Petersburg.

I am flying from the states to Paris for a few days then to Moscow ==== Return I am going to leave so far from st. P's to London and stay there for a few. but i love to add helsinki since its close.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-05-2012, 06:54 AM
 
Location: Beautiful Pennsylvania / Dull Germany
2,205 posts, read 3,322,389 times
Reputation: 2148
I love the Moscow Metro, unfortunately the old metro cars are getting more and more rare, whereas in St.Petersburg I had the feeling to get some more older cars.
Don't be afraid - the Moscow Metro is the most efficient transportation system in the world, with trains running every few minutes.

Quote:
can I really get away with going to the ticket window, saying "Dva," and handing over my (28 x 2) rubles?
Thats it. People there don't talk too much. You may want to be careful, if you just say "dva" and put money down for 2 tickets, they may put you 2 tickets on one metro card, which is not good for entering with two persons. If you are travelling alone, that should be no problem.

Be careful when entering the barriers, because the system is a little different to what we are used (put in card -> gate opens). It works like NOT put in card -> gate slams.

I think St. Petersburg Metro is also very nice, but they are still using "schetons", little coins for entering the metro. Just buy your number of "schetons" at the cashier.

Last time I've been to Moscow, the cruel subway bombings happend one day ago (2010), so every station was filled with armed police, military, dogs and whatever elser Putin has in his Muscles. I was very frightened, but beside this, the city and the metro was great.

Be aware that officially taking photos is not allowed in the metro. This may not be enforced, but sometimes a police officer might need some extra money.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-06-2012, 03:13 PM
 
Location: N26.03 W80.11
326 posts, read 948,107 times
Reputation: 329
I see you were able to navigate. I think just riding the Moscow metro and checking out some of the different stations is super fun in itself. Many of them are just unbelievably beautiful. I lived on the outskirts of Moscow in the late 90s and the station where I lived was outside with a market that was kind of smelly even in the dead of winter, but I loved going into the city center just to be in awe of the stations. Oh, and the crazy steep and long escalator rides. Many of the stations were built to be bomb/fallout shelters. The metro was also where I learned to say in Russian "Caution the doors are opening". I still say that to myself anytime I walk through the automatic doors at the grocery!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Travel

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:45 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top