Russian Expedition: Infected????

Groping one's way down a dark, damp tunnel, may not be every one's cup of tea, but for me it felt as if I'd just stepped into the "Delorian" and was heading "Back To The Past". The first few meters were pitch black, however slowly as my eyes adjusted the underground city began to take form. The hallways were well constructed just like any other, except for the ZARAZHENO (INFECTED) sign at the entrance and the ubiquitous Soviet, in case of nuclear strike, action plan posters, plastered wall to wall down each corridor. Eerie to say the least, and what's with the ZARAZHENO sign? Had there been some sort of radiation spill down here? I was assured everything was cool, apart from the fact that I could be thrown into a Russian prison if caught down here. I wasn't sure what sounded better radiation poisoning or Vlad's Turma.

Anyway trepidation aside we continued to stumble our way around splashing light on anything of interest. Old typewriters, crumbling televising sets, rusted irons and various other electronic bits and pieces were scattered throughout the many rooms. Fascinating stuff! Everything left the way it was when the Cold War was at it's peak. The only problem was that the along with the rest of the stuff down there, the floor to was a relic and every now and then you'd here a crack as one of the diggers feet plunged through the floor boards and into the mud. So when one of the guys worked out how to turn the lighting on it was quite a relief. With the lights on one could gain a real appreciation of how this place was constructed. Quite an impressive engineering feat.

Apart from the standard rooms stored with all sorts of nick-knacks, there was a movie theatre, sound studio, various officers, boss's headquarters and residence, water station, library, diesel station....etc...

The temptation to stay down there the night and potter around a few rooms, maybe browse through the library, was a hard to resist. Somehow though, I don't think Nastya would have agreed with me and so after a few hours we surfaced and to our surprise day had turned to night.