Subterranean!

I have heard a few mysterious rumors from the locals about them, and I have read just a few snippets of information on them, but in general very little information is available on the myriad of catacombs beneath Vladivostok. This vast maze of tunnels, closed off from the rest of the world, is a back up city underneath another city. Its purpose - a complete refuge for all of Vladivostok's residents, in case of a nuclear strike. Driving around town, I would often think that under the very road I was on, there might be a couple of bomb shelters connected by the odd cramped tunnel. However nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see! Digger day started normally enough. Cold at -15, but the blue skies left me excited and optimistic at the thought that finally I was to explore the unknown. A student of mine, Valera, sent through a text, " Nic, are you ready? We'll meet at the Lazor Monument at 16:20. Please bring torch, water-proof boots, camera and passport. My reply, "Valera, why my passport?" His follow up, "Just in case." What did "just in case" mean? I knew that these tunnels were off limits to the public, but was there a real risk of trouble. The last thing I needed was to get caught up in some international espionage scandal. I can see the headline now "Aussie teacher/spy caught snooping in secret Russian tunnels." Well, international scandal or not, I was committed. I was going underground! And I was also late to pick up my fellow colleague Serge and rendezvous at the monument with Valera and the rest of the diggers. Vladivostok's Diggers are a group of young adventures, who risk being strung up by the authorities, in the pursuit to explore, photograph and document Vlad's subterranean twin. I just happened to teach one of their newest recruits in Valera and luckily was offered this unique opportunity. As a matter of fact, I felt very fortunate and strangely like a modern day Indiana Unsworth-Jones.
And so there we were, group of 3 Diggers, Serge and I trudging up a little side-street right in the heart of Vladivostok. "The entrance is just over here," Valera panted as he pointed to some thick undergrowth just off the side-street. I was a little skeptical, and couldn't see any resemblance of a door and we were right out in the open where all of us could be seen. So much for that romantic ideal of a secret, hidden away from the rest of the world. "Quick get under here", one of the Diggers whispered. "We can't be seen anywhere near this spot!"
Under the thick scrub we scampered and low and behold there it was. One enormous steel door! It was nothing like I had imagined. Its sheer size and thickness was imposing. Valera had mentioned that one of the Diggers had a key and so I envisaged maybe a large padlock or something resembling a lock. No such chance, this was literally a wall of steel with a strange partial hole in its centre. Nothing like a keyhole. Getting in all of a sudden locked highly unlikely. Hang on what's this, from out of one of the Digger's bags emerged a meter long metal crow bar like stick complete with a turning handle. Aaha so there was a key! Although, it wasn't as simple as putting the stick in the hole and turning it around. The Digger operating the enormous "key" turned and turned the key as if cracking a safe and after a few minutes simply stopped and announced that's it! The door of course didn't just pop open as it would in the movies; it took three of us, using all our strength, to pry the heavy beast open. Out came the heavy duty flash lights and into the pitch black of the tunnel we entered.