A lounge in the remodeled Soviet-era nuclear bunker. Michał Huniewicz/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) This weekend I received a disturbing phone call from Russia.

"I was just in nuclear bunker 18 stories below Moscow," said a man on the line.

"I turned a key, pressed a button, and launched a nuclear strike on New York City. The missiles will hit you any minute."

The man was actually just a relative with a twisted sense of humor, and he was joking — sort of.

He'd just finished a tour of a Cold War museum called "Bunker-42," which included a simulation of a nuclear strike targeting cities in the United States.

Although his attack was a ruse, the Russian nuclear bunker, its equipment, and Cold War history are indeed real.

Here's what it's like inside the Tagansky Protected Command Point: a top-secret Soviet facility designed to survive thermonuclear war that is now a thriving family attraction.