Cha-ching, Baby

St. Petersburg, Russia

One thing about Russia that occasionally even spoils the fun of being here are the prices. I clearly underestimated the cost of the country. While not quite as expensive as UK or Germany it still eats a nasty hole into my travel budget.
Food is quite pricy while portions are disappointingly small. To give people a fair warning they write the exact weight of every dish on the menu. To get your 300g average portion you can easily spend Western European prices in even simple Кофе's. I've started buying bread and toppings now to save some money on breakfast at least. Hot meals are pancakes (called Блин) and jacket potatoes (called Картошка) - available from small kiosks, cheap and actually quite nice.
Then there are the sights. They really hurt. There are seperate prices for Russians and foreigners - quite officially even. There are two signs stating entry prices. The Russian sign normally features an additional block with low prices that doesn't figure on the English language one. Typically the Russian prices are about one third of the foreigner prices. I hear they are not even allowed to sell Russian tickets to foreigners even if they wanted to. Do foreigners see more or get a service Russians don't get? On the contrary: Many labels and explanations are only in Russian.
Photography also costs extra - sometimes almost as much as the original entry price. Fortunately, it's not always inforced. So, I make it a matter of honour to take pictures where I can to get the most out of my ticket. Ha!
I've actually tried cheating asking for one ticket in Russian. But then they ask something in Russian - probably a filter question - and blow my cover. Nuts! So, the normal price to pay is some 300 rubles, almost 10 Euros! Ouch!
So I'm trying to minimise my entries to the really unmissable ones - one per day. But even taking a piss at a public toilet - a damn port-a-potty - costs 10 rubles! At least they don't charge according to the type of your business ... yet.