Deja Vu - New club in Moscow, Russia !

Just curious. Anyone know the conversion rate of rubles to dollars? I was just wondering how expensive those dances were in dollar terms.

1000 Rusian roubles equalls 38.89204 USD as of yesterday.

Thanks IGU. That must be a high priced strip club in Russia to have the same prices as American prices. I bet the girls look good though.

casualguy: Yeah, if they shave their arm pits. You know that I am in the travel business. Trust me, almost everything is more expensive in Europe than here. Booze, hotels, food, gasoline,and even strip clubs. From what I have read in trade magazines and personal accounts from my coworkers, Spain, is about the cheapest you will find. I have been to Europe twice on vacations. Never again. Mexico, central and south America are still on my maybe list.

I would disagree regarding "everything" in europe being expensive. It is true is western europe especially if you stick to the tourist spots. With a little bit of research you can find things at the same price that locals pay. Also some of my best hobbying experiences have been in Eastern Europe - like 2 days with a gorgeous model for less that $900. BTW I travel several times a year to various parts of Europe.

To me, the "everything's expensive" line misses the point, of the difference between buying power (on the one hand) and exchange rates (on the other). When the US dollar's weak, "everything is expensive" wherever you go, Europe or not. When it's strong, "everything is cheap." But for the local people in, for example, London or Prague, the real question is, what percent of an average salary goes to basics; to rent; to a loaf of bread; etc.

I know a lot of people think of Toronto as "an expensive city." But the usual entry-level wage there is $35K, so your normal secretary with a 9-to-5 job that any high-school graduate can competently perform is taking home all sorts of extra, relative to her counterpart in the USA. Then, in Toronto her rent is more, but her health care is less. And so forth.

Europe has generally expensive places, and cheap places. To be a tourist in Europe, since about 1990, has been expensive, by USA's standards, if you're converting US dollars. But the cost of living for an indigenous person there hasn't risen any more than it did in the US over that time period, and in many places it is MUCH less than it is here. Most European citizens, in my experience, get a lot more quality of life for a lot less percent of their "average income" money. That sounds like a great system, to me. Plus, they work less, generally. At least, in the traditional Western portions of Europe, the usual work week is 35 hours, and the mandated vacation days are many more than over here on our side of the pond. We bust our butts, for what? If I were a captain of industry beating the socks off of European competition because I put in more time and effort, I'd be proud of it; but I can't get one of those more-effort-equals-more-reward jobs in the US, generally I get fired if I work harder than my co-workers and make them look bad.

What's different about Europe that I wouldn't want, is the lack of economic opportunity to STAND OUTSIDE the norm. There are plenty of averagely paid farmers, who were the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of farmers. But what if one of them wants to be a pizza maker? In the US, trade mobility is greater, thanks to privatization.

For me, the stilted European system would have been better, since I required childhood training (musical instruments; sports) to foster skills which I demonstrated, but which had to languish untutored for too long, to the point that I wasn't able to use them. Here, we don't have "tracks" for people to accomplish things in. But we DO have an open season for people who want to jump in to something business-oriented.