You could do some shopping there. I am pretty sure the old soviet-era jokes will be resurrected before long: SHOPPING IN RUSSIA A man walks into a shop. He asks the clerk, “You don’t have any meat?” The clerk says, “No, here we don’t have any fish. The shop that doesn’t have any meat is across the street.”
A man walks into a store and asks "Do you have any food?". The clerk says "Yes". The man says "Wrap me up a couple of pounds."
But that isn't at all what I said. I said the overall y/y GDP in Russia was much better than the EU. Even with the drop you noted.
Another one that I remember is the old soviet joke about "why do Russian police patrol in three's?" Answer: "One to read, one to write, and one to keep his eye on the two intellectuals." Heh. The Commies got no respect. Then again, they did not deserve any.
How exactly is an 8% to 12% drop better than a 2% rise? The drop (and the rise) is, in fact, year to year.
Hermitage is very impressive. It is so huge that you cannot see all in one day. Also try not to get lost as there are doors and rooms everywhere. They have dictaphones in different languages. You should see Peterhof too. It is outside the city and you go by boat. Tickets have two different prices: cheap for Russians and expensive for foreigners. https://www.google.be/maps/place/Pe...6e599636bfc234f!8m2!3d59.8845003!4d29.8851757
https://www.crn.com/news/data-center/hpe-shuts-down-russia-belarus-operations-over-ukraine-war That is going to hurt. Bad (good!). So much of Russian infrastructure, from banks to telecom to advanced medical equipment to power stations rely heavily on HPE.