I have run into some museums, etc that charge an extra fee for taking pictures. That's right-an extra fee for using my own camera and taking pictures. That strikes me as ridiculous. Taking pictures with my own camera doesn't tax a museum's resources in any any (such as walking on the floors, using the bathroom etc)-so why I should I be charged a price above and beyond the price of admission?
In any case, I haven't paid that fee, although I have taken pictures in places where the fee was insisted upon (and I refused to pay), but today was a first. I was taking pictures outside the Moldova Museum of National History, a beautiful Greek-Roman style building, and a 60ish-looking woman walked out to ask for 15 lei (about $.75) to take pictures. Actually she insisted on it. How could I be asked to pay a fee when I was outside? Look at the picture above (with the woman approaching me). Does it look like I am inside the museum? I insisted on not paying the fee, as the sky above me and the cold air touching my face gave me the realization I was not inside the museum. I started to get angry. Like most in Chisinau, she didn't speak much English, but eventually she capitulated.
