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Grega, Riga was ALWAYS beautiful, but it was always tiny comparably to St. Petersburg.
641,481 VS 5+ million people.
Which should make it even more embarrassing (though I understand that large swaths of the city were built by Russia), also Riga’s metropolitan population (+suburbs) is over a million which makes it comparable in size to cities such as Volgograd, Voronezh, and Nizhny Novgorod.
Russians have always seemed to give things like outward appearances a very low priority. My friend in Belgorod builds a new house and years later he still hasn't bothered to do his yard. It hasn't seen a lawnmower to this day I'm quite sure. I know he's expanded it by adding rooms and resided it but nothing else.
No Russians i know go through the trouble of keeping a carefully manicured lawn year round. It seems to be cultural. They like things wild.
Russians have always seemed to give things like outward appearances a very low priority. My friend in Belgorod builds a new house and years later he still hasn't bothered to do his yard. It hasn't seen a lawnmower to this day I'm quite sure. I know he's expanded it by adding rooms and resided it but nothing else.
No Russians i know go through the trouble of keeping a carefully manicured lawn year round. It seems to be cultural. They like things wild.
I’m not just talking about the lawns, but also the roads, curbs and sidewalks or the lack of them.
Russians have always seemed to give things like outward appearances a very low priority. My friend in Belgorod builds a new house and years later he still hasn't bothered to do his yard. It hasn't seen a lawnmower to this day I'm quite sure. I know he's expanded it by adding rooms and resided it but nothing else.
No Russians i know go through the trouble of keeping a carefully manicured lawn year round. It seems to be cultural. They like things wild.
That's as true in LA as it is in Belgorod. Cultural but not only Russians. Russians LOVE palm trees though.
I’m not just talking about the lawns, but also the roads, curbs and sidewalks or the lack of them.
That seems to be another thing I've noticed about Russian ways. I've seen brand new apartment blocks go up with all the fancy architecture you could wish for but the surrounding lot is a mud hole. It's like they just don't put the finishing touches in the bid. This is not a matter of timing,there were 5 new towers built off Koneva in Belgorod. The first time I saw them they were just finished and the landscaping was non existent as was the drive ways and parking. Several years later when I walked by again the parking and driveways were done but there was still no sidewalks and no lawns the street was thick asphalt ungraded but seemed to be holding up well.
One exception I can think of was a street (Lenin Ave?) in Smolensk. The first time I saw it it was a pig wallow. There were trees at the corners of apartment blocks causing structural problems and the sidewalk macadam had long crumbled. I saw the whole area about 6 years later and it was comparable to anything I would find in the west. Flower gardens in small parks nice white cobble sidewalks, neatly laid curbs and new street lamps. It was the same Kruschovskis just fixed up with new roofs and windows and new roof drains.
I'll be damned if I know how they work. I guess some things are just not deemed worthy of doing by the entities building the places.
That's as true in LA as it is in Belgorod. Cultural but not only Russians. Russians LOVE palm trees though.
Many Russians prefer warmer climes it seems to me. Where are the greatest concentrations of the Russian diaspora? Warmer climates. Russia is not for everyone even if you were born there.
Which should make it even more embarrassing (though I understand that large swaths of the city were built by Russia), also Riga’s metropolitan population (+suburbs) is over a million which makes it comparable in size to cities such as Volgograd, Voronezh, and Nizhny Novgorod.
It does not, because ( interestingly enough, as I've already said,) Riga looked much nicer than most of Russian cities even back in Soviet times, under Russian occupation, when Russians were in charge of it.)) Apparently, to keep things this way "felt right" to them.
You need to understand, that Russian culture deep in its core is NOT about "things material," like most of the Protestant countries, where people take pride in their immediate surroundings.
Even if you'll put aside the signs of desperation that poverty often brings, or the historically-endless thieving of the government officials that often do not upkeep public places ( in provincial cities in particular,) still, even the Russians of means DO NOT put as much effort ( and pride) in their immediate surroundings, as Protestants do. And particularly when it comes to "middle" class ( or rather what's known in Russia as "intelligentsia.")
Reading a book, or having an intellectual discussion with friends till midnight will ALWAYS take priority over the tidying up the yard or mowing the proverbial lawn. And then, again Russians DO like things on a "wilder" side of it, more than it would be accepted in Western countries.
I am thinking now - my grandparents were very enthusiastic about their summer house, - the orchard and garden was their hobby. And although my grand-father was taking pride in having his house freshly painted, and both were spending a lot of time taking care of the yard, STILL, the whole arrangement was on a much wilder side than I saw in American yards here. The overgrown trees, berry bushes here and there, with the cracked stone-laid paths in between, and a great array of blossoming flowers in the mix - it was a different kind of understanding beauty, the feeling of being much closer to the nature as it is.
So yes, Russians arrive in European countries, admire the orderliness and cleanliness of their cities, ( sighing "why can't we have something like this,") then return home, and go back to their old ways.
And quite honestly, I think they like it better this way after all.
I mean the freshly-painted and "organized" Russia wouldn't feel right.
The way it is, it always leaves the feeling of something "unfinished" - unfinished thought, unfinished idea. The ever- perpetual movement.
That's how I've started seeing it with time.
Many Russians prefer warmer climes it seems to me. Where are the greatest concentrations of the Russian diaspora? Warmer climates. Russia is not for everyone even if you were born there.
I prefer mountains, fields of snow and pine forests than a stifeling hot beach no matter what though.
True. I remember seeing them all over the place in Cyprus and Thailand. The city of Pattaya is known for having quite a large community.
It does not, because ( interestingly enough, as I've already said,) Riga looked much nicer than most of Russian cities even back in Soviet times, under Russian occupation, when Russians were in charge of it.)) Apparently, to keep things this way "felt right" to them.
You need to understand, that Russian culture deep in its core is NOT about "things material," like most of the Protestant countries, where people take pride in their immediate surroundings.
Even if you'll put aside the signs of desperation that poverty often brings, or the historically-endless thieving of the government officials that often do not upkeep public places ( in provincial cities in particular,) still, even the Russians of means DO NOT put as much effort ( and pride) in their immediate surroundings, as Protestants do. And particularly when it comes to "middle" class ( or rather what's known in Russia as "intelligentsia.")
Reading a book, or having an intellectual discussion with friends till midnight will ALWAYS take priority over the tidying up the yard or mowing the proverbial lawn. And then, again Russians DO like things on a "wilder" side of it, more than it would be accepted in Western countries.
I am thinking now - my grandparents were very enthusiastic about their summer house, - the orchard and garden was their hobby. And although my grand-father was taking pride in having his house freshly painted, and both were spending a lot of time taking care of the yard, STILL, the whole arrangement was on a much wilder side than I saw in American yards here. The overgrown trees, berry bushes here and there, with the cracked stone-laid paths in between, and a great array of blossoming flowers in the mix - it was a different kind of understanding beauty, the feeling of being much closer to the nature as it is.
So yes, Russians arrive in European countries, admire the orderliness and cleanliness of their cities, ( sighing "why can't we have something like this,") then return home, and go back to their old ways.
And quite honestly, I think they like it better this way after all.
I mean the freshly-painted and "organized" Russia wouldn't feel right.
The way it is, it always leaves the feeling of something "unfinished" - unfinished thought, unfinished idea. The ever- perpetual movement.
That's how I've started seeing it with time.
T-34s produced in WWII were not polished coming off the production lines whereas German inspectors up until 1943 wouldn't allow a MK IV Panzer out of the factory until all of the welds were cleaned up. Common sense should tell you they're war machines and really, they aren't pretty to behold nor should they be. My friend Sergey has one good reason for not doing his yard. He likes rabbit. All he has to do some mornings is put his high powered air rifle out his kitchen window and shoot a hare in the head and he has rabbit for dinner. If he mows the lawn the rabbits will not come and he will have to hunt them elsewhere.
Which makes better sense?
I myself look at some of the places we live in and wonder what is the point in the effort to pretty up everything especially when it simply drives costs up. When you go to the supermarket how much of the cost of the food you walk out of the store with is associated with fancy packaging and advertising? How much of the cost in your rent is paying for landscaping? Do you really need it?
Russians just seem to have other priorities in life. Economy of effort is very high on the lists of societies that have experienced hardship and or live in places with adverse environments. You don't waste effort on things which will give you little or no gain in your daily struggles. You have a smaller set of sharply defined priorities and waste of effort is not a good thing.
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)) Apparently, to keep things this way "felt right" to them. 
