Buildings, always buildings.
What's the matter with you ? You hate people ? Where are the babes ? We would like you to justify you expense account and report on this angle too.
Yes, it is easy to forget the immense progress liberty has made in so many places when you go "close focus" on the decaying situation in Britain and the US, where people are sleepwalking into post-modern caring sharing police states.
And to second Jacob, Latvia is famous for... babes! Show us some of the post-Communist babes :-D
So, the Germans watch CNN in English, but that choice isn't made in Riga...
The Latvians had the equivalent of Pravda for so long that they recognize professional-grade bias when they see it. It feels so good to ignore it.
Although Latvia did not do so well as Estonia it still made good progress in the direction of liberty after freeing itself from the Soviet Union.
It is sad that the Baltic nations joined the European Union (which, of course, means that such progress towards liberty will to some extent go into reverse), but even if one leaves aside the seduction of local politicians and other elites (promises of money, position, "influence" and so on), it was perhaps inevitable.
Whereas it is N.A.T.O., not the E.U., that offers protection from Mr Putin the Baltic governments grasped at anything that might offer them additional protection - hence the E.U.
Of course it is fantasy (as the E.U. would not help if the Baltic nations were invaded), but it is an understanable fantasy.
Half the point of the Baltic states joining the EU was that it's not something Russia wants. Actually, that was more like 75% of the point. They can't quite join NAFTA, but they'd probably like to if they could. And if there were a Commission on Reflecting on How Awesome it is that Russian Can't Tell Us What to Do at the UN, they'd be charter members.
Out of curiosity, were most things in Latvian or in Russian on TV? I see you were watching Вести (which is what we watched that at my university's language lounge, during the times that they'd set aside for Russian TV -- usually right after weird Chinese soap operas,) which is produced in Russia; once upon a time (like when I was in high school,) the use of Russian in daily life and the treatment of Russians living in the Baltics was, well, controversial. One of my papers in college involved research into linguistically-motivated beatings in, I think, Estonia. And my teachers told me I'd be better off learning Lithuanian than Russian if I wanted to go to Lithuania, because no one would speak to me in Russian even though they knew how.
Of course it is fantasy (as the E.U. would not help if the Baltic nations were invaded), but it is an understanable fantasy.
I think NATO would not help either. Membership in NATO is more of a symbolic gesture, but maybe symbolism matters too...
Sarah: The TV in my room in my (comfortable but inexpensive and about a mile from the centre of town) hotel has mainly local channels. The programming there seems to be mostly in Latvian, with one English news channel. (BBC). It is when I go to places with satellite channels that I am seeing Russian. Whether the reason that I am seeing Russian is that people here speak more Russian than English, or it is cheaper to get Russian channels, or the satellites are better located, I don't know.
Linguistically, in the centre of Riga I am hearing mostly Latvian spoken. There are plenty of people who are ethnically Russian from their appearance, but there are a minority and, as I said, Latvian seems to be the main thing spoken. (I can't actually identify Latvian, but it is not Russian being spoken). I went to the central market this afternoon, and heard a lot more Russian there than in the streets. And then I randomly rode a tram to the end of the line, and got off in an area containing Soviet era housing. I went into a shopping centre there and I heard nothing but Russian.
Just observations, but not enough of them to draw much in the way of conclusions.
Did you get to see the barricades memorials?
If it weren't September, I'd suggest going to Jūrmala, the seaside resort not far from Rīga. Pretty little town, although I wonder how much it's changed since I was there in 1992.
Heartily seconded from Kiev, Ukraine, where I'm on vacation at the moment. This place is still finding its way, and has not progressed as far as the Baltic states, but it's already changed beyond recognition; looking around me, I can hardly imagine this city having been part of the dreary USSR. It's opening up to the world, too -- as an American I didn't even need a visa to come here.
And I can assure you that the ladies here are very easy on the eyes as well -- unfortunately I'm not equipped to upload photos from here.
What a tragedy that Putin's regime is leading Russia itself back into the paranoia and isolation of the bad old days.
I haven't been in Latvia but from my understanding, Russian is the most widely used language (that is Russian and Latvian are about equal in terms of native speakers but more people know Russian as a second language than Latvian).
A few years ago a colleague spent some time in Latvia specifically to learn Latvian and one problem she had was that people switched to Russian at the first sign of communication difficulty (and her Slavic accent meant that she couldn't easily pretend she didn't understand Russian).
What a tragedy that Putin's regime is leading Russia itself back into the paranoia and isolation of the bad old days.
The 90s?
Not "paranoia" - Putin does not actually believe all the nonsense his regime puts out to the people about Western plots.
And sadly not "isolation".
Putin has lots of friends - China, radical Islamic nutters (in spite of his killing of many Muslims), radical nutters in Latin America (and so on and so on).
It is is the West that is isolated.
On a positive note, it is possible that Croatia (which contains several places as attractive as Riga in Latvia) may avoid rule by the European Union.
The election in a little while may well decide the matter.