Jaukas bildes. 
It was early in the morning ... about 9:00 - 12:00Nice pics but where are the people?:dunno:
Latvia before 1914 was like little Germany - ruling class was German, and so were the engineers and architects. Level of development in Latvian cities was comparable to the cities and towns of the same size in Germany. Russian Empire used Latvia as the industrial base, because no one else in the empire had such industrial capabilities as Baltic Germans.So you have 3 cities with trams. Interesting. I've been in all three baltic states in 2005, and then few more times only in Lithuania. So I knew that there are trams in Riga and Tallinn, but because there aren't any tram lines in Vilnius and generally in Lithuania I thought that in baltic states there are no more cities with tram lines (If there isn't any trams in such big and important city as Vilnius or Kaunas, there aren't any trams in other cities).
So I'm really impressed about thatHave you got any maps showing tram routes in Daugavpils and Riga?
Well, ok. Riga looks like German city. But you countryside doesn't look like that at all. And I'm not saying it because of today level of development, because I understand that you need time to renovate everything (on the other hand you are independent country for nearly 20 years. Polish countryside looks far better than Latvian.) but because of it's architecture. Small towns and villages which were shown in some threads here looks really bad because of it's totally chaotic and in most cases just ugly architecture. For example this street is as I think main pedestrian area. Even if everything will be renovated here, it still wouldn't be nothing special (BTW those lamps are tragic).Latvia before 1914 was like little Germany - ruling class was German, and so were the engineers and architects. Level of development in Latvian cities was comparable to the cities and towns of the same size in Germany. Russian Empire used Latvia as the industrial base, because no one else in the empire had such industrial capabilities as Baltic Germans.
On the other hand, Lithuania and Poland* were "mutineer" provinces of Russian Empire that were constantly fighting for independence and punished by the Russians, while Latvia saw unprecedented development. Never since 1914 has Latvia seen so much industry and development in relative terms. I read somewhere, that before WWI there were several hundred (300-400?) apartment buildings built in a year in Riga alone. It's really sad that 90 years later IN RELATIVE TERMS (compared to the rest of the Western world) we are still very much behind what we had before WWI. (Ok, a lot of families have much more than they had then, but back in early 1900s even Sweden or Holland had much more poor people).
Anyway, comparing Latvia in its economical glory days of pre-WWI era to Lithuania or Poland is not really appropriate. I suspect that it's also true about 1920s and 1930s, but unfortunately, sources about that period in Latvian history are full of nationalistic bravado and hard to find hard data on.
*partition that belonged to Russia, that is.
Well, if you don't know something just try to read about itOh, yes, Warsaw built first skyscrapers in Europe, of course![]()
Since when the buildings with 51 metres are skyscrapers?Well, if you don't know something just try to read about ithno:
Yes, first skyscraper in Europe was built in Warsaw. Skyscraper, built in 1904 is 51m tall. It was the first building in Europe built in reinforced concrete, the same technique as using to built skyscrapers. When it was built it was the tallest building in whole Russia and the tallest residential building in Europe. Here you can read about it.