Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It's a bit unfair to criticize the scenery based on the apartment blocks. Most of the "architecture" in scenic parts of the USA is very ugly. Florida beach towns have 3rd world looking high rises, mountain towns in Tahoe/Colorado have the hideous 1970s ski lodge look, the desert southwest has the golf course McMansion, the Pac Northwest has the bizarro aluminum box prefab "modern," etc. The cities and suburbs aren't that much better.
OK, but take away the apt. blocks, and what's left of the scenery?
I live in the desert Southwest, and we have adobe Pueblo-style architecture. It's very attractive. Aluminum boxes in the Pac NW? Where? Maybe it's a new thing, since the early 2000's? Some of the most beautiful architecture, IMO, is the mediterranean tile-roofed style in many parts of California.
Finland has some nice historic architecture and neighborhoods, as Ariete has shown us before. But those apt. block parts of the city aren't inspiring. Though at least there's some greenery around.
Ariete, thanks for posting the pictures - I thought they were very interesting. One thing that surprised me is the vistas you can see from whatever viewpoint you took those shots from. Were those taken from a hillside, an apartment, an office building, what? You could see a very long way. For a cityscape, I can see how it would be impressive, especially at night with lights twinkling.
I took this photo last night while walking at dusk in my neighborhood (it's so hot during the day that I usually wait till after 8 pm to take a walk). I was trying to take a picture of the full moon but I only had my cell phone with me. Still...here's a picture of some "Texas suburban sprawl" that some people seem to have an aversion for. Doesn't look too hellish to me!
Now - this isn't the most scenic part of east Texas - just one street in my neighborhood in the evening. But it's a nice walk to take every night - very peaceful. I love walking past the houses and seeing lights on, with families eating dinner together, or people sitting out on their porch, waving at fellow walkers. Our neighborhood is criss crossed with creeks and little walking paths and bridges going over the creeks, so there are crickets chirping, frogs croaking, and birds fluttering, and we have rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, even deer in our neighborhood! They become pretty active at night. The raccoons are bold - I've gotten to within five feet or so of one before it goes scurrying off!
It's nice, but I'm definitely prefer hills with at least some forest. And endless flat landscape where you can see for dozens miles looks empty and blank to me, though interesting to experience. Also like the somewhat more compact towns of the Northeast. But no, not arguing with your taste, just saying it's not my style.
Oddly, checking from streetview, some parts of France that is flat farm country looks a bit similar. Perhaps deep blue sky is less common and of course the towns are a very different style though even quainter.
Here's some New England landscape.
From a fire tower:
we got fields, too!
hills
and mountains:
Here's some eye candy then. Taken from the hills above my city with 180k inhabitants:
In Finland, I've only been to Helsinki and nowhere else, and LOVED IT, but not at first. Unfortunately, the day we flew into Helsinki, I was feeling a bit off-kilter. Didn't quite know what, but I had a headache and a backache. We landed in Helsinki, went to the hotel, went out for a while to enjoy the people enjoying the summer (LOTS of people!!), then went back to the hotel and I got in bed to rest. By the a.m. (hard to tell since it was summer and the whole day was light!), I felt deathly ill.
The hotel tried to get me a housecall doctor, but I insisted on dragging myself to a doctor's office that they referred me to. We got there and the doctor was SUCH a nice man! He diagnosed me with bronchitis. How's that for luck - summer bronchitis on our vacation. I think the doctor felt quite sorry for me. Then we went to the apteekki (I dragged myself there too - no energy), where they felt sorry for me too and gave me a glass with water to start taking the antibiotics right away, then we went back to the hotel taking the bag of meds with us, and I crawled under the covers to sleep. The hotel sent up a pitcher of fresh orange juice to us for free that day, and the next day the manager brought us up some rolls and butter and coffee and asked if there was anything at all he could do for us. Kindness, really!! I don't recall the name of the hotel, but I've got it somewhere. What a bunch of nice people there.
About forty-eight hours later (about 3 days lost with illness, in total) ... I felt better, got energy, took a hot shower and said, "I'm going to see Helsinki!"
Loved it! People everywhere, cafes, pubs, things to see everywhere! I told my husband I wanted to live there.
That's a beautiful view! I'd like to visit the Nordic countries some time - the furthest north I've gone is the Netherlands. One of my best friends is Norwegian (married to an American and living in Texas - talk about culture shock!) and she tells me a lot about how beautiful it is. She also throws a huge Christmas party every year and serves traditional Norwegian food that she orders online and also has family ship to her. It's fantastic!
I go to the wilderness when I want some wilderness. Unless I'm "doing wilderness" I like the city.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think the doctor felt quite sorry for me. Then we went to the apteekki (I dragged myself there too - no energy), where they felt sorry for me too and gave me a glass with water to start taking the antibiotics right away, then we went back to the hotel taking the bag of meds with us, and I crawled under the covers to sleep. The hotel sent up a pitcher of fresh orange juice to us for free that day, and the next day the manager brought us up some rolls and butter and coffee and asked if there was anything at all he could do for us. Kindness, really!! I don't recall the name of the hotel, but I've got it somewhere. What a bunch of nice people there. 
