flower gardens and rusty playgrounds
Last Sunday afternoon we went to the Botanic garden, also only less than two blocks away.
Since my mother's apartment is in the historic center, there are no less than 6 parks within walking distance. Earlier in the day we were at the old pioneers' park.
This is one of the biggest parks in the city, in the communist lingo pioneers were the elite of the children, the new generation able to lead the ignorant masses into the utopia of brotherly love and slave work for the sake of the political class.
The pioneers' park only has non-powered swings and surreal rides, such as a lead zeppelin in which the outer shell of the ellipsoid is made out of thin string wire.
The whole thing looks like a relic from bad sci-fi, which of course make it immediately endearing. In an analogy with the movie AI, this would be the place where the dead mechas go when resurrected. From a rusty zeppelin hangs a swinging cabin, moving quite freely on its oiled hinges. In fact all the geometrically bizarre shapes were fully functional, oiled and painted with assidous zeal.
Other unusual toys were pseudo-skate slopes, where ball-bearing'd cylinders provided a fast surface on which to slide about 10 meters down. Fortunately the side rails were again well painted, or else rusty pieces of metal would have ensured a quick trip to the hospital for anyone who slid their hands against them. Several slides had no sideguards and a surprisingly smooth and flat surface from which a careless child could easily fly over, but then that's half the fun. A larger slide presided separately, about three times as wide and guaranteed to fling its rider into the deep puddle waiting at the bottom.
The powered rides were another story altogether. Not only decrepit but outright dangerous, they are now left to rust in worries. Occasionally children climb in them and can even manage to spin the merry-go-rounds by pushing them. A few days ago a child broke a leg playing on them and the park was closed, in lack of a better solution. The lack of funds and private investment in infrastructure make it a tough prospect to have anything but some very large and pleasant garden parks with no playgrounds. The best solution would be for the city to purchase some playground equipment safe for small children but I suppose even that is a kind of a budget stretch. It seems that only commercial investments are made on any consistent basis.
Since my mother's apartment is in the historic center, there are no less than 6 parks within walking distance. Earlier in the day we were at the old pioneers' park.
This is one of the biggest parks in the city, in the communist lingo pioneers were the elite of the children, the new generation able to lead the ignorant masses into the utopia of brotherly love and slave work for the sake of the political class.
The pioneers' park only has non-powered swings and surreal rides, such as a lead zeppelin in which the outer shell of the ellipsoid is made out of thin string wire.
The whole thing looks like a relic from bad sci-fi, which of course make it immediately endearing. In an analogy with the movie AI, this would be the place where the dead mechas go when resurrected. From a rusty zeppelin hangs a swinging cabin, moving quite freely on its oiled hinges. In fact all the geometrically bizarre shapes were fully functional, oiled and painted with assidous zeal.
Other unusual toys were pseudo-skate slopes, where ball-bearing'd cylinders provided a fast surface on which to slide about 10 meters down. Fortunately the side rails were again well painted, or else rusty pieces of metal would have ensured a quick trip to the hospital for anyone who slid their hands against them. Several slides had no sideguards and a surprisingly smooth and flat surface from which a careless child could easily fly over, but then that's half the fun. A larger slide presided separately, about three times as wide and guaranteed to fling its rider into the deep puddle waiting at the bottom.
The powered rides were another story altogether. Not only decrepit but outright dangerous, they are now left to rust in worries. Occasionally children climb in them and can even manage to spin the merry-go-rounds by pushing them. A few days ago a child broke a leg playing on them and the park was closed, in lack of a better solution. The lack of funds and private investment in infrastructure make it a tough prospect to have anything but some very large and pleasant garden parks with no playgrounds. The best solution would be for the city to purchase some playground equipment safe for small children but I suppose even that is a kind of a budget stretch. It seems that only commercial investments are made on any consistent basis.