> I was thinking of, in Moscow, being able to hang out in the
> park drinking
> beer at 10 am with no one looking at you the wrong way (maybe
> I'm thinking
> more of the US there). Or being able to get into long
> conversations with
> total strangers you meet on the street. Or not having people
> make caste
> distinctions based on income or age.
I know exactly what you mean. I initially thought of Western European cities as too well ordered (which btw is also a common trope in the protrayal of Italy v. Switzerland/Germany relations) - but then realized that order is not necessarily bad, especially when you are taking a train or want to make a hotel reservation or do some official business. On the other hand, some of my best going-out buddies are British and Germans.
But there is a diffrence between the bohemian life style - which I suppose is what you mean by not being boring - and sheer lawlessness and criminality. It is one thing to meet some strangers and drink beer with them in the park - which used be quite safe in Eastern Europe and I presume in the US (judging, for example, from Jack Kerouac writing) - and being accosted by a bunch of strangers and being robbed by them. I think that the latter is much more common in Eastern Europe than bohemian lifestyles, at least since the so-called "fall of communism."
Another thing is that whaterver you say about Western European cities, they are a much better places to live in every respect than the American cities (with the possible exception of NYC). Perhaps my perspective is jaded by the then-year experience of living in Baltimore, but I am just tired of contant noise emitted by cars and car radios, loud and obnoxious people in the streets, arrogant and silly teenagers, paranoid conservative suburbanites, corrupt self-righteous politicians, boarded up houses populated by vagrants winos and druggies (they are mostly harmless, but it is distressing to see people in such a condition), the barrage of phone calls from telemarketers (which are the majority of the phone calls I receive), the lack of transportation, etc.
That is why it feels so refreshing when I go to Western Europe - it feels like getting out of a shithouse, the freshness of air is truly dazzling, even though it may be nothing more than your ordinary outdoor air.
Wojtek