ODESSA September 14

Today we decided to take the local bus out into the suburbs. Cost was 2 uah which is about 25 cents each way

Once out of city centre the buildings change to more of the communist landscape. Even cars go from BMW to Lada. The end of the route there was a new shopping mall, North American Style. Such a contrast from the Baroque architecture we have been admiring these past few days.

September 13 Odessa

Lovely day here again, nice breeze off the sea and temperatures in mid 20's.

After breakfast we found a food store with an extensive liquor selection both foreign and domestic . The domestic is very inexpensive but anything imported is same as home. We managed through some sign language to buy Port $3.00, Cherry Wine from Moldovia $6.00 , and quality local Vodka 750ml for $3.50. (it ranges from moon shine to quality)

Odessa is up above the sea. The Potemkin stairs take you from the city to the seaport below. There is also a funicular right beside the stairs. The city has alot of tourist today as the P&O ship the Oceania was in port.

We had nice wandering day, enjoying the people and sites.

Had a long afternoon nap I guess still getting caught up with sleep. Also we wanted to see Odessa at night. It comes alive after 9:00pm. Found a wonderful street cafe right above the Potemkin Stairs and enjoyed dinner. They even supplied warm blankets as the evening air is a little cooler. Sites were of course beautiful Eastern European Women with their spiked shoes, horse drawn carriages, and boys on their BMX bides doing stunts.

Hard to imagine this is where Stalin killed thousands of Ukranian people in the 1930's.

Google Potemkin for a history. Quite interesting.

Odessa

We arrived in Odessa Ukraine after 20 hours of flying from Vancouver. Everything went very smooth. We were greeted here with 26'C temperature and a nice breeze off the Black Sea. The driver we had arranged was there waiting for us and took us to our hotel. Confirms my faith in the internet and bookings.....

We threw our bags in the room and headed out to see Odessa, jet lag and all. Very clean but the roads are a little in disrepair, have to watch those ankles for all the cobblestones that are uneven.

We proceeded to get lost, but no worries has we had studied the cryllic alphabet, so picture us at a street corner figuring out the name of the street and translating with jet lag, plus we discovered the street sign had been rotated 90', we did not kill one another, Alan commented we did that well.....

We found the Opera House and the ticket booth was open, now try buying tickets for a certain seat with an elderly women left over from the soviet era that does not understand English, well we used our new acquired knowledge of the cryllic alphabet and wrote what we wanted. Worked miracles, she even smiled at us. So we have box tickets for Tuesday's nights performance of an opera by Puccini we don't know which opera because of the translation challenges

. The opera house is supposed to be spectacular.

We were both starving and had the craving for Borsch. Sat at a street cafe indulging in "people watching" while enjoying our borsch and Ukranian beer.

The people watching is quite something, the young eastern European women dress very suggestively. High High and I mean High pointed shoes, low low cut blouses and exposed tummies . They parade around arm in arm. I am glad we brought lots of eye drops for poor old Alan's eyes.

Well our jet lag got the best of us and we finished our first day.

Itinerary

Trip Itinerary.

VANCOUVER TORONTO AIR CANADA 11 SEP 10 900A 417P

TORONTO VIENNA AUSTRIA 11 SEP 10 620P 850A

VIENNA TO ODESSA UKRAINE
12 SEP 10 1100A 200P

3 nights in Odessa at Ekaternia Hotel September 12-15
Catacombs tour September 15. ---


Viking Cruise Line Footsteps of the Cossacks September 15-26

Flight from Kiev to St. Petersburg
26 SEP 10 610P 900P

September 26-28 Comfort Hotel St. Petersburg

Viking Cruise Line Waterways of the Czars September 28-October 10
plus private tour with Alla tours October 1 of Peterhofs Palace, hydrofoil down the Neva River to city and tour inside several cathedrals.

Flight to Dublin Ireland MOSCOW LON / HEATHROW 10 OCT 10 300P 410P
LON / HEATHROW DUBLIN 10 OCT 10 640P 800P

Ireland October 10-24
Dublin October 10- 13 Temple Bar Hotel Dublin

Car rental October 14-24 No plans booked.

DUBLIN LON / HEATHROW 24 OCT 10 140P 305P

London
October 24- November 2
Michael Needley's Home (nephew)
November 2-5, Eurostar to Bruge Belgium staying at the Jan Brito Hotel.
November 5-7 Visit to Battle in Southern England to visit cousin Beryl and son Ron
November 7 back to London and flight out November 9 LON / HEATHROW VANCOUVER 09 NOV 10 100P 300P