Hotel/Sanatorij 'Aj-Petri' Yalta

... going on around us and I have had to try to discover all this on my own and to pay attention to the world. He was raised during the Soviet Union times and was taught obedience to officers and party members and to be careful of what was going on around because someone might be KGB or maybe even worse. He didn’t talk too much about growing up other than a story about an argument with his father about the merits of Stalin ...

... een heuse cultureshock. Links scheurt een oude maar pittige Lada voorbij en rechts een veel te dikke Lexus. In het cenrum, aclimatiserend op een bankje zien we een zeer gekleurd publiek voorbij trekken: dik, dun, oud, jong, in schooluniform of in een alles onthullend, wit jurkje, 10cm naaldhak of 20cm plateauzool, jampot glazen of zakenpak, niets onbreekt. Hier kun je dus heel decadent Sushi eten als ontbijt. Hoe meer ik zie, hoe ...

... while his daughter sold his cd's to the onlookers, the souvenirs and the oh so beautiful women.
We were talking earlier, that it would be nice to be able to speak any language, so whichever country you are in, you would be able to switch to one that no-one understands. We found a country, where nobody understood us. We were walking around, making propositions to the ladies in guttural English, and nobody took up our offers. We had fun just walking around and chatting, when the ...

... the beach with backpacks, balancing not to fall down, and stepping on the same path. We had few torches with us, bu we were 12 people!!! Finally we reached the sea! The sea was few meters from us!!! We ended our trip to the final destination we dreamed for. First reaction, spontaneously was to run to sea, getting off cloths took few seconds, goins into water took even less. On the beach everybody was sleeping, and the beach was empty, and we a crowd of naked ...

... appeal. Though the beaches are still occupied in mid-October, we rather preferred a promenade along the waterfront, past a statue of Lenin pointing accusingly at McDonald's. Crimea, compared with the rest of Ukraine, is quite pro-Russian. In Sevastopol, half the flags atop buildings were Russian, as was the flag in our taxi. No Ukrainian is spoken here and the local government continually attempts to achieve economic independence from Kiev. I have never ...

... scary! You were basically in a little metal bucket that might hold 2 adults and a small child (if they stood). I could hardly even look down at all the rooftops we were going over! I was very happy to have my feet back on solid ground when I reached the top. Enjoyed the view and then headed back down. That was about it for my day. Grabbed a beer from the street and came back to enjoy having my own, wonderful room. Another day in Yalta, where I couldn't have asked for anything better!!

... but apparently I hadn't been the best student. Using the only two words I had, along with some had gestures of a plane taking off, I tried to convey that I was trying to go to the airport. The driver started yelling at me. A lot. All I could realy pick out was "Rooski" so I think he was angry that I couldn't speak Russian. He opened the door and pointed for me to get out. There was no airport in sight, I guess this means I have now been kicked off public ...

Here on the Russian Riviera I am hemorraging hryvnia (pronounced grieve-nas). Prices are 2-3 times higher than anywhere else I've been as befits any tourist mecca. Its setting aside, Yalta is little more than a seaside Gomorrah, garish, glitzy and in love with itself. Of course, if you enjoy sunning yourself by the pool or on the pebbly beaches listening to "Hotel California" blaring through the outdoor speakers and spending the evening at the gaming tables or in the discos ...

Here in the Crimea the landscape can change completely in ten miles. Outside of Sevastopol and beyond the Valley of Death, the Crimean Mountains rise from the sea with vertical cliffs and scrub-covered headlands. Our first stop is a new German war cemetery. An independent German organization bought the land from Ukraine just a few years ago and is busy exhuming Nazi soldiers from all over the Crimea. Thanks to the typically fastidious Tuetonic obsession with record-keeping, they ...

... nearest airport, Stalin's unwillingness to leave the Soviet Union, adaptations made to the palace due to Roosevelt's use of a wheelchair). We also traveled along the route of the longest electric bus (or trolley bus as we would call it in Sarajevo), from Simferopol to Yalta (at least according to our guides).