Londonskaya Odessa

... trains and buses and whatnot. <br>On initial examination, Odessa gave us a grim sight. Walking through the town, we saw a very run-down city, potholed streets and dusty boulevards, getting progressively worse as we approached the train station. Massive rubbish containers were overflowing and stank from miles off. People were walking around with beers in their hands and the girls... My dear sweet heaven, the girls. Never have I seen a city with so many ...

But that is it! More than two weeks with people who i can say now i love and would like to see more often if only i could. Who knew that i would find SO good friends here! I've never been treated so well. Who knew that i would fall in love.This craziest thing we know. And it's not just a seaside story it's a fairytale, my own story with continuation. <br>

... from Nebraska. They had just put in 4 weeks cleaning an apartment they found. It had a lovely back yard (the first I had seen) and friendly neighbors. They treated me to a pasta dinner, showed me slides of my next town from their recent visit and got me situated for my next leg. It has been great fun to catch up with old colleagues. Karen is now studying Ukrainian while Don continues to study Russian.

... finally took it, but refused to help any one else in the group if we didn't have the correct amount. This is a huge problem, because when you go to a new country, you either exchange your money or get money out of an ATM. All of which gives you big bills. What in the world are you supposed to do with them? No one will take them and it really gets old to get yelled at because they don't want to give you change. Just something to keep in ...

... no!?!?) and we went off hitch hiking to the festival. Well hitching didn't work too well that day as it took us a long time to get out of the city and to a good hitching spot. But eventually a bus actually picked us up and brought us to the nearest city to the festival where my lovely adopted Romanian family picked us up and brought us to 3 beautiful days of music and camping in the mountains! I saw a bunch of Bands from Romania, Serbia...i dunno other nearby ...

... full-bore into adopting a second-favorite team, made even easier as their colors were (you guessed it) Blue and Gold (while Tunisian was a shade of Cardinal Red). We made our way to the center of town to catch the match on the giant screen set up and were swept up into the spirit as Ukraine went ahead on a penalty kick! Though not quite as thrilled by the burns that Ryan and I suffered on the neck and foot, respectively, from the celebratory firecrackers ...

... area, the largest warren of its kind in the world. Home to smugglers from almost the beginning and the 19th century sex slave trade, they still run beneath the city streets today, though the opening have been sealed off after too many children wandered into the black corridors and disappeared forever. European speelunkers spent several days finding the last batch just a few years ago. Today you have to drive some distance outside of town to get into them. The area we ...

Some little things about travel in Eastern Europe (well...Romania and Ukraine, at least): *Smiles are hard to come by...the word "NO" isn't *Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes! *Possibly, just possibly, there is a reason for everything...have fun trying to discover it! *There is nothing wrong with a shot of vodka for breakfast...and...if you add in a cigarette, complete bliss! "NO BUS, NO BOAT, NO TRAIN"--words shouted by the "lady" at the ticket counter in the ...