Alex's Travels

Safe and Sound in Odessa

We are in the Ukraine.

The trip to Odessa went as smoothly as can be expected - which is to say, not very easily. The five hour bus ride was not altogether uncomfortable by Moldova standards. There was a warmish sort of air circulating throughout and the bugs weren't too annoying. The customs check at the Ukrainian border went off without a hitch, although it took over an hour to get through.

It wasn't until we got off the bus in Odessa that we realized we had absolutely no idea how to get to the hostel. We had some unclear directions from the airport and train station, but they didn't help us get there from the bus station. Besides that, the street address we had was written in Latin letters, which is of absolutely no assistance in a city where everything is in Cyrillic. After wandering aimlessly for a bit, we stopped into an internet cafe to try to figure out our way. We put our heads together and did some good investigative work that got us the street name in Cyrillic and pointed us in the right direction. Two hours after getting off the bus, we finally arrived at the hostel.

Odessa is a nice city. Its very sophisticated, with expensive shops and upscale dining along tree-lined streets. Very rich Russians and Ukrainians come here to spend their summers on the sea, and the city's culture reflects it. Our hostel is located on a lovely pedestrian strip with lots of foot traffic.

Besides the rich Russians and Ukrainians, another crowd flocks to Odessa: Westerners seeking mail-order brides. In the few hours we've been here, I've seen tens of pudgy bald guys going in and out of expensive boutiques with beautiful young women.

And I already had a celebrity spotting! At dinner, the guy who played the brother on Everybody Loves Raymond was sitting at the table next to us.

posted by The League: Reassembled @ 12:50 PM