To the Black Sea - Odessa Page

Thursday 20th October 2016

Odessa was one of the high points of this cruise. The baby is a symbol of the city. There was absolutely no one on immigration duty or guard. It was colder but no wind & did warm up a little bit in the morning.

We had booked another local tour, with an unclear local guide, who took us by coach (slow, in this traffic) via Catharine Square to the amazing Opera House.

Then, to the obelisk to the Unknown Sailor, guarded by sailor cadets.

Then a round-about drive to the Uspensky Cathedral, very tall but with two floors. We went into the basement, where a service was in progress. Lots of gold leaf. This is a late 19thC building, as the town was only founded at the end of the 18thC. Then, we went into the upper part.

Finally, to the Art Museum. Here, the guide was obviously in her element or vocation. It was interesting to see four early Kandinskys & works by Repin & Vrubel.

Back to the ship by 13:20. My camera had run flat & I had to use the spare one. I walked back out after lunch for a couple of hours, walking up the Potemkin Steps (110 of them), which featured in the film, where the nurse is shot in the eye & the pram tumbles down the steps, then round to see buildings we had gone past in the coach too fast for photography. The Sun even came out occasionally. I was back in time for tea.

After tea, I finished, alas, “At the Existentialist Café’, by Sarah Bakewell. This was unputdownable, although Avis had not got far. It got me thinking about my own philosophy. Anthony had arranged another ethnic group for Show Time. They were good, with marvellous costumes but not as good as the Bulgarians.

Friday 21st October 2016 At sea.

Talks by the Port Lecturer & Bob but I skipped his to do my photos, although the battery in Pip Computer is running out after 90 minutes, not, I suspect because it is knackered but because MacOs Sierra has a bug. After lunch, Keith spoke about how to take the piss out of the KGB & then, Maiko played another concert, ending with a fast jazzy suite she wrote when she was 11 (eleven)! Joyce put on a stunning performance of Monti’s Czardas for me after dinner. There was an Elvis-based show by the Show Team in the evening.