All night train to Odessa

We said farewell to our Kyiv host Grigori after an excellent 3 days in the capital and boarded the train south to Odessa. The train ride was an amazing experience.   Kevin and I shared a sleeping berth with a couple from Crimea and it was a tad crowded, we barely found space for our luggage. We boarded the train at 4:30 pm in the 25 degree heat which seemed to double in the berth so we spent the first couple of hours hanging out in the narrow hallway looking out the windows as the countryside slowly went by and trying to get some relief form the 2 inch opening at the top of the window.  Finely we gave up and went to bed, we had the narrow top bunks and I was fearful of falling out.  I think I fell asleep at about 10 but seemed to wake every hour or so as the train was noisy when moving and seemed to stop at lot at the little stations along the way. We finally made it into Odessa at 6:00am and were met on the platform by our new hosts Tanya and her husband who took us right home and fed us a big breakfast. First stop was the Odessa Rescue Services for a tour, video and numerous rescue demonstrations a private meeting  (including shots of Vodka) with the General and TV interview, quite a visit to say the least. Next on the agenda was a visit to city hall and lunch in their cafeteria, then a 3 hour city walking tour a short visit to a local brew pub and more walking (window shopping) and supper at one of the host Rotarians restaurant. After supper we attended the Opera (info tba) then an evening walk through the downtown streets and home to a nightcap of a couple of shots of vodka and off to bed.

Whew,

/g