Blah Blah Partisan

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We had every intention of making up for yesterday with an active day today. However with a nice, comfortable, and quiet room we managed to sleep in again. When we did get up, breakfast took the best part of an hour, so we left for the catacombs around one. We were told that at the main station we could either join a tour or get a bus there and join a tour. We walked around the station for a while and couldn't find the right bus, so we ended up settling for the very cheap option, the tour. The tour was in Russian but the girls at the hostel assured us that we weren't missing much anyway. We boarded the world's oldest most rickety looking bus and waited for a long time. Considering the tour was supposed to begin at half two, we didn't leave till about quarter past three.

We sat through a Russian poetry recital and book signing and then the twenty minute journey with a constant stream of Russian as the woman gave her "tour". When we actually got to the catacombs we all stood around in this area with numerous locked doors into the catacombs. We stood there for long enough that I began to think that this was all our tour consisted of. Eventually the tour guide asked a kid that was with us on the tour jump up and undo a lock that was on the inside of the door to the catacombs and hey presto we were inside. The actual tour itself was kind of lame partly because it was in Ukrainian and partly because the museum was bad. The catacombs themselves were pretty cool and because we were on a slightly dodgy tour it was done without the main lights which made it rather eerie. At one point a girl standing next to me guessed that we didn't understand a word the guide was saying which was pretty obvious really but annoying because until that point we were trying to pretend we understood. She told us not to worry though because it was all boring anyway.

After the catacombs we were going to go to the bus station to figure out tickets to Moldova but neither of us could be bothered so we agreed then just to deal with the consequences of our laziness tomorrow instead. We were so hungry when we arrived back in Odessa so we decided to indulge ourselves in a sandwich at a café we had spotted on our first day. In our now tried and tested manner I said "ya veg-eh-tar-ee-an-kah" and the lady pointed to a nice veggie sandwich for me and Rob randomly picked his. We may have been the messiest eaters they have ever had in that cafe, but we enjoyed them. We so have the Ukraine navigated.

Back at the hostel we chatted to the English guy again, and took an extra long shower knowing that there was no one else there to use them. We booked central youth hostel Chisinau over hostelbookers which is the only hostel in the centre, but it sounds pleasant enough. We opted for the staying in option again and cooked ourselves a meal. We had cheesey vegetables with roasties and a bottle of Odessa champagne. It took some time to cook the roasties because the oven is slightly on the old fashioned side. We attempted to watch a couple of movies in English but none of them worked, so we settled for some banal comedy that Rob watched and I wrote diary entries through. We packed our bags listening to music because our dorm was empty and then went to bed nice and early around one so that we could get up early for our bus tomorrow.

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Photos

ОДЕСЬКi КАТАКОМБИ
What is says on the Tin

Sculptures
Believe it or not, these were done by amatures; just by partisans and not professionals in the 20th Century.

Cooking
Sporting a fancy Ukraine Top

Comments

[kate]

slowing down?
Two relaxing days! Are you slowing down a bit. I notice that alcohol still features regularly though whatever else you do! Good for you. I'm quite envious. Love mumxxxxxx