Second Day In Odessa – Day 86
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
We originally had planned to take an evening complimentary tour last night but decided to pass on it. Keith was very tired and it was fairly cold outside so we thought we would take it easy by staying on the ship. The tour was a Classical Performance at the Odessa Philharmonic and those who we spoke with afterwards who attended thought it was outstanding. In fact, one of the people who we spoke with last evening said she had tears in her eyes from their wonderful performance.
Instead, we had a nice dinner in the Main Dining Room with one of the Officers of the Ship. Keith had some soup, and we each enjoyed a nice salad. Anne Marie had the Sautéed Tiger Shrimp for her entrée and Keith enjoyed the Broiled Fillet of Fresh Norwegian Shrimp. We also enjoyed a side order of steamed vegetables and for our dessert we each had berries. It was very quiet in the dining room since many passengers were attending the evening concert.
This morning Keith awoke early and was back in The Fitness Center on the Elliptical Machine. He watched the second half of the Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship Game. It was a great game. While Butler didn’t win we think they won heart and minds of many fans that have been following this tournament. They did show that anything is possible since who would have thought they would have made it to the final game of the tournament. After the workout, Keith stopped by the Lido Café for coffee. Anne Marie also worked out in the morning and as she does each day she worked out on the treadmill. Like Keith, she brought coffee back to the room after her workout.
We enjoyed breakfast in our room and a few hours later we also had an early lunch since we switched from a morning to a tour that started early afternoon.
Originally, our plan for today was to take a tour called Odessa’s Jewish Heritage. However, since we had learned that certain portions of the tour might not be a go due to the Passover Holiday we decided to change to a different tour.
Instead, of the Heritage tour we took a tour called the Catacombs of World War II. As part of this tour we drove through the city and then into the countryside. We passed small farms, quaint villages, and even various vineyards as we made our way to a southern Cossack military settlement from the end of the 18th century.
Our guide then escorted us an underground exploration of the Catacombs. The Catacombs were first dug to provide the city with limestone. In time, the Soviet Army used these tunnels. As part of this tour we stopped at the command post, which was used by the resistance during World War II. We spent about an hour walking through various tunnels. The tunnels are quite extensive and we only visited a very small portion of them. The guide provided us with lots of history regarding the tunnels and how the resistance used them during World War II along with providing us with a lot of information about the German occupancy.
Today was fairly windy and cool and it was also fairly cool in the tunnels. Unlike yesterday, the downtown area along with the outlying areas of Odessa were quite busy as businesses were open with people back to work and schools were back in session
We returned back to the ship at around 3:30 PM.
This evening we will dine in Silk Road and will post more about this tomorrow. There is also a special evening performance that we plan to attend.
Tomorrow we are scheduled to arrive to our next port of call in Yalta, Ukraine.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..
“The price of greatness is responsibility.”
Keith and Anne Marie
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