We are in Italy now, and since it is hard to access the internet from the island where we are staying, I will finish this Ukraine Blog at home. To see the Italy Blog, go to www.jodiesitalyblog.com Ciao! Jodie

I bargain a bit for some slippers for my nephew.
The stalls sell food and handicrafts from the group of people known as Tartars.
We eat at a Tartar Restaurant. During our meal, we taste various wines which are poured from plastic bottles. We all try meat pies.The food is delicious.

It seems you can see forever. It is windy and there is a smokey smell in the air from the cooking fires.

We take a tram up the steep mountain to where we can have a panoramic view of the Crimea.

One good thing about McDonalds is that you can always find a clean restroom!
Along the sea is like a huge upscale Santa Cruz boardwalk, or a gigantic Pier 39.
Street sweepers in Yalta.

I could do a whole blog on the clothing as well... something for everyone!
I could do a whole blog on the footwear I have seen.
Yalta is filled with people and is a more expensive area.
We spent our first day relaxing, then decided to drive three hours to the other side of the Crimea. We go to another resort town called Yalta.

Robert enjoys people watching. Have I mentioned the spike heels, short short skirts, and clingy low tops on practically every woman?

We always let Natasha and Iryna pick out the restaurant. They make great decisions and know what we will like.

The four of us pile into a cab and head to the center of town. There is a carnival atmosphere with many beautiful people walking around enjoying the lights and activities.

This is the table where we eat, and talk, and laugh together each morning.

Part of our rental includes a large kitchen where we prepare breakfast and an afternoon meal each day.

Natasha and Iryna and I have a beautiful big room.

Robert and Bruce share a small room they call a "cell."
Our train ride to the penninsula on the Black Sea called the Crimea, is much different than our last. We board at night, and people are already asleep. There are no sleeping cabins, just open cots. It is hot and people are half covered with no privacy. The single bathroom is, well, not so clean. The train slows down and stops along the way. The curtains flap, at least letting me know air is indeed moving through the window. We manage to sleep, and arrive early in the morning at our destination, where friends of Iryna are there to greet us and take us to the place we will rent.

Walking, walking, walking...

Everyone walks in Ukraine... women mostly wear high heels.

We visited a park in the town that was like Caper Acres.

Iryna holding one of Helen's two children.

We set the table and eat in Helen's livingroom.

Helen graciously prepares us lunch in her kitchen.

The staff room is ready to go for the first day back. The agenda is under glass and covered with newspaper so it won't fade during the summer.

This is their school theater where programs and plays are performed.

The stairways and landings are roomy and similar to those at Natalia's school. The walls are freshly painted.

The bathrooms are much more inviting than ours!
Iryna shows us her school of all grades through high school.
We use these two borrowed cars to get around Meletopal. The streets often are unpaved and deeply rutted.

Ira gives her son some last instructions before we leave for the day.

Eugene can play the guitar almost as well as his dad.

Back at Iryna's we enjoy telling jokes, and listening to music.

The evening ended as the sun set and these yellow flowers opened up for the night insects.
Helen and her husband.
Alexi, Eugene, Iryna

We enjoyed the evening talking and joking and getting to know one another, all the while using the girls to interpret as best they could.
Helen had made berry tarts for each of us and one had a coin in it for good luck.

The food included some wonderful salads that were nothing like anything I have ever had!
Ira and Helen's husbands cooked the meat over a fire. This barbeque is called "shishlink."
A great surprise was that Ira's friends invited us to their family's "dasha" for a barbeque. A dasha is a small cottage with a garden that one might own to get away to the country to relax.

Helen interpreted a little bit for us and we all enjoyed just being together in this special spot.
The huge slabs were pretty incredible. I crawled around underneath them and inside some small caves that they made. The ground all around was sandy like the beach. The sun was sinking and the colors changed from tans to pink and orange.