brief trip report

the first thing i noticed was that there were dogs everywhere. big wild dogs that looked like wolves/huskies. i'm not familiar with types of dogs but these weren't ones i would want to get into a fight with. and they were just lying around some of the streets, from the countryside to the city centre.
it's not like there was an infestation, but now i understand why they say watch out for rabies.
for the most part they seemed pretty harmless. sometimes they would be playing dead (a couple of times i thought they were dead) only to spring to life when nameless joe would throw them a piece of pretzel which they wolfed down happily.
and only a couple of times did i see crazy dogs running at people in the street and barking. i had to look away to avoid walking into a pothole the size of orion to see the outcome, but i guess most people survived.

for a city once called the pearl of the sea, much of it has fallen into a sorry state of disrepair but parts of it still hint at the beauty that no doubt pervaded the entire city.
and of all the ex soviet states and eastern european countries i've been to (which i'll be the first to admit isn't many) the people were very friendliest i've encountered. and that's not because the competition for that prize was no exsistant, but simply because they were rather a friendly folk.

so i'll add some pics of odessa after i've had a sleep or two.


(oh, and remind me to do a useful poker post on how the small things quickly add up. something which has gone from a strength of mine to a weakness)