We're Home well back to the Ghetto!

Hi All,

We're back fromYalta in our crappy apartment that actually feels like home. In case you want to look it up we are in khmelnitskiy closer to the west of Ukraine. Just a fews hours by train from Poland. Ah.... the train, such memories. twenty two hours riding with the devil himself. We went 1st class because it was rumored to have air conditioning, and because the AC might work the windows didn't. Try living in a sauna for 22 hours, and only being allowed to use the can when the train was moving and outside the city. (Never walk along train tracks in Ukraine) From there we jumed on a no AC bus for an hour, then to our no AC apt. All this in 35+ above temps. (my mood was foul) After a shower (Vitaly says take a hot shower to cool off "it's Ukraine") that changed from hot to cold on a whim we went to explore Yalta.

We visited a number of sites from a castle built in 1828-1848 with art dating back to the 1600's. We visited the aquarium & saw seals & a walrus dance to "EVERYBODY DANCE NOW" as well as Beluga whales and a dolphin. We took a gondola ride to the top of a mountain were Corrine became a camel jockey, and played with young bears, then hiked to the very top. (I crapped myself) It was beautiful We have now decided to charge for the slide show when we get home lol we also visited the zoo. They had lions and tigers and bears oh my! We took plenty of food for the animals the monkeys loved cucumbers, the camels, and ostriches loved bread. The bears did tricks for their treats, and we got to hold baby lions! We took a ferry along the sea and saw some awesome sites. The city was in full tourist mode so we had to listen to the party fire up as we were going to bed everynight. We were a few hundred meters from the sea, and main boardwalk, and main stage.

Were at an internet cafe and about to get thrown out because they are closing. Vitaly is in Simferopol dealing with a sick family member until Wednesday So I will post when I can. I have more to say but no time to type it.