Quote Originally Posted by Hanna View Post
I plan to travel through Ukraine, north to South in the spring (April or May). Maybe Gromozeka or it-ogo will have time to meet up for a cup of coffee. I think the first town I'll visit might be Odessa (arriving by train or coach... still working this out....)

Odessa has a sort of "glamorous" association in my mind, but I don't know where I am getting that from... Is it famous for anything particularly glamorous now, during the Soviet period or even before the revolution?

Who has been there? Is it nice? What are some nice and interesting things to do there? Is it mainly Russian speaking or not?
I don't think I'll be on your way.

Odessa has a very specific reputation. It was a "capital of humor" in the USSR, odessites are believed to have a very special paradoxal state of mind. They have a reputation of being cunning and successfull in trickery. There are plenty of odessian anecdotes often with Yiddish accent. Odessa is the most cosmoploitic and multinational city with its own cultural ambitions. It is hardly glamurous though. There are traditions of criminal romantics remained from the old times.

Quote Originally Posted by Basil77 View Post
I think almost the same. And according to my expirience it-ogo pulled the statement about "Russians often have sentiments about "Great Eurasian Nation" right out from his a$s (sorry, it-ogo).
Зато не в бровь. Как сказал бы Рамиль "Баттхерт детектед".