Bad luck!

I should be now cruising in Mexico, but sometimes the devil puts his fingers in somebody's life, and nothing goes as planned.Last Friday a few hours before my flight to Los Angeles, the doctors found out that I had pneumonia as well as problems with my heart like 18 months ago. So it was a strick no to all my travelling plans for the time being. I do not know when flying will be allowed to me again, but it will take months anyway.

The Black Sea

Day after Victor's death I flew to Istambul to start a cruise at the Black Sea.That was my seventh time onboard M/S "Kristina Regina", a tiny 50 years old Finnish cruise ship with only 200 passengers. I had some friends there from the Finnish Club of Helsinki. So I knew that I will have an enjoyable week there. Well, I had been in Istambul 40 years ago, but the change was huge. It once was a mystical city of the Orient, now a modern and very European metropol. Next day we spent in very beautiful city in Bulgaria, Nessebar. Maybe sometimes in future I could spend even one week there. Romania's Constanta had really nothing to offer, but our next visit was to Ukrania's Odessa. Odessa really is the pearl of the Black Sea like they sing in a famous song. It was amaizingly beautiful with many parks and finely restored buildings from 19th century, and boulevard cafes like in Paris or Madrid. The main architec had been a French political refugee, a certain Mr.Richelieu, whose greatgrandfather was the real ruler of France during 17th century, cardinal Richelieu.After Odessa we visited Jalta and the palace of Nikolay II, where Roosewelt, Stalin and Churchill decided in 1945 the new borders of Europe. So Europe was devided for 45 years.
Last two cities in Turkey , Sinop and Trabzon were less interesting.
But in two weeks time I shall have another cruise elsewhere, and a trip of two months.