A day of taking it easy - a late - late rise - a slow - slow - slow breakfast - a quiet morning.
We join a selection of our fellow travellers on a tour of the Jewish Museum - a small affair - set in a typical apartment of the communist area - a street sign so small that its location would be difficult to establish without the assistance of the wizards of google - "the sign has to be small" says Knud - "otherwise they would have to pay the protectors" - says he.
Through a wrought iron gateway - into a stone paved community courtyard serving as common property for the three apartment levels that surround it - past the community well - met at the door of the apartment by a member of the Jewish community.
The man is in his mid 50's - attired as a typical moderate religious Jewish man - he speaks like a moderate - he speaks matter of factly" of matters that clearly touch his emotions - he guides us through the four or five rooms that constitute the museum - he points to pictures and charts and objects as he talks through the history of the Jewish community in Odessa - he talks of the times when the numbers reached 40% of the population - when they fell to 10% - he talked of the Jewish contributions to the arts and sciences - he talked of the Romanian occupation of Odessa - he talks of the assimilation of the Jews into the secular life of the Odessa - he tells of communist era when Jews men would refrain from growing their beards and wearing Jewish attire until they had safely reached retirement age and no long had to rely on income from employment. I leave the little museum thankful my personal life and times!
We wander back towards home.
We adjourn for a later afternoon dinner - the Bratia Grill - on the main pedestrian street of the old city - delightful street side table - wine - some more wine - stories from the travellers and more stories from the travellers - a menu item labelled as beef steak chosen - delightful - delightful - not a beef steak in the Australian tradition - rather a oval shaped rissole made of beef and cheese and herbs and spices served on a bed of pureed potato - the taste and the presentation a delight - we wander home - we wonder if we are capable of keeping up with social agenda of our fellow travellers - the males pause to try local beer - the females stop at a corner restaurant with the remainder of the travellers to drink wine and to talk and talk some more.
We fall into bed!
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