Odessa, Z to A, --- The Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater

               The most recent time I returned from America it seemed to me that I take pleasure in torturing myself. I had arrived in Kiev but I did not even allow myself the luxury of spending a night in a hotel. I crashed briefly at a hostel so I could shower and pull myself together before hoping on the night train to Kharkiv. The next day I dropped off my luggage in my apartment and then I got on another overnight train to Odessa. Somehow during this time I did meet someone at the hostel that said he (Let us call this person Mr. C.) was planning on going to Odessa. I explained how I was also going there but that my journey would be in a roundabout way. I suggested he look me up when he arrived. This fellowship ended up being very useful to me during the Odessa trip. I really like crashing at (the lowly) hostels when I travel alone because it is so easy to make friends. If I do this in a city that I’m familiar with, afterward I’m sure to share my experience. I have taken my new friends out to some of my favorite restaurants/clubs numerous times. Once, my brothers and I reserved a 4 bed compartment for the three of us to travel to Kiev. One of my friends told me that he needed to go to Kiev but the train was sold out. After speaking to my brothers we agreed to sell the extra ticket to my friend. He was lucky that he had taken the time to make friends in low places.

            Let me return to Odessa…. While I had been there many times, I had only seen the Opera House (http://www.opera-ballet.tm.odessa.ua ) from the outside. The facade is an Italian Baroque style. I think of its location as being at one end of the “tourist strip” of Deribasovskaya Street. (The opposite end would be near the City Garden.)The “pedestrian only” part is a little father west. This area is open to cars and seems to attract bridal limos whose occupants are looking for a photo opportunity.

I did meet up with Mr. C in Odessa. A few of us met for drinks at a small place in Arcadia (more on the Acadia later). I expressed an interest in going to the Opera House to see a performance. It was our understanding that the season’s final show was coming up. One of Mr. C’s friends that had accompanied him told us that he had a lot of contacts at the Opera House and he could help us get tickets. Later in the week we met him there. There was a bit of a crowd that queued up on that rainy night to see a performance of Swan Lake. We found out that the tickets were sold out. However, our new friend told us that his associate would let us in the door if we paid a small bribe. After doing so we were then informed that another comrade would allow us to enter a box for another little bribe.

            We were escorted into a small extremely dim room and were given seats. I couldn’t see anything because it was pitch dark. I actually felt like standing so I just leaned against the wall. After awhile my night vision noticed that there were about 10 other people in the room. In a little while the usher let another couple in. They were given the last two chairs. However, since I wasn’t sitting in my seat it was given to a young woman. That was the last seat in the booth. Somehow even though I decided to stand, now I seemed to desire that seat since I could no longer have it. When the house lights were turned up a little we could see much more of the Opera and Ballet Theater. The inside was quite ornate. It had a Louis XVI design with gilded figures. I recently watched the movie Dangerous Liaisons and I felt that the Odessa Opera House could have easily been used for the theater scenes for that film which was set in 18^th century France. The ballet was quite good (of course I’m not a ballet aficionado so take my recommendation with a grain of salt) and I remembered that the last ballet I saw was in fact The Nutcracker (during a Holiday Season). That was another one that was scored by Tchaikovsky.

            The Odessa Opera House was rebuilt in 1887 after the original was destroyed by fire in 1873. It is similar in design to Dresden’s Semperoper. While that theater was completely destroyed during WWII; the Odessa Opera house had only one corner damaged. It seats 1,636 and has 24 exits to prevent the loss of life in case of a fire. Strangely enough, the night I was there it appeared to me that everyone entered and exited thru the main entrance; even those sans tickets. I would like to return to see another performance. Maybe next time I will be proactive enough to buy tickets in advance.

             

              Posted by John

Odessa with a P: Port, Portal and 2 smoking cannons.

      (This is a response to the previous post by John)

     The fact that I will start a discussion about something that I have never seen before is all John’s fault. I‘m talking about the Eiffel Tower which he compared to the Potyomkin Stairs, which would definitely lose out in terms of height, size and the ability to observe a good view. According to these mentioned parameters, the new title of Eiffel Tower should rather be given to the glass & steel hotel “Odessa” in the center of the sea port: sky-blue, sky-high (both in height and prices).

Sea port, “Odessa” hotel

                                   
     I bet somebody would find it exiting that in front of the building there is a cannon pointed at the entrance like a symbol of perishable life. This is typical for Odessa with its specific sense of humor that is known all over Ukraine.

Seaport, a cannon right in front of the “Odessa” hotel

                The Hotel’s location is very poor though if you’re a tourist without your own yacht or jet because all the beaches are very far away.

Various yachts could be an attraction for unpretentious port visitors like me, who associate them with a “sweet life”

     Even though you’re more interested in downtown activities, every time you want to go to there you’ve got to climb up the much talked-about stairs.

View of the hotel and port from Potyomkin stairs

                           I don’t like the transliteration John suggested, even though Microsoft Word thinks that I’m wrong. It should be pronounced “Potyomkin”, not “PotEmkin”, but you can find it both ways in the information sources.
     What are the stairs of my dreams that are perfect as a tourist-attraction? At first, I would consider it fascinating if they offered a nice panoramic view during observing which causes you to try to catch your breath and have butterflies in your stomach. And secondly, they might give you adrenalin of stones rolling from feet into the precipice, because the stairs are high, old and have been there since, for example, times of the Roman Empire. Furthermore, there is some heroic feeling of getting through obstacles in the face of 1000 steps or so. This all is definitely not about the Potyomkin stairs. They do not seem marvelous at any point of view except for some historical associations, so I don’t know what all the people are making a fuss about.
     Primorsky Boulevard, situated perpendicularly to Potyomkin steps, a place for lazy ice-cream eaters and souvenir sellers during the hottest hours of the day, is more amusing than stairs and represented by mixture of culture artifacts partly mentioned by John. There are monuments of different times and significance, one more cannon, P.D.A. on benches, a pillar which shows the distance to any city you would like to know or rather never wanted to know (this is the best spot for ridiculous photos), remains of an ancient settlement covered with glass cupola what makes it look like a cage of hidden or escaped dangerous animals etc. I especially liked the “Lonely girl” portal (walk on the right if you you’re standing back to stairs), white pillars of which nowadays are disfigured by profound writings.
     According to the legend, the wife of a seaman was waiting looking for him from this hill. And every year they would add one more pillar to the “portal.” Modern inscriptions may explain who the guy she was expecting to come back was:

 Primorsky park. Lonely portal. Poor example, but the funniest things, of course, were written in Russian

   

     The situation of anticipating, the quintessence of all sea port cities’ mood, is also expressed in the statue of a girl with a “baggage” in the port which looks strange with the view of urban scenery behind:

 Seaport: Sailor’s Wife monument

                                               

     As opposed to compromising the romance of the “Lonely girl” portal by political, musical and not very polite discussions written on its pillars, the Mother-in-law bridge, which is next to it, at the right end of boulevard if you stand back to the sea, has somehow turned into a romantic place with a large amount of locks hung there in the symbol of eternal love.

Mother in-law-bridge under the burden of “love” locks

                     Posted by Helen

Odessa, Z to A, --- That is “Potemkin” with a “T”.

The Potemkin Steps are to Odessa what the Eiffel tower is to Paris. They became famous because of the horrific scene shot there that was part of the 1925 silent movie, The Battleship Potemkin. Of course, the bloodshed on the steps was actually some motion picture make-believe. The killings happened in different locations.

Actually, maybe I should start off with the correct name of this attraction. Last year my brother made a slideshow of our trip through Eastern Europe. He titled one of the slides “The Potemkin Stairs”. I corrected him and said it was actually the “Potemkin Steps”.  He followed with a link that supported his version of the name. At this point, I was confused but actually things got worse. I did a little research and found out that essentially we were both sort of right. Or wrong if you are a half empty sort of person.

Today they are officially known as the Primorsky Stairs but they were originally called the Boulevard Steps. The name was changed first in Soviet times and then changed again when Ukraine received her independence. Today most people in Odessa use the former Soviet name, the Petemkin Stairs but my Ukrainian guide book calls them the Potemkin Steps. I will not even bring up the Russian or Ukrainian spellings.

 Anyway the “Odessa Steps” originally had 200 steps but over time they were reduced by eight. Supposedly, if you count the steps and they do not add up to 192 then these are the number of sins that you have recently committed. I will not tell you how many steps that Helen counted but I think it would be a good time for her to go to confession. The steps/stairs have a couple of cool optical allusions. One of them is that looking down it is possible to only see the 10 landings and looking up from the bottom you might only see the steps. There is a cable railway to one side of the steps. This was originally built in 1906. It was replaced by an escalator in 1970 and then a funicular returned in 2004.

 At the top of the steps, you have a wonderful view of the port and the Odessa Hotel. At one time this was the principal port for the largest country in the world. It was possible to board a ship to any destination across the globe. Also here is a bronze statue of Duc de Richelieo. He was the person, who designed the city under Catherine the Great and served as the first governor, (1803-1814). He was a royalist that escaped from France during the French Revolution but who returned home in 1814. The statue was erected in 1828. If you think of a “T” with the stem going down the stairs then there are interesting items at both ends of the top line. On the left side you would walk along the bul (boulevard ) Prymorsky until you reach the City Hall which was built around 1830. (I believe in my guided walking tours I actually called this the Mayor’s house. Please don’t tell my brothers about my error!) There is also a monument to Alexander Pushkin here as well as a cannon that was captured from the French ship, “Tiger” during the Crimean War. (At this point you are just down a hill from a large fountain which is next to the Opera House but we will talk about that in the next post of this series.)

    Going in the other direction would bring you to the unrestored Vorontsov Palace which was built in 1826. There is also a foot bridge here known as the Mother in Law’s bridge. This was built in the 1950s by a communist official. It is said that it was built so it would be easier for his mother in law to visit by some people but the opposing view is that it was constructed so it was less likely she would have to spend the night. Naturally, this bridge is covered by love-locks that have swept Europe since the early part of this century. This custom is thought to have started in China. Couples attach locks and throw away the key to symbolize their never ending love. I have never seen this in America.

  To finish off my “T” let me talk about the statue of Catherine the Great. This is directly up the street (toward the city center) from the steps. There was a statue to honor the sailors of the battleship Potemkin here but it was replaced with the one of the Empress in 2007. Catherine brought this region of Ukraine into the Russian Empire so the Russians seem to like the current statue. However, the Ukrainians, the Tatars and Cossacks who were oppressed during her reign seem to favor the former one. It is said to be in storage so it may find a new home somewhere else in the city sometime in the future.

             Posted by John

Women seem wicked when you're unwanted.

            (This is a response to the previous post by Helen)

I have many friends in Ukraine and overall I have found most people ready to lend a helping hand. However, nearly everyone I interact with (this is mainly students, other English teachers and travelers) speaks English. On the other hand, I have walked into an internet café and the person refused to assist me because I didn’t speak Russian. Another time, the clerk at the train station sent me to the “foreign ticket window” when she could have just as easily sold me the ticket. I have also had people ask me for money and then act very rudely (they do seem to know how to say, “Yankee go home”) when I said “No”. This included one person who stopped me while I was walking down the street in Odessa. He must have recognized me as a Westerner because I was carrying a day pack. He offered his services as a translator but I said that I didn’t need one because it was toward the end of my trip. He then asked for $40 and when I refused, he asked why I wouldn’t just give it to him! Once I even saw an American that was taking pictures outside of his hotel being told that he must pay for the privilege by some unknown person who probably did not even work for the hotel. It seems to me that people in clothing stores, restaurants and the people who have their own business at a market are the most helpful. When I’m eating out, I always like to tip extra when a member of the wait staff speaks English.

I’m not really acquainted with “the evil spreading from the West” but I know my brothers thought that one way to judge who won the Cold War was the fact that there is a McDonalds directly across from Red Square in Moscow. I can understand someone’s confusion about why Westerners move to Ukraine. I got this question all the time in my classroom. I got so tired of answering it that I wrote a rationalization note on my Vkontakte page.

Kharkov is very excited about being one of the hosts for 2012 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2012) during June and July of next year. I think a lot of the current infrastructure maintenance in the city is to put on a better face for this event.

It is a mystery why so many Asians come to the Universities in Kharkiv. I guess the education is a better value here or the teaching is just that much better? I am aware of this first hand because I have taught many foreigners in my classroom as well. I’m sure the universities/schools have enjoyed the extra inflow of money from these students. My university in the United States had many international students but it was nowhere near 50%. I always thought of this as a good thing. If someone traveled that far for an education then maybe I made a wise choice myself.  In some of our states there are many illegal immigrants. This may cause schools to be filled with non-English speaking children.  Towns that are not growing may welcome the additional students but sometimes it can also be a burden; if new bi-lingual teachers are required or if there is overcrowding. It may be a surprise to Ukrainians but even if these children are the offspring of illegal immigrants they are guaranteed an education by the U.S. government.

Some things are hard for me to comment on. It is understandable how the oldest citizens in our city might not like hearing the German language because of the Nazi occupation during WW II and the four battles that took place for control of the city but it is unlikely that I would ever be conscious of this because these opinions will not be directed toward me especially in a language that I understand. Alternatively, I do know that the Russian saying “we will show you where a crayfish spent winter” means “to give a person a piece of one's mind” or to punish.

It is interesting to hear the Ukrainian view about the placement of Russian gangsters in American Movies. I can recall them in the movie Eastern Promises and also The Boondock Saints. I don’t really want to talk about taxis right now. I’ll keep the option open to write a whole post about them in the future.

Posted by John

People are Strange: Part II. Those foreigners!

Ukrainians have an equal attitude to all non-Russian/Ukrainian speaking visitors. It doesn’t matter where you are from or how wide the smile is on your face because most people just HATE you. Initially, I think in some minds there is a Soviet mentality of evil spreading from the West. Others will detest you because they don’t know how to communicate beyond their own language. A less rational reason for hatred is that they do not quite understand what in hell brought you to the UA from your well-ordered perfect US/Canada/Germany/Sweden etc. Did you get so bored with everything being perfect at home that you decided to try your luck in a place which some people think of as the Third World? If this is true then we will show you “where a crayfish spent winter”! Also if people do not understand what you are doing here, you will instinctively be considered dangerous. Furthermore everything we are afraid of, we hate, since it reveals our own weakness.

In other words, most Ukrainians aren’t open-minded, so you should expect bumping into a lot of “walls” before you find a common language. However, there are some types of people, mainly translators/interpreters, travelers, students, who would talk to you with pleasure and with whom communication will be easier. The younger generation is curious and doesn’t mind foreigners mingling in their narrow world. It is the exact opposite with people over 30 who also don’t belong to aforementioned categories. If you try, you will meet a strong resistance, people walking away quickly, or pretending that you don’t even exist. This could be proven by one volunteer action I took part in this summer, the main idea of which was to find out whether or not the citizens of Kharkiv are ready to meet foreigners during Euro 2012. As part of our training, we did some role-playing. We pretended like we couldn’t speak Russian and that we needed some help to get around the city. We tried to receive some information from the unsuspecting people of Kharkov.  The reactions were not all the same, but the general statistics were rather upsetting. Even a policeman, quite young, promised to find somebody who could help us in English (he didn’t speak it by himself) and then he disappeared. Poor foreigners! They could have waited for help until Euro 2120!

Kharkov, being a city of students, might be the municipality with the most foreigners in Ukraine. This makes our town more liberal. But I have to admit that I don’t like that the Chinese represent almost half (and the amount is increasing) of the students in my University. Although, I have gotten used to Koreans who have been running their businesses in the Kharkov market for years. The older people would rather not hear German for well-known reasons. Giving foreigners a cold reception in Ukraine may have its consequences. As a result, in Hollywood the worst drug dealers and Mafiosi in movies seem to be Ukrainians or RussiansJ.

The picture I painted here might seem creepy, but I’ve tried to think about the dreadful occurrences which usually happen to foreigners (not because of their own mistakes), and the only one I know for sure is overcharging in taxis. Once the driver realizes you don’t speak Russian he will ask for twice the usual price. So, find a Ukrainian friend who will order you a cab and have some fun!

Posted by Helen

Odessa railway station or rather Jumping all over the map.

It makes some sense that foreigners choose air travel because train stations in Ukraine have either no inscriptions in English or very few of them, except some transliterations which are of no help. This causes some difficulties in getting around the place. It might be better to learn a couple of significant words before going there, such as «поезд» (poyezd) for train, «касса» (cassa) for ticket window, «платформа» (platforma) for track,«метро» (metro) for subway. The last one seems to be the first word learnt by most foreigners coming to Kharkov, but it’s quite useless in Odessa because there is no subway. The absence of it is caused by a ramified system of catacombs under the city (approximately 4000 kilometers) which could be used only if you want to get lost or steal partisan artifacts circa 1945, do some monkey business as a smuggler, or kidnapper etc. If you get really bored you may go there on an excursion, but I will postpone talking about the catacombs for a while so that not to run ahead of John’s “Z to A” order.

I’m not aware of the “beautiful” architecture of Odessa’s train station since I never went inside of it or maybe I did walk in and I didn’t notice anything which is worse, but it doesn’t look impressive for me even from the outside. As many others in Ukraine it was built after its destruction during the WW II. I suppose all of those belong to the so called Stalin Empire style, or simply empire style dominating the whole city. I don’t count the Opera House (or Opera Theatre) building with its luxurious baroque.

Of course, among all of the train stations I have seen in Ukraine I prefer Kharkov’s, but I’m not afraid of being subjective.

The one in Kiev could be competitive if didn’t have a huge steel-and-glass hi-tech appendix which rose on the body of the old building and looks like a parody of the airport of Antalya in Turkey (in accordance with Google images there is the same “palm tree” disaster at the railway in Madrid and maybe at many others which I haven’t seen):

  

                Kiev, modern part of train station building

                                    Antalya, Turkey Airport

Getting back to Odessa’s train station, there is one unpleasant thing about it and all the city streets in general. There are a lot of beggars, mainly gypsies, who are so bothersome that they may even be worse than the taxi drivers who try to catch you just after you get off your train.

I should add something to what John said about the word “вокзал”which itself doesn’t mean “train station”, you may come across it looking at bus stations, sea ports. But if you search in Google, you will find a challenging inscription, «железнодорожный вокзал» (zheleznodorozhnyj vokzal), its abbreviation ЖД вокзал or ж/д you have to be sure that it is about a railway station. It just crossed my mind that I would likely pay a couple of dollars to a foreigner who could pronounce this expression correctly without using an abbreviation.

Posted by Helen