Black Sea Beach Party
Trip Start
Apr 18, 2010
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42
47
Trip End
Jul 07, 2010
Odessa, Ukraine
Monday, June 28, 2010
Then Vlad called. He said he and his wife, who both work in the clothing industry, were headed down to Odessa for the Fashion Week Expo happening over the weekend, and he ask me to come along. Parties, free booze, the beach, and hot models? How could I refuse!
It was about a 5 hour drive from Kiev to Odessa but it was interesting checking out the countryside and life outside Kiev. It's kinda like the wild west once you leave the big city. Bad roads, abandoned bridges and road projects from lack of money, nobody obeying traffic laws, people selling stuff everywhere along the side of the road, and I even saw a horse and buggy! Plus, there were no rest areas so people were just parking on the side of the road everywhere and going in the fields and bushes. There were A LOT of Ukrainian police stopping cars so that kinda kept things from getting too out of control. We stopped for lunch at this great local Ukrainian diner on the side of the road and I had some real good authentic Ukrainian food. And I couldn't refuse a shot of their home made melon vodka. It was awesome!
We checked into this really old Soviet style hotel which looked like something right out of an old Russian spy movie, but it was clean and comfortable. I felt like I was sleeping in some old military barracks though. From my balcony I had a great view of these really super modern condo buildings which look like something you would find in L.A., but these were almost totally abandoned due to the economic crisis. I guess the Russians built them but couldn't find any buyers. Other similar buildings that were occupied had For Sale signs everywhere.
The Fashion Week Expo was being held right down the street at a really nice new mall. Vlad was able to pull some strings and get me a ticket. When I entered, I thought I had entered the gates of heaven. Eastern European supermodels were EVERYWHERE! I know I keep saying that, but this time I really mean it! This was really unbelievable! And there were tons of photographers, video crews, and reporters covering the event all weekend. Apparently this is quite a big deal here, I guess kinda like NY fashion week is for the US. I'm not big on fashion shows, but it was cool to see how it all works and the outfits the models were wearing definitely kept me interested LOL!
After the show we headed down to the beach to this really awesome after party which was being held at this really cool beachfront night club. It was the perfect mix of beach, booze, and women! And not just any women, but all the hot models from the show! I had a great time.
During the show I met some very nice women including two fashion designers. Lena and Golda who both seemed very interested in me. Lena offered to show me around town so the next day her and her friend picked me up at my hotel and we spent the day exploring the city of Odessa, which is really nice by the way. It was actually built by the French back in the Napoleon days and it has tons of really old buildings, great little museums, and the world famous Odessa Opera House. Two were built by this famous architect and the other one is in Vienna. I also checked out the so called "mother-in-law bridge". Local legend has it that the bridge was constructed fifty years ago by a government official whose wife's mother lived on the other side of the ravine, a treacherous journey. There are conflicting accounts of his motivation: either he wished to make his mother-in-law's visits easier or he hoped to ensure she had no reason to insist on spending the night. Now it's a popular spot for newlyweds to engage in the local tradition of placing a pad lock on the bridge following their wedding ceremony. There are thousands of them attached to the bridge.
Later that night I went back to the Fashion Week Expo for another night of supermodel watching. It's a tough job I know, but somebody has to do it LOL! After the show Golda, the other really nice Fashion Designer I met the night before (www.goldafashion.com), asked me if I wanted to go out with her and her friend to another party. We ended up going for sushi and then to yet another awesome beach nightclub for drinks. It was a great night, but it was also getting late and we had to drive back to Kiev in a few hours, then straight to the airport to catch my flight to Moscow!
