Gosh, every port has been so different. Woke up this morning to find more rain and what seemed to be mountains. The rain cleared up to expose extremely large mountains. It was absolutely stunning. The Ukraine is turning out to be quite a beautiful place. It is very green with high rugged Alp like mountains going down to the ocean.

There were 4 and 6 hour tours to select and I was of the mind to select the longest to get the most out of the area. I also wanted to really understand the Romanovs. I think I over did it a bit and palaced out. First we saw the Massandra Palace, designed after a French Chateau. It was a very beautiful place, with comfortably sized rooms. Sadly, not much of the furniture was original to the house. This house was originally commissioned by Tsar Alexander III and later used by Stalin as his summer Dacha. I kind of thought of a Dacha as a small place. On this trip, I learned they are palaces or mansions.

Next, we visited Livadia. The sun came up and gave us beautiful views of the palace buildings and extensive gardens overlooking the sea and the bay of Yalta.This was the Palace in which Stalin, Churchill, and FDR held the Yalta Conference, and met to re-draw the map of europe at the end of the war.


You can see the table where the Big Three and their staffs sat, and the English billiard room where the crucial documents were signed. Photographs taken in the palace at the time are displayed on the walls, and in the White Hall under glass there are original copies of Pravda dated 13th February 1945 reporting the outcome of the conference. The table was moved to the anteroom as the original summit room is sometimes used by the Ukrainian authorities for international summits.

FDR stayed here and much effort was made to see that he was comfortable,right down to ensuring that his bed was the right shade of blue,his favorite color. We then left the political arena and ventured upstairs to begin the Romanov discussion (as this tour was called the Romanovs and their Last Refuge(pronounced RoMANov. Sadly, most original artifacts have been lost. We were able to see their beautiful private apartments: Nikolai's private study including photos taken by the Tsar, a keen amateur photographer, the dining room, bedrooms and boudoir, the library - with a 1913 copy of the local society newspaper "Russkaya Riviera" - and poignantly, the classroom with a number of sketches by the Tsar's daughters, Tatiana, Olga, Maria and Anastasia.


The frequent presence of the imperial family at Livadia made Yalta made a very fashionable place to be, and the number of shops, theatres, sanatoria and hotels in the town increased rapidly. Alexander's acquisition and development of vineyards, and his purchase of the Massandra Palace as a second residence on the opposite side of Yalta from Livadia accentuated this effect still further.

We then moved on to the Stables for lunch. It consisted of water, red wine, salad, hot borscht (with potato, meat), and pork...though I asked for something else..and a fruit parfait for dessert. I was offered chicken instead of pork. I asked how it was prepared. Answer? A fajita. I said, "That's Russian?" Answer, "No, it's Mexican." I asked for something Russian and got a veal dish.

We then visited two other palaces in the afternoon. One was the Dubler Palace, the one from which the remaining Romanov's were rescued by the British Royal family by ship.

The second, was a moorish designed palace for a son of another Romanov, now used as a rehabilitation facility. It seems that several palaces, including Dubler, have now been turned into State run, rehabilitation facilities. When one is recovering from CV problems or respiratory issues, you are covered 100% for recovery at one of these lovely facilities. However, while physician care and surgical care are covered, the majority of prescription drugs are all out of pocket.

From there it was 3pm and we returned to the ship. What a long day! Doug and I freshened up and went back out to explore the lovely port town and teeny beach. There was some decent shopping to be had and it was a lively town with popcorn vendors, wine stores, caviar...

Then, we finally freshened up for dinner and enjoyed a lovely meal in Portofinos, the Italian restaurant. They began with a wine tasting and hors d'hoevres followed by a delicious multi-coursed meal of beef carpaccio, mini pizza, salad, pasta, choice of several entrees (I had ossobucco and Doug had swordfish) and then dessert). Then, we went to the show which was a local Yalta special and off for a nightcap and to chat with old and new friends.

Tomorrow ...Sevastopol