Posted by Bob Perkins
on 6/17/2004, 6:47 am
64.12.116.209
Dave Boe, John Kuester and myself travelled to Odessa, Ukraine to attend the International Submarine Contress on 15 to 17 May. There were 260 submariners from 21 countries in attendance and it was hosted by the Ukraine International Submarine Association. It was quite an event as they really rolled out the red carpet for us and entertained us with banquents, folk dancers and singers, tours and harbor cruises to name a few. It was quite well reported locally with the press and tv in attendance at many of the events.
We three met in London then travelled to Berlin where we were to take a two day train ride to Odessa. Unfortunately Dave got sick and stayed behind but showed up in time for the Congress. John and I had a great time on the train with no food but plenty of wine and were entertained by a Russian singer who did a great rendition of "House of the Rising Sun" in Russian. There was a large contingent of former Soviet Submariners there now mostly retired like us. They were great guys and because English/Russian interpretors were provided we were able to swap "sea stories" with our former adversaries who are now our friends. They couldn't have shown more hospitality and we have great memories drinking lots of vodka with submariners from all nationalities. We all took some sets of silver dolphins and gave them to other submariners and they were quite well received.After the congress ended we three took an overnight ferry from Odessa to Istanbul where we spent a week there relaxing and sightseeing in that wonderful city. The bazaars are especially fun.The congress is held annually and the next one will be in Argentina and in 2006 it will be held either in St. Petersburg or Moscow. I plan to attend that one. All in all it was a great trip.
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