Yesterday was my brother in laws girlfriends birthday. She wanted to go to Riviera mall in fontanka. Since they don't have a car, my wife and I to them. Went to the mall and while my wife and tanya shopped, Vladimir, my wife's brother, went and rode the go karts in the parking lot until it started to rain. Mall.was virtually empty so it was good. After my wife dropped a few ben Franklins, we left for city center. Again, the girls more shopping but I did get draged into the DKNY shop where my wife attempted to get me to try on some gay white t shirt, or footbolka as they say in russian. Meanwhile, Vladimir and I went and found a place to have a beer. Then the girls showed up and we went to a nice restaurant called," city garden". After this it was off to Arcadia beach.
The reason I am telling all this is because though I have been to odessa many times, it has only been to the outskirts to 7km to buy clothes for my wife's shop. I have never experienced odessa like this. It is very much different than nikolaev. Nikolaev feels like living on a military base. It is very sterile and nothing. Nikolaev very much wears on me.mentally as there is nothing to really stimulate you mentally. Maybe it's just me. But odessa is a modern international city and it feels good and alive to be there. I told my wife that we need to move to odessa. There is nothing in nikolaev, but odessa has everything that an American city has. Maybe not alot of it, but I think you could find at least some. For those of you that come from a very busy city in america with a night life and plenty to do, nikolaev may not be for you. I think you would be much happier in a bigger city like odessa, kiev, lviv. Just my opinion based on my needs and wants. In America, I lived in new York, Las Vegas, Dallas, San Diego and Atlanta. So there is the point of view I am coming from. Have a good day!