“Don’t tell Mom.” “But Dad, there ‘s blood.” replied Daniel. “Oh, I guess then we will have to tell her.”
A bit more on that in a bit. We had been tossing the idea of going south for a holiday for a while, but nothing concrete had been planned. After Sept 1, prices drop dramatically, so late Sunday night we decided to leave for a week, and by Tuesday afternoon we had tickets on the train south for Tuesday night (and coming back the following Tuesday). An overnight train ride to Simferopol, and then a 1.5 hr van ride to the city of Alupka, on the southern coast. Housing – well that was another question that we resolved once we arrived. As we rode I spoke with the van driver – of course he knew someone who had apartments/houses for rent. The price quoted was less than what I saw available on the internet, so it worked for us.
What a beautiful part of the country! Palm trees and warm breezes, and the water wasn’t too cold either. In the area that we were at the beaches were something a bit different than what we were used to – as in pebbles (thats what our friends in Sumy called them – we called them rocks) and no sand. But It was warm and it was beautiful.
Each morning we hiked 40 minutes along the road from where we stayed to the beaches/area that we would enjoy for the remainder of the day. Then we hiked back, hoping to arrive before dark as it was a pretty busy street with no sidewalks. There was more than once when we felt the brush of a vehicles mirror as it passed by us.
Crimea is a land of history, and we didn’t get a chance to see all of the famous landmarks and sites, but we did get up the side of the mountain on the cable car to Au Petrie. Wow, now that was a sight. Once you get up there it quite a number of interesting items – including a variety of animals (like the real live lion cub that the kids are holding), WW2 motorbikes, and a small shooting gallery which are very popular here. Basically Co2 pistols and rifles of all shapes and sizes. Just what the boys would want to play with.
So Daniel took his turn, and had a great time. Then I took my turn. My pistol didn’t work after a couple shots, so I handed it back to the owner. He began to fiddle with as I turned to say something to Daniel. Of course, it went off. And of course, he wasn’t being 
the most conscientious, so when it fired, it was pointed in my direction. Praise the Lord that a) it didn’t hit a soft/vital area & b) I have a thick head.
Have a great day,
John
4 the 5 of us
More photos can be seen here
John! Leanne could have been a widow today, & the kids fatherless! That fellow wasn’t very careful.. That’s a nasty red spot on your forehead, it would have been difficult to hide!!
Nope, couldn’t hide it and so when I came around the corner the reaction was predictable – which made both Daniel and I laugh because we knew that we would get the reaction. It looked a lot worse than it was, and when we thought of the possible what could have been, we were very thankful for the minimal that it was.
Whoa! You can literally say you’ve been shot in the head.
Yes. My new claim to fame 🙂
yep. that was a first for me.