That was my second and last trip “to the South.” We rented a room from the same landlord and passed the time the same way as a year before. That meant that we spent mornings at the beach, then went inside to hide from the intense sun. We had milk and bread at home, and then went back to the beach. We had dinner in a small diner close to the beach and would go back to our room. Sometimes, we would wait to see a sunset over the sea.
Mom made friends with another mom who was vacationing with her son, named Sergey. He was approximate my age, and we played on the beach together. A couple of times, we went hiking in the mountains – the mountains started right there, behind the houses. Sergey and I loved making our way through the ferns. Also, that was the first time I saw blackberries and tried them. In Russian, blackberries a called hedgehog berries, and I asked mom whether it is true that only hedgehogs could it blackberries:)
On rare rainy or just not-so-sunny days, we took a train to Sochi. Here I am pictured in my very best dress. This dress was hand-knitted by my grandaunt Fania from a very delicate thread called “iris.” I do not recall why I am so unhappy on these pictures!
In Sochi, we always visited both Upper and Lower Dendrarium parks, with the peacocks wondering around and the huge leaves of Victoria Regia in the small basins. The was a pastry shop by the entrance to the Upper park which sold small cakes with white and pink cream birds on top. That was the only place where are saw these cakes, and mom would always buy me one there.
Sometimes, adults would go to the movies in the evening, and since I could not be left alone, mom took me with her, I remember two movies we watched: Once again about love and Post stamp from Vienna. I remember that I laughed a lot when I watched the last one, although I can’t remember the plot.
I remember that there was a sort of nightmare of getting back. We had to go several times to the ticket office and check our numbers until we were able to get the tickets (I do not remember why we could not buy them in advance). And then, there were again “two days and three nights” to get back, and mom started to put warm clothes on me when the train was approaching the destination.
My historical posts are being published in random order. Please refer to the page Hettie’s timeline to find where exactly each post belongs, and what was before and after.
Hettie's Reflections 