Farewell to Luda

Today I feel fit again. My four letters are ready for action again and we can get back on the saddles. It’s an ideal day, because the rain has stopped and the thermometer shows just 27 degrees in the shade. We pack up slowly and have another hearty breakfast with Luda, Helena and Valentina. As we shake hands, Helena hands us an envelope. We open it and discover a two-dollar bill. “Two-dollar bills are not so common. It is a symbolic gift to you. The note should bring you luck. That good things happen to you. Have a safe journey at all times and we wish you the same lovely people you met in Moldova,” she says. Luda suddenly cries. She turns around and wipes the tears from her eyes. We hug each other again, take a few farewell photos together and leave the family behind.

In good spirits, we follow the road eastwards. Maybe it’s because it’s Sunday or because the vacations are over. We don’t know, but the traffic has suddenly become much less. With no headwind, good temperatures and healthy bums, cycling is fun again. We reach the harbor town of Yuzhne in the afternoon. We check into the hotel we actually wanted to be in a week ago. It’s not cheap (60,-) but after we haven’t stayed in a hotel for six weeks now, except for the night after Odessa, and the next accommodation is still a long way away, we feel very comfortable here. The house is spotlessly clean and even the floors are polished. We take a glass elevator to the fourth floor. The view from the elevator falls onto a beautiful glassed-in inner courtyard where a piano player is playing his best. After the simple accommodation at Luda, we can hardly believe our eyes. As if we had suddenly landed in a palace. Tropical plants and ferns hang down from the six-storey high glass building. The temperatures in this palace are pleasantly cool. When we enter our room, we are jubilant with joy. It is also very clean and has air conditioning, a balcony and a view of the Black Sea. The latest and best that modern technology has to offer is the standard of this store. Simply incredible. Later, we sit in the huge atrium and listen to piano, clarinet and flute music. It’s amazing what such a travel life has to offer. The contrasts, the highs and lows, the constant change of our moods, the ups and downs of life could not be more powerful and, on the other hand, more comforting and delightful.

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