Havana

Tue, Dec 12, Norwegian Sky Cruise Ship, Havana, Cuba:  A long day today, which started out badly because the mattress on our bed made our backs hurt even more than usual.  Our first excursion was to Finca Vigia, Hemingway’s home of 20 years or so.  The home is located in the small, working class town of San Francisco de Paula.  It sits on several acres of a lush tropical forest.  The house itself is quite large, but I like the house in Key West better.  We also stopped in the city center and enjoyed all the beautiful architecture in this city.  From there we walked to El Floridita, a bar Hemingway frequented.  It is supposedly the bar where the daiquiri was invented.  We all enjoyed a delicious daiquiri there.  From there we walked over to the hotel where Hemingway lived for 5 years  before he bought Finca Vigia.  Walked back to our ship and had a drink or two at the deck 11 bar.  Back to our room and relaxed.  I hurt everywhere.  Tonight we’re going back out to the Parisien Review at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba.  We are exhausted.  And tomorrow we’re out bright and early for a tour of old and new Havana.  Wanted to see as much as we could in our short stay.  But it’s killing us.

Early morning arrival in Havana.  A Celebrity ship already in port.

Early morning sunrise and the lights of Havana.

An old fort as we enter Havana harbor.

Not sure--a religious statue I guess.

A home or commercial building of some kind up on a hill as we entered the harbor.

An abandoned warehouse I guess.

Maybe a Coast Guard boat?

Some buildings off in the distance.

Don't think they're worried about air pollution.

CARS

Nash Rambler, I think.

Ah, yes.  The iconic l957 Chevy convertible.

CITY CENTER AND ITS ARCHITECTURE

The newest hotel in Havana.

Another hotel.

Capital building.

Theater of the arts.  They have their own ballet company.

OTHER BUILDINGS

On wash day people hang their clothes anywhere they can.

A school.

Neatly hung wash.

Another wash day photo.

FINCA VIGIA

Hemingway's Havana home for about 20 years.

Guest house.

The grounds.

His four dogs buried here.

His boat, the Pilar.

The fishing chair.

During WWII he would go out in the Pilar in search of German subs.

This boat is beautifully maintained.

Hemingway's study and library. Also some of his trophies from trips to Africa.

Living room.

Entrance hall.

Front of the home.

Living room.

Entrance hall.

Mon, Dec 11, Norwegian Sky Cruise Ship to Havana, Cuba:  After a $100 cab ride. We finally boarded our ship.  We didn’t have priority boarding since we don’t have a penthouse suite this time.  But boarding was handled very efficiently.  After getting on the ship we headed to deck 11 and lunch.  Lunch was good and then we went to the port side and had a couple of cocktails and a cigarette.  They announced our staterooms were ready at 1:30 and so we headed to our room.  Nothing like our penthouse suite, but not bad.  Relaxed for a while.  Then our lifeboat drill was at 3:30.  Dinner at Cagney’s Stake House and then back to our room.  It was really cold last night.  Hopefully it will start warming up.  

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Sat, Dec 9, Miami Everglades RV Park, Homestead, FL:  Up this morning and walked the trash over to the dumpster.  Walked back and it started raining.  Went downhill after that.  Stayed inside reading and playing cards.  Watched the Army/Navy game which made me cold just watching it because it was snowing so hard.  I think it was 76 this morning.  It’s now in the 60s on its way down to the 40s.  This sucks!

Rattle snake on the trail.  Badlands NP.

Fri, Dec 8, Miami Everglades RV Park, Homestead, FL:  Mike dropped me off at a nearby nail salon and then he went on to a Walgreens to pick up his prescriptions.  He picked me up in an hour and then we came back to our site and sat outside enjoying a last day of really warm weather.  Back out at 3:00 to find a restaurant for dinner.  Nothing much around us except fast food places.  So, we got on the turnpike heading south towards Homestead where we’re more familiar with restaurants in that area.  Unfortunately, the turnpike was slammed, moving ever so slowly.  So, we bailed off at the next exit and drove around forever and finally found a barbecue joint and had some dinner.  The food was actually pretty good.  It wasn’t a steak with baked potato smothered in butter and sour cream.  But the food was good, and we were starved by then anyway.  Back home and relaxed.  Supposed to be a nasty day tomorrow and turning colder.  It’ll be a good day to hunker down playing cards and reading.  85 today.

Flaming Gorge, Wyoming--2008

Thu, Dec 7, Miami Everglades RV Park, Homestead, FL:  What a day!  Late morning we went for a walk.  Didn’t make my back any better.  Undaunted, we took the bikes down and went for a bike ride.  I love my new bike!  They have a bike path that runs the perimeter of the park.  Not very long, but was about all we could handle anyway.  We haven’t biked for a while.  Anyway, after lunch we decided to do a dry run and drive to the port of Miami.  What a CF!  The GPS kept telling us to turn where we couldn’t because of construction.  We exited the turnpike and on the exit ramp there was a person in the middle of a three-point turn and heading the wrong way back to the turnpike.  I called 911 and told them.  What an idiot!  Kept going.  We’re now in downtown Miami and every exit she told us to take was wrong.  We ended up getting on Rt. 1 and headed back to our park.  Of course the GPS person kept telling us to make a U-turn, etc.  We finally shut her down and continued on to our park which took forever since the traffic was terrible.  I had already set up a taxi to pick us up on Monday.  He wants $70 to take us there.  That’s fine with us.  Anything to avoid that hot mess!  Came back and made myself a huge vodka tonic.  Mike is amazing!  He’ll drive through any big city.  Even in Paris we rented a car with GPS in French and we actually made it to Normandy and Giverny.  He is awesome!  84 today.  Oh yes, and a cold front is coming.  On Monday the high is going to be 69!!

Tropic Cinema, Key West.