We walk all around Habana Vieja, and buy a pile of books and some old and new Cuban currency of interest. The book market in Plaza de Armas is filled with very old books at very cheap prices by US standards. The sellers also hawk cigars, coins, stamps, baseball cards, just about anything someone might buy, and the overall quality is surprisingly high.
Today is supposed to be weapon check day at the venue, but having seen how things went last year, I decide to wait until tomorrow morning to deal with that. It turns out to be a good decision, especially since it was Mary's first day in Cuba and we got to see a lot of the downtown.
Old buildings with amazing ironwork.
Building near the Capitol.
Gateway into Chinatown restaurant district.
I believe this is the Museum of Colonial Art. Lots of Cuban stained glass, iron work, and "old stuff" in general.
Some flowers and one steeple of the Cathedral.
Mary making out with a Havana mail slot.
The Havana harbor. There are men fishing and boys swimming in the water, which is covered by an oil slick. That can't be good for you.
Plaza de San Francisco de Asisi, or something like that. These pictures are taken in a 360 degree panorama.
The hotel maid constructed swans from our fresh towels and did a fancy job on the bedspread. She left a note in very broken English wishing us luck and happiness.
At 7pm in Hotel Palco is check-in, but that turns out to mean check-in for the Heads of Mission from each country. I am allowed to pay my $20 entry fee right then instead of waiting until the morning, which saves a little time and stress. Plus I get to talk to George Kolombotavich for a couple minutes and make sure I don't need to be at the venue at 8am like the schedule could make you believe. The Hotel Palco is very nice, possibly nicer than the Plaza. But after being bumped last year, I feel I made a good choice to stay downtown.
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