Get up early, shower, eat lots of fruit and a cup of strong coffee at breakfast, and taxi to the venue early, before 9:30am. Weapons inspection is the same joke as last year: a glance inside the bell and a quick weight and shim test. They use a blue magic marker to write "H00" inside my bells and on my body cords and mask. Punch test on the mask? Not a chance.
There are 61 fencers total in the Men's Épée. Hold out the top 16 until the second day, and you get 45 people in seven pools of six and seven. They will take 70-80% of the fencers up, so winning at least two bouts is essential. I warm up with Nat Burke, and he lands a ferocious touch on my hand, leaving a bruise that will last over a week. I get a pool of six, starting around 11:30. I fence pretty well, winning 3 bouts and losing 2, and finish with -5 indicators. That puts me at 20th out of 45, or 36th going into the second day. I'm quite pleased with that.
Here are some pictures of me in my pool.
My scheduled opponent for 10am the next day is Sven Strittmatter from Germany. I ask Eric Hansen for advice, and he says "I've taken lessons from him. He uses a French grip, and still coupés." Thanks Eric, that really bolsters my confidence.
The whole thing is done pretty early, so I eat some kind of Cuban marinated ground steak (that turned out to be very tasty) in the concession at the venue, and we sit down to wait to catch a van with some NYAC fencers back to the hotel. I buy two boxes of cigars at a very good price from a prominent US official (who I won't name). The van doesn't show, so Mary and my fencing bag and myself cram into a tiny cab and take the colorful ride back ourselves.
I shower, and we walk around Habana Vieja some more. Here's Mary knocking on a side door of the Cathedral.
That door and the view down the street towards Plaza Catedral.
This is the inside of the Cuban experimental art center, where we buy three pieces for $75 total and are told we're the best customers today.
We eat dinner at a downtown restaurant that has pea-fowl in its courtyard.
The Plaza de Armas, with Mary and with the book sellers market.
Plaza de San Francisco.
The building on the left gives me the impression it's some kind of government building like the Senate. I don't know much about the structure of the Cuban government, so I can't tell you what it actually is.
An incredible old building, with its interior mostly gone. You see the sky through the door...
There are beautiful houses all over Havana. Some have been or are being restored, but most are slowly crumbling.
Kids climbing off a trailer of potable water just after a policeman blew his whistle and told them to stop playing on it.
A building under restoration. It was a hotel built in 1909, and the stonework is exquisite. Notice the ubiquitous policeman at the intersection (he's the same one watching the kids playing).
A view of the fountain and another beautiful building.
Typical Havana street.
Kids playing Volleyball. I took a lot of pictures to try and get a good action shot.
The Capitol is reputedly modeled after the US Capitol building. This isn't a classic car show, it's just what people drive.
A building under serious restoration.
The peoples' bus.
Part of a fountain.
That building near the capitol.
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