Architecture in Cuba

I am a fan of time travel and immerse myself in books where I can participate.  In Cuba, the time machine is working very well.  Havana was a bustling city with much wealth in the 30's, 40's, 50's. The buildings reflect this and because there has been few resources to drive growth, these building have been able to continue standing.  Though most are in awful repair.  The government is now working on the main buildings in Old Havana and along Prada street. 

More than 350 buildings were restored between 1981-2004 and in 1982, Old Havana was named a UNESCO world heritage site. UNESCO originally designated 444 sites in Old Havana for preservation and a little more than half have been completed.

Hotel Nacional de Cuba has a strong US history.  It was designed by a NY architecture firm and is similar to the Breakers in West Palm Beach.  The hotel was built on the site of the Santa Clara Battery, which dates back to 1797. Part of the battery has been preserved in the hotel's gardens, including two large coastal guns, the Krupp and the Ordóñez, dating from the late 19th Century.

Some historical highlights:  Havana was the playground for US rich and famous and they stayed at the hotel. Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Mickey Mantle, Johnny Weissmuller, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando and Ernest Hemingway are just a few of the names.  

In December 1946 it hosted a mob summit run by Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, as reproduced in The Godfather part II.  By 1955, Lansky owned a piece of the hotel now managed by Pan Am's Intercontinental Hotels corporation. A casino was added in 1956. But Castro closed the casino in 1960 and the hotel fell into disrepair.

After being designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982, the hotel went through an extensive refurbishing that was completed in 1992.  While it is beautiful, even magical. I recommend staying elsewhere and just visiting. Fellow travelers had many issues with water and toilets in their rooms.

beautiful fixtures throughout

entrance to the old casino are bar area

Hotel logo on their china

painted beamed ceilings

a touch of cuba with moorish tilework

several clocks in the lobby

Catedral de San Cristóbal  was built on swamp land- the center of old Havana. The surrounding Plaza de la Catedral became the location of some of the grandest mansions at the time. The Jesuits built this church by 1777.

Cathedral of Havana 1777

Considered austere for a Baroque style church

3 story wooden doors at the entrance. These locks are shaped like the pope's hat

renovated buildings in the plaza

Courtyard of hotel

Rennovated buildings at Old Square (Plaza Vieja)

another hotel courtyard

art deco style with a touch of Cuba

Palacio Cueto 1906 warehouse, hat factory, then hotel

typical old town street view - restored buildings

concert hall

Towers lit at night

side street old Havana

across from Capitolio on Prada

art deco design

typical inhabited old town building

typical shutters

typical wall of un-referbished building

Asturian Center 1927 - now art museum

next to front door of police station

restored window molding and grill

weathered shutters

1930's woman's hospital

a park across from le Malecon

Capitolio Nacional - remarkably similar to US Capitol

Hen Primping

Time for the girls to get clipped!

Before the scissors

Cosmetologist Mark at work

The girls - human and bird - did well through the first 'haircut'.  We tried to trim some claws but the birds are too young and the one that was clipped ended up bleeding.  But the hen took it in stride.  We kept the end feathers long so the girls dont look clipped when their wings are not spread out. 
They will stay out of Jay's vegetable garden now!

Holidays Means Family and Food

Thanksgiving starts with the proper attitude, and turkey cooking choices. We ended up with 3 types of turkey for 8 people that included roasted, smoked and fried.  The Turk was trying the fry for the first time.

All-important prep work

Seasoning everywhere

The DUNK and FRY technique

   There was much advice, much drinking, and much snacking required to get the turkey to the fry stage.

Awaiting the carving

Dinner is served! This is not the meat table, nor the desert table!

 Then it was Christmas.  Participates jumped to 18 with 5 dogs as most of the siblings made it (not the California family), Marco and Katrinka brought Marco's Ukranian cousin who was visiting the US for work, Tulin was in from Montana, Tim's kids were visiting.

Mom and Katrinka laughing

Cait and Tulin listening

Micki explaining

Katrinka and mom chatting

Sean and Georgie standing

Tim and Kevin drinking

Patrick and Scott thinking

Tulin chats up some of the pups

Marco, Kevin, Marco cousin drinking

Dessert!!

Now that dinners done, let the present opening begin!

Daughters-in-law with their cards

Turk gets chocolate with booze

And, back home again - with new dinosaur.

CHICKENS!

Our goal - EGGS

Yes, we have ventured into the world of laying hens, co-parenting with our friends Susan and Jay.  Since they have a large lot, the hen home (rest of the world would call this a coop) is at their property.
Mark was the main construction guy and he bravely built the home to the joint specs of everyone. Somehow a nice coop came out of that process.

Starting with a piece of wood

Turk built the frame alone - a bit of balancing required

on-site construction continues

A small NYC apartment?

Jay helps with window and walls

Raise the roof

Susan supervises

The turk got himself into this!

Now that we had a chicken home, we needed chickens!  The Chicken Lady lives in Largo on a farm that is now surrounded by subdivisions.  It is interesting to imagine how this area looked not long ago - rural with barns and animals.

The Chicken Lady was patient as we pointed to each young chicken that we wanted her to catch.  Our criteria in picking the hens? They had to look nice and not be mean-acting.

We want THAT one please.

Chicken Lady catches it for us

We have chickens!  They are growing daily and acting more and more like hens. We lost one from being pecked on by the others. At that point we created a pen for them to get out and stretch their legs, and get their favorite dust baths.  They love pecking for bugs.

Christmas lights, double paned window  -but no paint

Pretty chickens

Pecking at the kale