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12 January 2003: Second day in Habana on foot. This morning we got up at 7 AM and were at the old town of Habana at 9:30 AM. We saw the museum of the colonial government. It was very interesting . Lots of old beautiful furniture, and chandeliers. It also had a room devoted to Carlos Manuel de Cespedes who launched the first independence movement in the 1870ies. The second independence movement was in 1896. There was a room with a painting of all the people from all over the world who came to help fight in 1896. Among them Maximo Gomez from the Dominican Republic, some Russians, some British People, and some South Americans. There were flags from all the countries who sent people. It was a good representation of Europe, Central and South America. Unfortunately the U.S. intervened in 1898 with the Spanish American War and crushed this movement putting in a puppet regime. This continued until Castro and the 39 other revolutionaries, and the Cuban people gave Cuba its independence from the U. S. in 1959. One of the nicest rooms in the museum for me was the children's playing room (1800reds) with beautiful miniature chairs, chest of drawers, dolls, and a full kitchen set of dishes. Also strolling through the museum were beautiful peacocks. We then saw the Cathedral where there was a Cuban drum section accompanying the children's choir singing the hymns. It really rocked with an Afro-cubano beat. It was Sunday and this was mass! We then walked around a bit more and ate an incredible meal at an Italian restaurant with a balcony looking across the bay to the old Habana Fortressand the huge 'Jesus Statue' watching the harbor. The Penne I ate with tomatoes and Garlic was incredible. I am sure it was real Italian noodles. We then took a cab back to our Casa Particular and hopped on the nice tourist bus to Varadaro Beach. I went to sleep at 9:30 PM to rest up for the flight tomorrow evening.
