Next stop: Plaza de la Revoluci¢n Ministry of Communications building The José Marti Memorial (there's a museum behind it under the large structure) Cuban flag Ministry of Interior building Some Coco taxis. Coco taxis are cheap transport; Carla said they looked like lemons on wheels. The National Library; of interest to Andréa & myself Next: downtown Habana - Old Habana El Capitolio, or National Capitol Building in Havana. was the seat of government in Cuba until after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, and is now home to the Cuban Academy of Sciences. I was told that like Wisconsin's capitol building, it is modeled after the one in Washington D.C. But unlike Wisconsin's (which is 1" shorter than the US capitol building), the Old Cuban Capitol building is 1" taller. After the revolution, the Comité Central del Partido Comunista de Cuba (Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party) building is housed in a more modern structure. The old opera house, the Gran Teatro de La Habana, is located in a building known as the Palace of the Galician Centre, which was built as a place of social reunion for the GALICIAN immigrants in Havana. The theatre has been home of the Cuban National Ballet and, on its main stage, of the International Ballet Festival of Havana. Its facilities include theatres, a concert hall, conference rooms, and a video screening room, as well as an art gallery, a choral centre, and several rehearsal halls for danzarias groups and dance companies. There's an abundance of foot- and horse-powered transportation throughout Cuba. The horse carriages are not just for rides around the square. Later you'll see several equine conveyances we passed on the highway to Jucaro.
	Habana apartment building dates from the 1800's, as is evident in the architecture (it would not look out of place in any European city built at about that time). The apartments are individually owned, but, as I understand it, cannot be sold. As in the old Soviet Union, several families will squeeze into these rooms. I don't know or understand who maintains them, but if they were destroyed (as in a fire), the government would repair or replace them.
Pedal cabs or taxis were also prevalent. One of the narrow old streets with shops which we walked along on our tour, heading for Ernest Hemingway's favorite hotel & bar.
	Myron (dark t-shirt with knapsack & tan shorts) crossing the street as he leads us along the way.
A fresh meat delivery to the butcher . . .
	. . . on a pedal- powered tricycle
In a little park I saw this statue tribute to Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's Sancho Panza. In this park pets were also for sale. The old Habana Johnson's Drug Store (of Johnson & Johnson)
Window display of some of the antique drug store notions
A historic hotel with an art gallery in the lobby with original art on display and for sale.	I believe the statue, however, was part of the historic hotel lobby

TAKIN' A BREAK (FINALLY) HERE