Life Is A Movable Feast

Besides being the title of my favorite Hemingway book (when you read the book in Paris as a 21 year old, the book takes on extra meaningful meaning (or something else, less awkwardly phrased), "Life Is A Moveable Feast" described well our dinners in Havana.

We had the good fortune of having Paul Maslin (and eventually his daughter, Sarah), Charlie and Lucy Cook, and their son Jeff, and girlfriend Ellen at the conference and as dinner companions.

The first night, we were meeting at 5:15 in the lobby to cab to dinner at Vistamar, a restaurant Charlie raved about from his previous trip to Cuba.  We ran into Paul in the lobby, and said, hey, let's go -- Charlie said we need to be there for the sunset.  Vistamar means sea view, and apparently the sunsets are spectacular from there.

To his partial credit, Paul didn't immediately throw the Cook party of four under the bus -- he protested that he should wait for them, so they didn't wonder where Paul was.  I'm the Iron Tourist, so plans should not be subverted -- especially if it involves a sunset.

So I point out the sunset option to Paul, and, given a second chance, he tosses them under the bus.  (To be fair, once we left, Paul agonized over the Cooks the whole time -- I did not -- figuring Charlie/Lucy are adults who would figure it out!)

After a lengthy cab ride to the western suburbs, we pulled up to a spectacular house hard by the ocean.  We were led upstairs and sat overlooking the pool and the ocean, as the sun set to the west (did I really need those last three words?  Probs not).  Paul continued to fret, as Carol and I were wowed by the view.

The sunset was pretty, although we could have done with some fewer clouds.

The pool below our dinner table.

Oh, and the ocean.

Fewer clouds and the sunset

would have been spectacular.

Charlie, Lucy, Jeff and Ellen got there eventually -- they missed the sunset but did not hold Paul's leaving (and ours) against any of us.

The food was amazing -- many of us had the lobster, shrimp & fish special, while Paul had the whole red snapper.  The food was fabulous, we had a great conversation, the wine was very good (Spanish red) -- all in all it was a great night with friends.

Afterwards, we returned and went to the famous "Historic Bar" at the hotel, which has pictures of celebrities, sports stars, and politicians who have visited the hotel since it opened in 1930.  We got chased off when a group of predominantly young men took over the bar and were too loud for us old fogies!  Great night, especially because a few hours before I thought we wouldn't have a room!