Vegas Looks Like the Corner Craps Game

1946 was the year of the infamous Havana Conference, a mob meeting in December 1946.  The meeting included famous mobsters (or misunderstood Italian-American businessman, depending on your point of view) Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Santo Trafficante, Jr., Frank Costello, Albert Anastasia, Vito Genovese, and others, including a poor decision-maker named Frank Sinatra.  This meeting was made famous by Godfather II, along with, of course, the Revolution on New Year's Eve, 1958.

The cool Hotel Nacional, and Armando's

cool hat in his cool car.

The hotel has an amazing history -- read it on Wikipedia.

Anyhow, the point is, after our visit to Hemingway's Finca, we got our traditional chocolate ice cream and sparkling water.  Then we got changed and hit the pool, because there was no way I was going to miss swimming where mobsters swam.

In the late afternoon, with no more direct sunlight, the pool was relatively quiet.  Very nice -- plenty of cushioned lounge chairs, bar service, and, of course, the whole mob vibe.

The only problem, of course, was that at some point some people were smoking.

Btw, veering off topic again, the smoking in Cuba outdoors on the beach (thanks Europeans!) and in the outdoor restaurants is quite unpleasant.  The other environmental health scare comes when you see the old diesel cars belching black smoke like a 1960 American car in 1975.  Now, most of the cars in Cuba aren't throwing out dirty emissions, so it's not an epidemic, but it is noticeable every so often.

(The blog title is from the first scenes of Godfather II in Havana.)

Guns in the lawn -- fired on a US warship in 1898

The hotel from the lawn