I did surrender my sandals as it was rain, rain, rain in Dublin. The seller wished me happy warm feet after he handed me my red Keds. Yes, Dublin was certainly an experience. It was my first time to visit a country on my own with no apparent reason other than to see the place.

But it was beautiful. I enjoyed walking by the River Liffey during the sunset, strolling on O’ Connell Street and Grafton Street, having a sandwich on the park bench at the Saint Stephen’s Green, taking the bus many times around the city to see many places many times. I visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral, attended a church service at the Christ Church Cathedral, had a Viking experience, etc. It was an interesting three days. But what I loved most was visiting the Dublin City Gallery and especially the National Gallery. I did quite a commotion at the National Gallery when I asked the guards where was this and that painting that it almost became a museum tour! One of the most beautiful and emotional paintings I’ve ever seen is Frederic William Burton’s The Meeting on Turret Stairs,1864. It tells about Hellelil’s love for her bodyguard Hilderbrand, whose death was ordered by her angered father. What a tragedy!

 

After a week in Havana, I started getting too much of the live music and found myself at the comfort of my iPod. As I sit at the lobby of Hotel Praque Central for my afternoon Mojito and some delicious Cuban sandwich, I was ready to shoo away the guitar duo.

Even at my favourite Café de las Infusiones, an attractive courtyard coffee house which serves excellent Cappuccinos, I got enough of the perfect dancing pair and the wonderful pianist. Staring at the yellow wall reflected by the strong sunlight, the blue ceiling holding the ancient looking lamps and fans, I whispered to myself, can the piano and dancing stop for a while?

So returning to Hotel Nacional for the late night Daiquiri while watching the main artery of Havana, the Malecón, I was listening to Night Fever on my iPod. I think I had enough of Guantanamera.

It was one of those special nights at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba. At the Compay Segundo Hall or 1930 as it is called, Orquesta Jorrín, the creator of Cha cha cha, was performing. Such an amazing evening and it was there where I met Teresa García Caturla or Teté as she is fondly known.

Cha cha cha is a dance of Cuban origin and its music was introduced in 1953 by a Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín. Now you may ask, what about the Ballroom cha cha? Well, it was brought to England by a man named Pierre after he visited Cuba, who eventually created it. But the Cuban Cha cha cha is more sensual and more complex than the Ballroom cha cha.

When Teté came to stage, I saw and felt people’s admiration. She is 74 years old, full of energy, an excellent Cuban singer. She is the daughter of Alejandro García Caturla, one of the most important Cuban composers of the 1920s and 30s. In 1963, she joined Cuarteto d’Aida, an all-female group. She even performed in Finland in 1987. In 2004, she recorded the highly successful, Llegó Teté. 

I love the song Piel Canela the most. We danced with this song in Hotel Nacional de Cuba at the Compay Segunda Hall in July 2011.

Walking in the old city of Havana, I came across a shop that is pouring with people. I’ve passed this shop many times before but it was only now that I’ve decided to go in and check out the place. It was a specialist shop. A beautiful specialist shop that sells perfume made from tropical flowers.

The shop is glamorous. With its stained glass windows, glass covered cabinets, shiny mirrors, marble countertops, wooden tables, old looking cash register, pretty bottles filled with perfume and well thought through decorations, it was like going back to the golden old times when women dressed so elegantly with their pointed heels and artistic hats. On the countertops are small colourful clay jars and a stove is also on display where they keep the wax melted to use for sealing the jars once it is filled with perfume.

The shop has two rooms. The inner room shows a mini museum of what this place is all about. The outer room is buzzing with people, smelling strips of paper dipped in perfume, wanting a jar or two of the coveted fragrance. As a lover of perfumes, I have been to a number of perfume shops before but nothing as fascinating as this place. It was nostalgic. Not just the alluring smell surrounding the place but the energy of the shop keepers and those who came to buy. Some undecided and kept coming back to the thin strips of paper. While others, surely are regular costumers of this place, went straight to the counter to place their order.

I was one of those who went through the some two dozen strips of paper. But has been very decided at once. Asking for a small purple clay jar where the Habana 1791 is written across it, I have it filled up with a sweet smelling perfume. For twelve dollars a bottle, I found it not expensive at all and actually felt that I haven’t really spend anything as the experience I had was priceless.

Housed in the former Presidential Palace where the white and gold interior was created by Tiffany’s of New York, the Museo de la Revolución is the place to witness the stages of Cuban revolution and the earlier struggle for independence.

Built in 1913, this neoclassical palace  served as a presidential palace from 1920 until 1965. In March 1957, it was the site of the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Fulgencio Batista. This attempt was led by revolutionary student leader, José Echeverria, who stormed the palace with some 50 students. Batista escaped through a secret passage while half of the students were killed in the attack.

Displaying the various achievements of the revolution, it showed how the socialist government introduced land reform and launched literacy and public health campaign. Among the many displays, from old communication radios, a doll that carried secret messages, revolutionary posters, eyeglasses, shoes, uniforms to Che’s medical instruments, it also displayed the heavy black coat that Fidel wore during his trial when he made his famous speech, History will absolve me.

The featured photo was taken at Museo de la Revolución, with Che Guevara and Camillo Cienfuegos.