Day 2: El Capitoilio - The Outside

During our time at El Baturro it rained heavily for a few minutes so when we emerged onto the street we were faced with walking through a very wet and soggy Havana.

There was a distinctly sour smell in the air and the cobblestone streets and muddy walkways had bits of litter in the gutters that made the trip a bit unpleasant. Not to mention the fact that the rain had added a bit of humidity to the air so it was also warm and sticky. Thankfully once we were out in the open air away from the narrow streets and run down buildings.

After a short while we arrived at our next destination the Capitol Building (El Capitolio). It was apparently modeled after the US Capitol Building.

The first thing I noticed upon walking up to this enormous building was that at the base of the staircase that went up to the main entrance were about 3 or 4 people taking photos for tourists using the oldest cameras I've ever seen!

They would wait for you to approach them and ask for a photo, then they'd have you stand on the staircase with the building behind you and take your picture and it would come out in black and white.

As we walked further up the stairs towards the building itself there we really got a sense of how large the building is. There were statues placed at either end of the staircase and very tall columns outlining the doors. Since the day was drawing to a close we didn't have time to go inside but it was definitely something we planned to do on another day.