The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1922-03-03
THE UNITED OPINION

Miss Alice Kendall OF Arlington
Heights, Mass, Miss Agnes Gray of
Boston Mass, Mr. and Mrs F
Stevens of Princeton, Ind, Mr. and
Mrs B S Hooker, H E Parker and
Miss Sara K Parker of Bradford VT.
made our party of Twenty-Five
most congenial one, which even the
rigors of sea sickness did not disrupt.
Wednesday noon, Feb. 10Th, we
might say that we set sail over the
Over Seas for Key West. There is
no more remarkable piece of railroad
engineering in the whole world than
this span of rails from key to key.
Words fail to describe the gorgeous
coloring of the waters and to one
who has not seen it, an artist re-
producing them would be accused of
getting out chrome. At six O'Clock,
we were at the Casa Marina, the new
F. E. C. hotel at Key West. Key
West has always lacked hotel accom-
modations, but the Casa Marina fills
the long felt want and does not have
to apologize for being one OF chain
of hotels, which starts with the Ponce
and Alcazar in St. Augustine, down
through to the Breakers and the
Royal Poncianna, the Royal Palm to
the Casa Marina. The elements were
in an entertaining frame of mind SO
we had a good fireworks display ac-
companied by thunder and rain.
At eleven o'clock in the morning,
we left the docks on the "Gov. Cobb"
for a rough passage of the Straights
of Florida; and, perhaps, the seven
hours better be passed over in silence,
which is more than can be said for
some members of our party. On the
twenty-fourth anniversary of the sink
ing of the Maine, we sailed past
Moro Castle, over the spot of the
tragedy, and into Havana Harbor,
one of the most beautiful harbors in
the world.
Cable reservations at Hotel Ritz
did not materialize until the next
morning but the manager of the Ritz
made arrangements at Hotel La
Union, which is one of the newer
hotels in the heart of the business
section. 1t was all dolled up, spanish
STYLE, with bows of blue ribbon and
lace canopies, but little too Cuban
in it's table to satisfy New England
ers for long. However. no fault
could be found reasonably with the
place for it was clean but very differ
ent-but then that was one reason
why we went to Cuba
The new Hotel Ritz is really new;
in fact, it wasn't completed. and the
sound of the hammer and the smell
of fresh plaster and paint greeted us
on every hand and made us realize
that there could be nothing to be
desired in cleanliness. The owner
Mrs Carter, speaks English and the
manager, Charles L Casalduc, also
knows our language, which is great
consideration in selecting hotel
The hotel is furnished entirely in
white and has much the appearance
of hotels in this country. The rates
are reasonable for frst-class service,
the management most courteous and
its location desirable. No one would
make a mistake in staying at this
hotel while seeing Havana. When we
first arrived, there was no cuisine
connected with the hotel, but Satur-
day night, the hotel dining room was
opened in honor of our New England
party and very fine dinner served
Our large party had special table,
literally loaded with red roses. The
dinner was the regulation American
dinner and after two days of Cuban
fare, it was not ungrateful to return
for meal to our accustomed diet
However, La Universal, two blocks
over on Neptuna Street gave us a
glimpse of the Cuba al fresco dining
and the food was palatable, the
proprietor speaks English and this is
more important consideration than
may at first appear. You realize
this when you inquire and Their
raise your voice and yell only to gel
the information 81 no speaka dc
English" One Cuban, we asked if he
spoke United States and he said he
did but on trying him out further
he said 81 no speaka de English
which bears out the English conten'
ton that English as she is spoke
is not Spoke" in the United States.
The Redingtons of Boston have
charge of the Royal Blue Line il
Havana and we chartered one Of
their big buses and saw Havana
While all sorts of fun is made of the