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So opening night of the festival was on Monday 24th. We kicked off on the terrace of the Nacional and got our own cars over to Club Havana where the do was on, the buses can be a real pain. It's the only official event I went to this year and it's nice to meet up with some people and make arrangements for later in the week. Rick and his wife Chris landed in that evening just in time, on the same flight as David Savona and Gordon Mott of Cigar Aficionado. Had a chat with Savona and Mott at the start of the event. I know they sometimes get a bad rap on forums but both really nice guys. Fun time. Started off with a decent light show on the front of the main bauilding, which was quite impressive. Yiorgos and I headed into the shop there for a Monsdale each and get out of the heat for a while. Oddly, the shop was open but nearly empty, 1,200 cigar smokers on its doorstep and very few inside.. Welcome pack included one of the new Partagas D6 plus 4 Hoyo de San Juan, 1 in a tube and a 3-pack. Food of course was atrocious, I had eaten before I went so all I had was an olive and some "cheese" Quote of the night came from Simon Chase, he and his wife were eating at one of the high tables and the event had run out of cutlery, so they had a fork each and a spoon between them. They were both having pork which looked like it had been annealed rather than cooked, it was so tough. At one point, so he could attempt to cut his pork, Simon says to his wife "I believe it's my turn for the spoon dear!" As far as events go, it was one of the best opening nights yet. The location was great, queues weren't too bad for the booze and not all the ashtrays were stolen in the first 10 minutes. We left around 11, back to the Nacional and on from there, of course. Some pictures. Escorted in. her name was Selé, she was supposed to be joining us later on but probably got tired of being asked "so do you come with the cigars", 100 times. Waiting on the Irish The staff looked very young. Synchronised swimming show Los Van Van played here later Aftermath