>Day 4, Hawaiian Culture

>Yesterday, I decided to take in some Hawaiian culture. So headed out to Iolani Palace. I found it fascinating. Lots of European, American and Asian influence. King Kalakaua took a trip “round the world” during his reign. So I right away thought he was “cool. ” He was the first monarch to speak before our US congress? At least that’s what they said? He met Thomas Edison on that trip who introduced him to electricity, which he then added to the palace when he returned….that was before the White House or Buckingham Palace had electricity (anyway a bit of trivia). They began renovations on the palace in 1969 and it did not open to visitors until 1978 so I had never seen it. It was worth the trip and not that far from Waikiki. (tips: if you go, they have metered parking on site for $1 per hour..you’ll need quarters–concierge had directed me to a garage, which cost $5/half hour! and do the audio tour…I think it was $1 extra and really gave a good overview of the different rooms of the palace).

Right across the street was the famous “Hawaii 5-0” golden statue of King Kamehameha. He was the last descendant in the monarchy (Kalakaua and the king right before him were elected due to unavailability of a descendant to the monarchy). He was responsible for the unification of all of the islands which previously were under individual rule.

Then headed to Bishop Museum to continue my day of Hawaiian culture. It was a little more out of the way, had to hop on H1 to get there, and traffic was horrendous, but my 80 minute massage was still in effect. It was an unbelievable museum and if I wanted to do it justice, I should have gotten there in the morning. It has a Hawaiian culture building, planetarium, dinosaurs, discovery building, gardens, Polynesian building, etc. Some hands on stuff for the kids. If any of you go (such as Kai, Kara and Kean 🙂 make sure you look at their activity guide on their website first as it will help you figure out when you want to get there (I had depended on input from the concierge, which was inadequate). I focused on the Hawaiian culture building which was fascinating.

After a little rest (and resistance band exercises), I headed over to the Tropic Bar and Grill for their famous drink, the “Blue Hawaii” plus they show the current episode of Hawaii 5-0 on Monday nights.

Today, Day 4, I’m sitting by the secluded pool in the shade. I’m the only one here……heavenly. Too early for the tourists and there are big gigantic pools here for the kids. I think this might be what I do today 🙂