Palace Adventures (Hawaii #5, July 23, 2013)

Another beautiful, sunny day, waking up to the sounds of waves crashing on the beach!  Our goal today: tour Iolani Palace. We opted for the audio tour, with easy-to-listen-to headphones, progressing from room to room.  What we did not expect was the magnificence of the palace and the importance of the last monarch, King Kalahaua.

Iolani Palace, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Royal crest on entrance gate, Iolani Palace.

King Kalahaua built the palace at a tremendous cost, $340,000 at the time.  It was completed in 1882.  This palace had electric lights even before the United States White House!  Built by Thomas Edison, the electric system was self-contained in the palace and, as a result, there were no off-on switches.  The king had a private telephone system over which he could communicate with his primary officials.  The telephone is on the wall of his office.

King Kalahaua's Office.

 

My favorite room, the Blue Room.

The Grand Staircase led to the family rooms upstairs.  Throughout the house are many native Hawaiian woods and imported woods.  Portraits of previous reigning monarchs and queens adorn the walls of this large entrance hall.  In contrast to other grand residences, there is no  hidden entrance for servants.  All used this staircase.

The Throne Room is the largest room in the palace.  Dignitaries were received with great ceremony.  On the walls are Hawaiian crests and those of many other nations.  Many costly gifts from other monarchs such as statues and vases from China are in the Entrance Hall and Throne Room.  (Please note the red and yellow "standards" on both sides of the thrones. They were used to shield the king for his subjects.  If they passed near enough to get in his shadow, in old times, the legend says, they would be killed.  Compare them to the standards on the sides of Christ The King's altar at St. Augustine by-the-sea church in the blog entry of Sunday, July 21st.)

A unique practice: the King sat in the middle of one side of the table so he could converse with all the guests.  The table service was as grand as those of any other monarch or ruler in the world.

There are many other interesting, singular facts about King Kalahaua.  He was elected king in 1873. At the beginning of his reign, King Kalahaua was the first monarch to tour the world, a trip taking seven months.  He wanted to meet other monarchs and learn how to rule his subjects well. There seemed to be a constant battle with his legislature to limit his powers.  He and Queen Kapi'olani had no children.  The king journeyed to San Francisco in hopes of a cure for his strange illness but died there in January of 1891. Since there was no telegraph service to Hawaii at that time, the Queen and Hawaiian people only learned of his death when they saw the United States ship enter their harbor draped in black.  There is a sad photograph of the Queen dressed in black, draped over the King's coffin which is also draped in black.

With no heirs, King Kalahaua's sister, Lili'uokilani, succeeded him but the government was soon overthrown in 1893 and the monarchy ended.  Queen Kapi'olani was imprisoned in one room of the palace for nine months.  What a sad ending to a long-serving family!

After Theresa and I toured the first and second floors, we went to the basement. Displayed were the crown jewels and jewelry, family portraits of the royalty, and other artifacts.  The immense kitchen occupied the central part. Around the periphery were offices and storerooms.  We were quite impressed both with the efficiency and grandeur.  Apparently, no expense was spared in this 'house!'

The Big Surprise (Shock!)

As we leisurely strolled toward the gates of the palace, we were greeted by a strange sight: there were no cars parked on the street in front of the palace, including our rental car! Rush hour on the busy five-lane, one-way street was in full swing. On the sidewalk there was a group of six other American tourists with the same problem: our cars had been towed! This is a common problem for tourists, we were told.

One woman informed the rest of us what we were supposed to do: call '911!' Theresa did that.  Long story short, minus the drama:  had to take cab to hotel, retrieve rental car contract, continue in cab to tow company, pay ridiculous fee to retrieve car with police parking ticket neatly tucked under the windshield wipers.

Moral of the story: notice "Tow Zone after 3:30 pm" signs!

                                            

Of Sailboats

Back on our room's balcony, we count a total of sixteen boats on the horizon.  Two are cruise ships, white, sleek and fast.  One is too obscure to classify.  The rest are sailboats, all thirteen of them.  Their sails are unfurled, all beautiful and most are colorful.  They glide slowly, gracefully.  Would it be a waste of a life just to watch the boats pass by on this balcony?  Nevermind, I dare not be tempted to go there!

Dinner at Duke's Canoe Club

Theresa and Jan at Duke's

 

Close to our hotel, a short walk in the sand on the beach, is a restaurant called Duke's.  It was named after a famous Hawaiian Olympic athlete.  Duke's is extremely big, busy, loud, packed with hungry people.  It is first-come-first-serve.  A kindly young waiter advises us, "Just look for a table with bills and credit cards out.  Ask them if you can have their table when they leave.  It's the only way you'll get a table."  Fortunately for the two of us, this didn't take long.

Our meal was quite tasty.  I enjoyed mac chicken (chicken breast with crushed macademia nut crust), rice, and macaroni salad.  Theresa had a bacon cheeseburger with waffle fries.  Our drinks were "Lava Flows", a pineapple/strawberry/rum smoothie type with a thin wedge of pineapple.  They were very pretty!  As usual, we could people-watch and boat-watch, just for fun.

With a bit of shopping on the way through the labrynthe of the mall back to the hotel accomplished, we had enjoyed another Day in Paradise, Praise the Lord!!