If I Lived Here I Would Drink POG Every Day

Honolulu, HI

March 5, 2015

We woke up as our ship was sailing into the harbor. As we docked we could see Diamond Head from our balcony.

When we went down for breakfast we walked outside on the other side of the ship. The first thing I saw was a pair of small tourist submarines being towed somewhere. Then I looked up and a saw a rainbow over the mountains. Then I looked down and saw a fuel barge right next to the ship. The fuel barge was spotless - one of the cleanest vessels I have ever seen.

After breakfast we walked off the ship and headed towards 'Iolani Palace. On the way we passed one of the famous gilded statues of King Kamehameha I, so we stopped to admire it and take photos.

We realized we were in front of the Hawaii Supreme Court so we went inside for a look around. It is a beautiful building with lots of marble and a stained glass ceiling.

There is a small "judiciary history center" on the first floor. A small theater has five short films that you can watch by touching a computer screen. I picked a film about land law. It was around 10 minutes long. 

At one time, the land was commonly owned by all the people and individuals had rights to use the land. This changed after contact with the outside. Europeans and Americans wanted to be able to own land, so a new legal system began to emerge. I think the Hawaiians got the short end of the stick.

The museum contained exhibits about the Hawaiian judicial system and a full-size replica of a courtroom from 1913. I thought it was interesting that they used to pick juries based on the parties in a case. If both sides were Hawaiian, the jury consisted of twelve Hawaiians. If both parties were haoles, the jury was all haoles. If one side was haole and one side was Hawaiian, the jury had six haoles and six Hawaiians.

Almeda Hitchcock, the only woman lawyer in Hawaii during the monarchy.

We crossed the street to 'Iolani Palace - the only royal palace on US soil. After buying tickets we watched another short film before being escorted over to the palace. The number of visitors is carefully limited to preserve this treasure. We had to wear shoe covers inside and we were given audio guides to listen to as we wandered through the palace. The Palace was completed in 1882 and housed Hawaii's monarchs until 1893 when the monarchy was overthrown. The Palace is an ornate Italian Renaissance Revival style building. The luxurious interior is reminiscent of European palaces of that era. 'Iolani Palace had electricity before either the White House or Buckingham Palace.

The Hawaiian royal family enjoyed a very lavish lifestyle, traveling to Europe and Washington, DC, and entertaining foreign dignitaries at the Palace. In all the portraits and photos they are dressed in Victorian-style clothing. Their china, silver, and crystal came from Europe. There was nothing celebrating traditional Hawaiian culture in the palace.

I wonder what the common Hawaiian people thought of all this extravagance. I wonder if the Hawaiian kings and queens thought they had to act like the European royalty in order to be taken seriously as a sovereign nation. I wonder if they tried to live like Europeans because they were insecure about their non-Western culture. I wonder if they just did it because they enjoyed the money and the good life. I wonder if it was what everybody expected. I suspect it was a combination of all of the above. I do believe King Kalakaua and Queen Lili'uokalani fought for their people and loved their land. Queen Lili'uokalani wrote the famous song Aloha Oe and King David Kalakaua wrote the song that became Hawaii's state song, Hawai'i Pono'i. (Click on the links to hear the songs. If you are inclined to skip Aloha Oe, don't. I really recommend that you watch it.)

Queen Lili'uokalani

The role of the US in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy is embarrassing and shameful. After US Marines went ashore in Honolulu, an act that some have considered illegal, Lili'uokalani was deposed and the Republic of Hawaii was established by a group of European and American businessmen. After two years of political turmoil, the Queen was arrested and imprisoned in a bedroom in 'Iolani Palace. Eventually the US annexed the islands and set up a territorial government.

After our tour it was time for lunch, so we walked to Chinatown. I had previously looked up some places on TripAdvisor. Some of them were food trucks or takeout places. We wanted a sit-down lunch, so we went to a dim sum place on my list. When we got to the address there was no restaurant. It was more like a dumpling factory. There were some street people on the corner who seemed to be doing a drug deal, so I wanted us to get out of there as fast as we could. 

We ended up at the Little Village Noodle House where we had eaten last year. It seems very authentic. There are items on the menu that you don't see in most Chinese restaurants, such as beef tendon soup. We had more standard fare. It was good, but nothing to write home about. The place is noisy and crowded and seems to get a lot of tourists. Some kind of movie or TV show was being filmed on the street just outside, so we had something to watch while we were eating. We didn't see any actors, though. Mostly, it was just technical people standing around looking self-important and a lot of trucks full of mysterious pieces of equipment. 

On the way back to the ship we stopped at Walmart to get bottled water and POG and some other odds and ends for our cabin.

POG = Passion-fruit, Orange, and Guava juices

Then we went to a little plaza where there was free wi-fi. It's easy to spot these places because you will see crew members from the ship sitting around with phones and tablets and laptops. I wanted to use the free wi-fi to upload some more photos to my blog and correct the dates on blog posts, but it was so slow it wasn't worth it. Even the ship's wi-fi is faster.  So at that point we decided to head back to the ship and maybe get some sun by the pool. Honolulu is such a great port because the pier is RIGHT downtown. You can walk to a lot of places.

We never made it to the pool - it was too windy. But we did see another rainbow from our balcony.

At dinner we sat with a couple who were to be getting married the next day on Maui. (They were older than us.) They showed us photos of their Hawaiian wedding clothes. Very nice. 

After dinner we went to see The Imitation Game. I liked it but I would like to see Benedict Cumberbatch (I love that name) play a role other than a genius with Asperger's before he gets typecast.

Sailaway wasn't until 11 pm.

Full moon over Honolulu.  Happy Purim!