Volcanoes, wars, water and rainbows

This being our last day on Oahu, I just HAD TO go to the top of Diamond Head, the crater of the extinct volcano which we’ve been looking at for the last three days.  So I skipped the visit to Pearl Harbor (honestly, I know the story, and don't need to see it in person), and headed out bright and early to avoid going up in the mid-day heat.  I missed the sunrise there, but that’s OK because, from the number of people coming down as I was going up, it must have been quite crowded up there at sunrise:  You have to make a reservation to enter, as the park department limits the number of people who can be there at one time.  Which is good, because it must get very busy in peak season. 

   The climb to the top is slightly under a mile, and is a well maintained trail - with a series of switchback making it easier, and then stairs and tunnels through the rim of the volcano to the top. 

 This spot had anti aircraft and canons equipment during WWII  (still has a military based in the crater itself), so all this infrastructure was built to support it, not to make it easy for tourists to get to the top….  Still it’s cool and you can even get into one of the silos (requires a bit of crawling) and down part of the hill on this cool spiral staircase.   There were little kids doing it (though most of them were whining about it), as well as people in flip flops and out of shape (definitely a lot of huffing and puffing was happening).  So it is not a huge achievement to make it to the top, but it’s still a lot of steps and up hill the entire time!

 The views are, of course, what it’s all about and well worth the climb.  

 It’s also a great spot to observe the weather:  our guide had warned us that, even when the weather is completely sunny, it can start raining at any time. And that’s true.  More than once now, I’ve been rained on while there were no clouds at all above me. 

 From the top of the crater, you can clearly see that at any time, any of the puffy clouds can produce a shower, and my guess is that there is enough of a breeze that, even if not right under the cloud, you end up caught in the shower.  Considering the weather, it’s actually rather pleasant - although on our first day here, we ended up caught in a short but strong downpour.  As our guide pointed out:  the worst that happens is that you get wet, and it’s warm enough that you’ll dry quickly.  

 Also, showers produce rainbows.  This one points to our hotel - the smaller pink one now completely surrounded by much larger buildings.   

 

Since I had started so early, I decided to walk back to the hotel rather than taking an Uber:  it’s only about 2.5 miles and it was very pleasant.  On the way, I took pictures of the flowers (see the end of the blog), and tried to take pictures of the local birds, but they have the annoying habit of flying away when I get near…. Still,  here are a red crested cardinal, a yellow fronted canary, a common myna and an egret.  

   But by far the most common birds here are white pigeons (some are tanned or grey too, but white is the most common color) and chickens.  Wild chickens are apparently all over Kauai, but even here, in very developed Honolulu, there are chickens on every patch of grass!  All types of chickens: small, big, beautifully colored, dull…..  (more chickens and pigeons at the end of the blog).

   The beach on the way back has nice water and surf inspired sculptures.  This one is Duke Kahanamoku.

 

And of course, there are trees!   I have a hard time not taking pictures of every magnificent tree.   So here is just one for today. 

Joe went to Pearl Harbor and took cool pictures of the USS Arizona memorial and of the USS Missouri - but agreed that I probably enjoyed myself more by going up to Diamond Head.  

In the afternoon, we got to try the outrigger canoes, which is the traditional canoe of the Hawaiian people. They are very good at taking advantage of the waves to move fast, and it was a lot of fun!

Fish tacos, decadent desert, and then sunset and moon rise - a nice last evening on Waikiki and Oahu.  Tomorrow, we are off to the Big Island (Hawaii).

Flowers, chickens and pigeons.  

A lot of Hawian history, a few too many Mai Tai’s…..

 

We got up very early (which is still easy because of jet lag) because we were leaving the hotel at 7:15 am  for a visit of the Royal palace before it actually opens to visitors. Royal palace you ask? Yes indeed, the only official royal palace in the United States!  It was built around 1850 by King Kamehameha the 3rd, or maybe 4th or 5th…. Who knows, there were quite a few of them…I don’t remember, but it is googleable. Anyway, it is an actual royal palace, very much in the style of the ones you’d find in Europe at the same time - although maybe a bit smaller.  It has beautiful wood work and furnishings, all of it coming either from Europe or the US.  Here is just a small sampling:  

 

 

 The many indoor bathrooms had indoor plumbing and flush toilets!  And are very pretty too.

I did not expect this in Hawaii, which just shows my ignorance of Hawaiian history.  But here are just a few fascinating facts:

There were no humans on Hawaii until about 500 CE, and it was not unified as a kingdom (of 8 islands) until 1795, when King Kamehameha the 1st defeated the other chiefs (in part because he had met Captain Cook- who gave him firearms).  As one can see from the statue above, he was a very Polynesian king, dressed as such, and with the religious beliefs of his ancestry.  He spoke only Hawaiian, which at the time was not a written language.  Within 50 years - the country had adopted a written language, had a highly literate population, had built a royal palace which had electricity and telephone before the White House did, had a highly respected king who had relationships with kings and royalty all over the world (particularly queen Victoria), had traveled all around the world and spoke at least 4 languages.  This happened not just really fast, but also- unlike any territories around it- whithout ever being annexed nor colonized!  

  It was highly influenced by the missionaries who arrived from the US in 1820. (this is the first church they built around 1840).   They developed the written language, which was good.  But also tried to get rid of a lot of the original culture - which was bad.  For instance, they banned Hula dancing (much too sexy) and were horrified by the lack of clothing:  they indeed invented the mumu, which was just a reproduction of their wife’s nightshirts, meant to cover just about everything.  Kamehameha  did reintroduce the Hula dances shortly after though.  Here is a picture of our museum guide, wearing the typical mumu.

 The last queen (whose name escapes me) was imprisonned after a coup in 1893, fomented by American sugar businessmen.  It was clearly illegal but the American congress refused to hear her case…. So here we are…..  She was imprisoned in the palace for a couple of years (she made this beautiful quilt during those years), was eventually released and spent the rest of her life trying to convince the US congress to help her get her kingdom back, traveling all the way to Washington D.C., but money talked louder than she did, and the kingdom was forever gone.

  In spite of this rather sad ending, it is really fascinating how much the local royals embraced the Victorian culture, in the way they dressed, in their palaces, in their religion- as is clear from their official portraits. And also how quickly it transformed the country. And how they were embraced by the royals of Europe, with correspondence and friendship with most of them, as demonstrated by the many portraits that were sent as gifts from the various monarchs, including Napoleon III and Queen Victoria.

 

Around the palace, in fact everywhere, there are these gorgeous trees.  The trees here are just magnificent, and I feel like hugging each and everyone of them.  I particularly love the banyan and the monkey pod trees:  they are so big, and wide and just glorious! Neither is native from here (they are both from India), but have thrived around here for many centuries.  

 After this truly fascinating tour of the palace, we drove along the coast, stopping here and there to ooh and aah over the pretty vistas.  This is the beach were the famous scene from “From Here to Eternity” was shot!  It is not far from where the Obamas’ summer house is - we passed by it. They did not invite us in…. Oh well…

 It is really stunningly beautiful around here, and I only wish we had more time to stop everywhere. Here are a few highlights.

 After getting back to the hotel, I of course went for a swim.  I think this is in fact the nicest beach I’ve ever been to.  The combination of water and air temperature, the shallow beach, the white sand….  It’s really amazing!  This one is, as I’ve said, a bit too touristy, but you see beaches like this wherever you drive! (Here is one)

Indeed, we met a grad school friend of Joe’s for drinks (he happens to live in Honolulu) and he described it very well:  this is a place were you are completely physically comfortable all the times.  

 Talking about drinks, those Mai Tias had a lot of rum in them….. and we had some wine with dinner (which was lovely, and by the beach, with very nice people from our tour…..  but by that time, I was too tired to take pictures).

 

 

ALOHA!

Can you believe we have never been to Hawaii?  We couldn’t either! So decided to change that, and since it is so far away, make the most of it and see 4 different islands.  We are starting with Oahu, and are spending 3 days around Waikiki beach, shown above.

But first, we had to make it here, which is no small task and explains why we have never been here before - It is VERY far away for New York!  We flew through LA (that’s 6 hours) and originally had a 2 1/2 layover there before the flight to Honolulu, another 6 hours….  We were very grateful for the long layover as the first flight was delayed by over one hour because AA could not locate the pilot!!!!!  Seriously! Anyway, after a beautiful sunrise ride to the airport, sitting on the flight doing nothing for an hour, we at last took off, and did not even have to rush to make the connection.  We arrived at the hotel around 7 pm, which is 1 am NY time - having left home at 6 am……. We were too tired to think or go out for a bite to eat, and passed out by 8 pm.

Which, of course, means that we were up by 4 am….. Which is fine, because the beach is very pretty in the morning light. Indeed, Waikiki beach is pretty in any light, it deserves its reputation!  From our hotel room, we get a wide view of it (see top picture) and get to see the surfers and enjoy the sound of the waves.  

Breakfast by the ocean, which opened at 6:30 am was oddly busy at that early hour, most likely because every one else is jet lagged too.

The water and air temperature couldn’t be nicer, and I spent most of the day just sitting and reading, and recovering from the jet lag. And bobbing in the waves while admiring the view of Diamond Head mountain (which I get to climb on Wednesday).

Also will try some of the outrigger canoeing - looks like fun!

Waikiki itself is a bit too touristy for my tastes, with a lot (A LOT!) of pricey stores which I can find in NY, no need to fly that far….  There was however a long line of Japanese tourists at the Kate Spade store, so not everybody feels the same way.  What is nice is that the shopping areas are very open and have kept some of the magnificent banyan trees that grow around here. There are indeed many large and beautiful trees, in spite of the over development.

Our hotel (the Royal Hawaiian) was the 2nd hotel built on Waikiki, in 1927.  Here is a picture of it (from the sea) that shows the original hotel, now dwarfed by the additional tower (which is were our room is, on the 16th floor, thus the pretty view).  It is now surrounded on all sides by larger buildings, but still has one of the nicest pieces of the beach.  

 In the late afternoon, we met with our group for the first time, and went for a visit of queen Emma’s summer house, in the hills around Honolulu.  It was built in Boston, disassembled, and brought by ship in 1848 because the king and queen were very much into English royalty and everything Victorian.  

 Thus its furnishings are very much Victorian, with nods to the Hawaiian culture, such as these beautiful wooden bowls and feather capes. 

I know nothing of Hawaiian history, and will learn more about it tomorrow, but was really surprised by how much the kings had embraced westernization, and accepted the Anglican preachers (not sure how the population felt), without ever becoming a colony of the British empire (or a territory, or dependence, etc….  ). 

 Dinner was accompanied by traditional music and dance (one of these dancers, I don’t know which one, is a neonatal doctor at the nearby hospital, which was founded by queen Emma). 

On the bus ride, our guide gave us a quick lesson in the Hawaiian language:  it has the same five vowels (A, E, I, O, U) as English or French, but only 5 consonants, which is why to us, all the names and words basically sound the same…. A lot of W, K and H’s, surrounded by a lot of vowels.   I’ll try to learn a few words more than just “aloha” before we leave…