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Published: February 24th 2009
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This morning our first stop was the Pali Lookout. This is the site where King Kamehameha and his warriors forced the people who would not accept Kamehameha's rule, over the cliff. This was part of Kamehameha's invasion of Oahu "uniting" all the Hawai'ians. It is awesome to think about.
Next, our bus driver dropped us off in downtown Honolulu. Susan gave us a tour of the Honolulu City Hall. We saw right out in front of the building a statue of Father Damion with the seal of the state of Hawai'i above him. Exploring the building, we found the State Senate chambers and the State House of Representative chambers. We also found the required "bathroom break". Next, we saw a statue of Queen Lili'uokaiani. Later we saw a statue of King Kamehameha - the Great. Even as a statue, he is very commanding! Today must be our statue day.
I was able to find a Weight Watcher meeting to weigh-in at 12:00 in the downtown YMCA. Perfect!! The Y is right across the street from the "Iolani Palace. So, I go and weigh-in and I lost 1.2 lbs! Yea! All that walking is good for something.
We ate
our picnic lunch while attending the Royal Hawai'ian Band Concert on the grounds of the 'Iolalni Palace. The music was delightful to listen to with solos done by instrumentalists and vocalists. A pleasant way to spend our lunch time. We were scheduled for a tour of the "Iloani Palace and walked to the front to get started. We had to take off our shoes and put on paper booties. When we went inside, we could see why - beautiful, shiney, polished wood floors. Auntie Maggie (our guide) gave us a wonderful tour of the Palace. Auntie Maggie had a great sense of humor and was a good storyteller. She smoothed over all the rough spots for us. The Palace was very impressive!
After the Palace tour, we walked to Chinatown Cultural Plaza (a few blocks) to have dinner in a "real" Chinese restaurant. At The Empress Restaurant, waiters and staff did not speak english so Susan interpreted for us. She also told us "proper etiquette" for dinning at the restaurant. We sat at large round tables with a large lazy susan in the middle to allow for the sharing of various dishes. Susan had divided us into teams and
each team had to agree and choose 3 items from the Menu. This made ordering food much easier for the waiters and staff. You can imagine that ordering this way caused a lot of talking. When the food arrived, some dishes were liked and others, not so much, but we had plenty of food. and no fortune cookies! Susan told us the fortune cookie is an American invention. We really enjoyed this experience.
Our bus picked us up and drove us back to our Hotel. We, the Bar Fly 5, decided to to the Tiki Bar & Grill for after dinner drinks. While we were there, we could see fireworks over the beach - Chinese New Year we speculated. Walking back to our hotel was enjoyable in the cool breeze and hearing the sound of the waves.
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