Rich Estates in Hawaii

After the Pearl Harbour tour, our tour guide took us on a short bus tour around the heart of Honolulu.
He has so many interesting stories to tell that I couldn’t remember all of them!

But one surprising fact was that there were only 286 Pure blood Hawaiians left in 2013 compared to the 550,000 Pure Blood Hawaiians in 1950s.
This really led me to think, how many of us in Singapore are actually pure blood?
I have no idea.

Punchbowl Cemetery

At the Punch Bowl cemetery, our guide had told us that while there were many famous Hawaiians buried there, the white walls on the steps houses the many unidentified soldiers who were missing in action or lost their lives in the Pacific during the wars, (world war, and including the Korean and Vietnam war).

I very much would have loved to walk the steps and take a moment to breathe in the air of the place that laid many lost souls to rest in this side of the hill.

We all took a moment of silence in the bus itself as a symbol of respect to these people in history who had sacrificed their lives that indirectly shaped the relatively peaceful world I have today.

Statue of Columbia

The inscription wrote:

“The solemn pride 
that must be yours 
to have laid 
so costly a sacrifice 
upon the altar 
of freedom.” 

was a quote taken from a letter to Mrs Bixby from Abraham Lincoln, after she had lost her 5 sons in the civil war.

The statue of Columbia, also known as the lady of Liberty stood on the bow of a ship represented all the grieving mothers of the soldiers who have lost their lives or missing in action during the war.

At the base of the staircase, another inscription wrote:

“In these gardens are recorded, 
the names of  of Americans
Who gave their lives
In the service of their country
and whose Earthly Resting Place
Is known only to God”

Only God knows the names of each and every fallen soldier.

Hawaii City Hall

Fast forward to the next destination, the City Hall of the State of Hawaii.
If you look closely, there were two flags flying.
On the left is the national flag, one the right is the state flag.

It is quite interesting as I am taking on a Visual Communication module during this semester and this building is full of symbols.

The Building has 8 pillars that looks like palm trees on each side of the building to symbolize the 8 Hawaiian islands, the central building which shapes like a cone to symbolize the volcanoes of Hawaii and the reflection pool that surrounds the building represents the Pacific Ocean which the Hawaiian Island sits.

Crest of Hawaii

The State Emblem.
The motto of Hawaii: Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono,
which means the life of the land is preserved in righteousness.

USA Hawaii Post Office

The next destination should be VERY familiar to the Hawaii-Five-O fans as I was told that this is one of the famous filming locations for the drama.

I do not watch that drama unfortunately, however this above picture did make a few of my guy friends really jealous. ( H-F-O Fans: I was at the real Waiola Shave Ice Shack!!! 😛)

Me in front of King Kamehameha and Aliʻiōlani Hale

King Kamehameha!!!
This stop was my most anticipated one during my short city tour.

The house of Kamehameha are the ONLY royals originated from the United States of America!
He was the only monarch in the entire USA and his kingdom stretches on the Hawaiian Islands.

King Kamehameha Statue

The building behind his statue was his palace, the Aliʻiōlani Hale (House of the heavenly King in Hawaiian) ; well, at least it was built to be.

King Kamehameha felt the need to have a government building when this building was built, therefore, the original idea as a Palace has turned into a commission for a government building.
It is used to house Hawaii’s Supreme Court, but the building was slammed for being too extravagant; which later made into a palace instead.
In modern today, it is Hawaii’s Judiciary History Center.

I felt his palace has a Portuguese flavour, but it turned out to be the work of an Italian.

I also found out that exterior of Aliʻiōlani Hale has also been featured as the headquarters for the H-F-O with the 2010 version of H-F-O. Nice~

Aliʻiōlani Hale

Opposite King Kamehameha’s statue and palace sits the Iolani’s palace.

Iolani Palace

The ‘Iolani Palace is the ONLY and the official residence of the Hawaiian Royalty in the entire USA.
It was later restored and converted to a museum after the monarchy had been overthrown.

The half-day tour (including the Pearl Harbour Tour) ended here at the ‘Iolani Palace.
It was a nice morning and early afternoon tour and a sneak peak of Hawaii’s historical past on both the solemn of the war and the colourful history of the royalty.

Royal Crest of Hawaii

Cost:
This Honolulu City Tour coupled with the Pearl Harbour Tour was USD$22.50 (2013 Price).
The Pearl Harbour admission is free, but I had to sort of pay for the bus ride there.

I had booked this tour through Affordable Tours.net. The company is like a broker, they book tours for you on many different platforms and for the city tour, my tour company was Roberts Hawaii.

More stories soon~