Honolulu, Hawaii

 

Today was essentially two different excursions.  We started the day by being picked up for our private tour of downtown Honolulu  including the famous statue of King Kamehameha.  

The original statue sunk to the bottom of the ocean and then two more were made.  The original was eventually recovered and is the one you see in front of the courthouse. It is reportedly one of the most photographed sights in Hawaii.  The building is often featured on movies and TV shows that are filmed here such as NCIS.  We also saw the only Royal palace that exists on US soil. 

It was completed in the late 19th century and is modeled after the palaces in England, specifically after Queen Victoria's palace.  Every single piece of stone, glass and carving had to be shipped from England since the island had no means to source any of the material needed. That is still true today.

 

We then visited the Punch Bowl which is a natural cemetery for armed forces who lost their lives.  A lot of the graves are those that lost their lives at Pearl Harbor. After a scenic view of downtown Honolulu with Diamond Head in the background, we headed to Pearl Harbor. 

 

(Yes - our tour was in a white stretch limo)

The Pearl Harbor Historic Sight is setup of mainly outdoor memorial to the people, ships and submarines that were lost during the 12/7/1941 attack and the subsequent war.  There  is a separate museum for submarines which we didn't visit.   There is also a movie that focuses on the events leading up to the attach.  It was fascinating that the Japanese were able to have their aircraft carriers remaini undetected for so long.  And the United States primitive (for the time) radar, did detect the Japanese planes.  But the radar operators were convinced the planes were all US bombers on their way back from test missions. 'Nothing to worry about" is what they were reported to say Towards the end of the film, you see the destruction of the USS Arizona.  The bombs hit the munitions area of the ship and exploded outwards, leveling several decks.  The ships essentially collapsed on itself. 

 We took the boat out to visit the USS Arizona Memorial site which is a National Cemetery since over 900 bodies remain buried in the wreckage.  A very solemn place for reverence and remembrance.

 

We.then got dropped back off at the cruise ship to prepare for our afternoon excursion.  We would be curating our own local food and drink tour. 

 Our first stop was at a shrimp truck. These types of food trucks are famous in many parts of Hawaii.  We found one called Gilligan's that was at Waikiki Beach about 15 minutes from the terminal. We ordered coconut shrimp and the surf and turf.  Both very tasty with well cooked shrimp that was flavorful.

 

Next was a walk down Waikiki beach.  If you didn't know you were in Hawaii, this looks just like any other beach resort area I've been to in the world. Perhaps with a few more surfers than usual.  Lots of hotels and small outdoor restaurants to grand a drink or snack. 

Our main destination was the Mai Tai Bar which is located in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. And when you go to the Mai Tai Bar, you must have their Mai Tai. 

 It's Hawaiian Law.  It was pretty tasty with some local dark rum.  Also tried their "95 Degrees in the Shade" cocktail and it was also tasty. They give you a side "floater" of dark rum which was more like two shots!!  Also tried some poke which is marinated raw tuna.  Very tasty tuna although the raw onions were very strong so we avoided them.

 Next was to the Waikiki Brewing Company.   We both tried a different IPA and they were very good.  After we wanted to start our way back to the port so we took a Lyft to Honolulu Beerworks.  This place had a good variety of sours, stouts and IPAs.  And in what I hope s a new trend, allow you to purchase small four ounce tasters and not full size twelve or sixteen ounce pours.    You get to try more of their beers. 

 We were now ready for some dinner.  Our morning tour guide David had recommended the Highway Inn for some local food.  We tried the traditional loco Moco and also a sampling platter of their most popular foods.  I'll be posting a blog with more details on both of these.  I will say the loco Moco was simply made and very tasty.  If you are not familiar with this dish, it is two burger patties on rice along with a gray and eggs. I am sure there are many variations but this one seems to be the "original".  Most of the flavor is from the seasoned patty.  And the gravy and eggs help combine all the flavors together. 

 I'll leave most of the feedback on the sampler platter for the blog.  What I can say is that poi, the purplish dish in the right, is definitely an acquired taste.  I thought it was going to have the consistency and flavor of a mashed sweet potato.  Instead, it was  the consistency of wallpaper paste and had a very sour taste.   I will do some more research as to whether this is how it is usually prepared. 

 

And the lau Lau was also interesting.  This is the dish in the center that looks like a rock. It is fish and fatty pork wrapped in luau leaves.  The leaves have the consistency and taste of large grape leaves combined with kale.  Inside was flavorful, although dry, basked fish. Traditionally it is supposed to be butterfish but this tasted like tuna.

 After dinner we were both tired so decided we'd head straight to the cabin.  We have a waterfall excursion in our next port of call Kauai.