Friday 21 October 

“The ways of the sun shall be your attire, fashioned for you by the clouds of the heavens.” 
Today began with eating breakfast which was spam Masubi on the beach. Yes it did.

Iolani Palace

The iolani palace was the royal residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaii beginning with Kamehameha III under the Kamehameha Dynasty (1845) and ending with Queen Liliʻuokalani (1893) under the Kalākaua Dynasty, founded by her brother, King David Kalākaua. After the monarchy was overthrown in 1893, the building was used as the capitol building for the Provisional Government, Republic, Territory, and State of Hawaiʻi until 1969. The palace was restored and opened to the public as a museum in 1978.

Queen Liliuokalani

During the reign of her brother he was forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution which took the right of veto away from the King and gave it to legislators. A law was enacted that allowed only those who had more than $76k and could read and write a European language were allowed to vote. This law disenfranchised Hawaiian people.

When she became Queen she received petitions about this unjust law. She drafted a new constitution that was not supported by cabinet and her political enemies regarded it as treason. She was Deposed 3 days later. 

During the attempted counter Revolution She was put on Trial for having “knowledge of treason” and sentenced to 5 years hard labor which was commuted to house arrest in 3 rooms of her palace. She could not have visitors but could receive gifts and her people wrapped gifts in newspapers so she could see what was going on in the world.

During her imprisonment, she abdicated her throne in return for the release (and commutation of the death sentences) of her jailed supporters; six had been sentenced to hang. 

On October 13, 1896, the Republic of Hawaii gave her a full pardon and restored her civil rights. “Upon receiving my full release, I felt greatly inclined to go abroad,” Liliʻuokalani wrote in her memoir and she moved to the mainland to live with her husbands cousins in Massachusetts. When freed she lobbied against annexation as a State.

In the 10 months she was under house arrest, she and her companion created the most beautiful quilt which is on display in the museum.

 Beerworks Brewery 

The plan for the day was to head to Lanikai Beach but we became distracted when we passed a brewery in a cool industrial area full of street art. Being spontaneous we decided to stop for a beer and lunch. We were officially off the spreadsheet of planned activities but it was a wonderful afternoon.

After wiling away a few hours we were out of time for the planned beach so we had a swim directly across the road from the hotel at Waikiki beach before heading out to dinner at the Pig and the Lady (not named after Ttump and Clinton!)

The water is so salty and warm that it is quite easy to just bob about in the sea and float for hours but our dinner plans were for 5:30 so we could only spend an hour.

We had a delicious meal at The Pig and the Lady and returned to the Moana Surfrider for those delicious MaiTais as a night cap.