09 January 2014

And this is Hawai'i


 Queen Emma's Summer Palace. We visit every year and learn something new every year. Every docent talks about different aspects of the royal family's life. Yes, Hawai'i used to be a monarchy. It started with King Kamehameha I and ended on 17 January 1893. Not a pretty story.
Here's a link to it.
I thought I had pictures of the Iolani Palace where we learned a lot about the history of Hawai'i, but, it seems, I didn't take any pictures. If I remember correctly, it rained every time we visited there.
No photography is allowed inside Queen Emma's Summer Palace - but here's a link that tells just a little about it. And here is just a little more. Unfortunately, neither site is as informative as the docents we have had. And google has quite a few images, inside and out.
It's kind of a magical place, calm and relaxing and so interesting. This year, we learned that Prince Albert, the only son of Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV, who died at only 4 years old, died of a burst appendix. We had heard previously that he suffered from "brain fever," but a doctor recently went over the notes taken at the time and came to the conclusion that it was actually a burst appendix and in those days (until about 1920 or later) that was pretty much a death sentence.
We tried to visit Pearl Harbor but that didn't quite work out. It was so windy that day that the boats that take visitors out to the island and the ships etc. stayed put and even though there is a bridge going out to the island, that one is not for the general public. So, here are just a few pictures from across the water:


Sorry about the poor picture quality. We did spend quite a bit of time visiting museums, watching movies, walking around and even talking to survivors. We also bought a book about Pearl Harbor that the survivors graciously signed for us.



No comments: