Busing Around Honolulu, Day 2

…Continued from yesterday:
    We started out Monday morning with breakfast at the Koko Café, one of the Hale Koa restaurants,

…that serves up the absolutely best breakfast buffet on the planet,

…not to mention one of the best views. 

     The food was so good, 

...and there was such a variety of dishes,

...including this old Army classic,

...and the friendly omelette chef.

...that one felt a bit overwhelmed by all the choices.

...but in a good way.

     After breakfast it was back to the bus stop,

...where I took advantage of the wait.

     The Honolulu bus costs only one dollar for seniors, as Tom and myself are.
    But in order to snag the senior price one is required to show one’s Medicare card to the bus driver. I found this kind of embarrassing, akin to a feeling of being forced to show to a stranger something indiscreet that should be disclosed only in the privacy of a doctor's office.
     But what the heck, saved us a buck-fifty each per pop.
     Our plan for the day was to visit the Bishop Museum, Hawaii's largest museum of the culture and natural history of Hawaii and the Pacific Islands.
      To get to the museum we took the number 42 bus downtown then transferred to the number 2, which took us to the museum.
      At our transfer point we took a rest stop at a McDonald's,

...where it came to my attention that they sold Haupia Pies.

     Now, I'd had a McDonald's Haupia Pie - like a hot apple pie but with a sort of sweet coconut cream filling instead the standard apple filling - once before on my first trip to Kauai back in 2013.  At that time I thought this pie was about the best thing I'd ever put into my mouth.  So, by lucky happenstance coming across a Haupia Pie once  again, I of course had to carpe diem. Or carpe piem.
     And once again, it was a mouthful of heaven on earth.
      I dared not look at the calorie count posted on the menu board.

     After our Haupia Pie break we caught the bus to the Bishop Museum,

...which was, surprisingly, tucked back in an unassuming residential neighborhood,

...that suddenly opened up to the beautiful museum grounds.

     The Bishop Museum.

View from the museum grounds.

     We spent the day visiting the many fascinating exhibits on Hawaiian and Pacific Island culture.

---

    After we finished visiting the Bishop Museum we took our buses back to Waikiki then walked back to The Seaside (see yesterday's post) for the dinner special,

...which we topped off with a slice each of cheesecake.

     After dinner we strolled through a couple of Waikiki's outdoor markets,

...then we cut through the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel,

...to the beach, from where we caught a nice view of Diamond Head in the sunset.

     We walked back to our hotel along the beach,

 ...until we arrived at the Hale Koa, where we decided to sit for a while in the bar on the beach.

     While walking along the beach we'd passed some hotel beach-side bars in which there were musicians singing and playing traditional Hawaiian music.  Tom and I  were hoping there might be some live Hawaiian music at the Hale Koa bar and there was in fact a singer/guitarist there, but alas, his style was more of the Eagles/Country Western genre, which reminded us of the singers who used to perform in the Officers' and NCO/Enlisted clubs in Germany back in our day.
     But then the Hale Koa is, after all an American Army post.

     Though not like any Army post either of us had ever worked at.