Busing Around Honolulu, Day 3

...Continued from yesterday:    
    On Tuesday morning we had breakfast again at the Hale Koa Koko Cafe, 

      I tried the vegetarian quinoa, scrambled eggs,  hash browns,

...French toast and banana bread pudding,

...while Tom tried, among other things, the classic eggs benedict with breakfast potatoes and a danish.

     After breakfast we walked,

...to the beautifully landscaped stop for the number 13 bus,

...which we took across town then switched to the number 1 bus,

...which took us to our destination, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii.

     We were most interested in an exhibit on the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent in Hawaii during World War II,

...in a dreadful camp on the island of Oahu called Honouliuli.

     After our tour of the museum we took the number 1 bus back downtown.

...to see the Iolani Palace,

...which was home to the royal rulers of Hawaii until 1893 when Queen Liluokalani was overthrown and the Hawaiian monarchy ended.

    We didn't have time that day to tour the museum inside the palace so we just looked around the palace grounds,

...including the hale koa,  or palace garrison,

...the courtyard of which now serves as a rest area for visitors.

    After we'd had a look at the Iolani Palace we crossed the street to see the famous statue of King Kamehameha I, who in 1795 conquered and unified all the Hawaiian islands and instituted the Hawaiian monarchy.

     Then we walked a couple of blocks to see the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site, location of the oldest frame houses in Hawaii, built by American missionaries in the 1820's and 1830's.

     Then we took the bus back to Waikiki and, since the day was hot and it seemed not right to stay on Waikiki Beach without once going into the water, we took a dip in the ocean.

     Not being a swimmer, I generally don't go into the ocean beyond ankle-deep, if at all.

     But the water at Waikiki was placid and calm enough even for an aquaphobe like me to wade out far enough for a decent dip.

     We returned to the Koko Cafe for the fabulous dinner buffet.  Among the offerings:

   The friendly stir-fry chef.

     The salad bar:

     The dessert bar:

     The ice cream toppings bar - the big bowl in the middle is whipped cream:

     I had:

     All divinely yummy!

     After dinner we walked along the beach checking out the beach bars of the hotels in search of some Hawaiian music.

     We heard some wonderful music coming from the terrace of the Halekulani Hotel,

...so we entered through the hotel lobby,

...to the terrace bar where I had a sparkling water and Tom ordered a frozen beer, which was an ice-cold beer with frozen foam,

...good and cold  but, he concluded, the frozen foam was   probably an acquired taste.

     We sat in the bar for a while and listened to the beautiful music,

     Then we walked through downtown Waikiki,

...and along the beach,

...back to the Hale Koa,

...where we did our laundry.