BrettRants
Haole For Life
Iolane Palace
364 South King Street
Honolulu, Hawaii
The $14.75 entrance fee I paid on 12-30-13 was far too steep.
Still, I probably should have stayed longer...
This is a conversation retold amongst my aquantance.
Father: 'Want to go to a castle?"
Son: 'Does it have furniture?"
Father: 'No.'
Son: 'OK, I'll go then.'
The
Iolane Palace is one of those Castles with furniture. Actually,
it's not a castle, rather a palace. Though it might be
even more accurate (from a tourist destination point of view) to
call it a grand home of old. I stopped by for an hour, as
that's all the time we had. And for most of that time, I was
thinking to myself, 'This ain't worth $14.75.' Still, I've stayed
far longer at worse places (recently in a movie lobby for an hour
and a half rather than watching Captain Phillips
as the jerky hand-held cinematography gave me motion sickness).
And likely, if I wasn't thinking about the money, I would have
enjoyed myself more, so my loss.
Highlights
include (and/or pictures I shall refrain from posting as it does not
appear that the Iolani Palace wants others to distribute their content
for free on the Internet) include:
- The Throne Room (couldn't tell you the real name, plush velvet, the works)
- King's Desk (with docs and whatnot, once again no clue what it's really called, didn't listen to the tour)
- King's
Den (complete with elephant tusks and a model of a sailing ship cast in
silver -- or then, maybe it was mithral, being behind glass, I couldn't
tell, doubt it's pewter, we're talking about a king, after all)
The rooms are appointed nicely and if one is into old furniture, etc., they should please.
There was a docent guided tour available, which I didn't take, though I have
been told the guides can be plenty fun, which is another way of
saying that I once went for a horseback ride on the Big Island,
and
halfway through the ride, while the horses were taking a break and
getting a drink, the lead 'cowboy' proceeded to 'share' his 'opinions'
about
Hawaii History, the state's forthcoming succession from the Union, and
how Haoles pretty much ruined everything when they showed up, which, of
course, is true. Don't believe me? Then check out the
Iolane Palace and see how westernized the Hawaiian Monarchy had
become prior to its fall.