Diamond Head as we arrive at sunrise. Just below it live good friends Kathy and Mike, main reason for this trip.
A short walk from the dock is Honolulu’s 1920s Aloha Tower ...
... where we meet for coffee and a long catchup chat ... followed by noontime beer at the atmospherically seedy - and historic - Union, used by the crew of the doomed USS Arizona as ‘their’ bar in Honolulu. Get there soon as, sadly, it may close.
Nearby, we lunch at an excellent Chinatown dim sum restaurant. After I visit the loo, Kathy holds the unforgettable key.
Well lubricated, fed and relieved, it’s time to see Kathy and Mike’s home. The number 20 bus - seniors $1 - takes us through the tourist chaos of Waikiki
- to the quiet residential area at the far end of what must be one of the most reproduced images in travel history.
On their balcony, Mike, reflected in the mirror, takes a picture of Kathy & me.
Until recently, they lived on one of the Caribbean islands hit by last year’s hurricanes and only moved here a few months ago. Their new home is quite wonderful. Out front, the Pacific ...
... out back, the base of Diamond Head and large and pleasant park for picnics.
I come bearing gifts, well, a gift to reciprocate - actually, retaliate - for a present they gave me in Florida last year.
As I said in my blog at the time:
“With their customary generosity, they throw away the wallet and bring me a gift - a little Florida turtle swimming past a tiny bottle with shells. Surprisingly, they forget to remove the ‘Made in China’ label, but can't be faulted on their astonishing taste. I hope to reciprocate before long.”
After much searching in Toronto, I found a gift that unquestionably rivals their turtle in elegance.
The toothpick holder, also made in China, now resides on their balcony table, but for how long?
When they recover from my munificence, we tour the neighbourhood. It surprises me with streets of 1920s heritage homes in decidedly ‘untropical’ architectural styles, for instance, an 'English Tudor Cottage' ...
... homes against which surf boards rest ...
... and local surfers and boogie boarders pass.
However, there is one house from the 1930s that strikes me being somewhat of the era and Hawaiian setting.
It certainly has the most fantastic gate. This is worth clicking on.
As I was in Honolulu just two days (Kathy, Mike & I will be together for a month next year), photos are few. Time was spent in good conversation, my happy introduction to touristy mai tais (rum, Curaçao liqueur, orgeat almond syrup and lime juice) and a gentle, but ultimately futile, effort to introduce me to an aloha shirt in which I would look even more ridiculous than usual.
I’ll leave it to these athletic young men to change from their wetsuits into aloha shirts. Perhaps they’ll also put on some shoes.
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Also see my Arizona and Charlie Chan posts from a previous visit to Honolulu:
