Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Capitol Walk

Aloha & Welcome to Honolulu





A special place like Hawaii,
 needs a special capitol building,
 or so they believed in the 1960's.







Our capitol is open to the elements,
and to the people. On one side of this
courtyard is the Senate Chamber.
On the other: the House Chamber.
Their outside walls are sloping stone 
representing the volcanoes that are the 
bedrock of these Islands.











Outside, the building is set among pools of water:
the ocean that surrounds us;
 out of which
pillars representing palm trees
 rise to support the roof.

That 'framed' tower is Honolulu Hale,
our City Hall.  It looks Spanish, but is actually
based on a fortified Italian castle.






"The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness"
 our motto.

The Hawaiian Language is our official language along with
English.  Interpreters of many flavors
 make a good living here though,
as we continue to attract folks from all over Asia,
 the Pacific,
and the World!





The offices are upstairs.  Lobbyists, staff, citizens,
 all hang out here by the railings
 where a lot of the REAL business of government is done.





You can see the State Flag
 flying in front of the building
 from these "corridors of power."
And the sky is always looking on,
putting things into perspective.
(one hopes :)




Looking down at the ground level
 yields a nice view of this watery mosaic.





Behind the capitol building,
 is our original government building:
Iolani Palace,
 built by Kalakaua for some three hundred thousand
dollars in the 19th Century.



All Done Up for a Festive Event.
Link to a Royal past and a troubled political history.


<>


A true tale is told (courtesy of the great Glen Grant)
of a government employee
who stayed late one evening
working at the new Capitol.

Her young daughter played in the halls just outside
as they waited for father to come
collect them for the ride home.

All the way home,
the little girl spoke excitedly about
playing with a nice lady
whose arms were draped in lei.

The mother had smelled flowers
& faint cigar smoke. She assumed it 
was a staffer or cleaner the girl spoke of.
Or perhaps it was childish imagination.

Weeks later, when the statue of
 Queen Liliuokalani 
between the two iconic 
buildings was unveiled,
Hawaiians present protested covering
Her neck piece (more HERE)
with lei, and so the statue's arms
were draped in dozens of flowery garlands.

"Mommy! That's the nice lady
who played with me!"
Squealed the little girl.

The Queen has been seen,
 the smell of flowers 
and her favored small cigars
left behind, many times since.


She is still looking out for Her
People.
And besides:
who would really want to leave
this fragrant & magic land?





As yesterday was King Kalakaua's 174th birthday,
Hawaii National Guard Soldiers acting as ceremonial
Royal Guards stood sentry at the palace gates.

The past lives here!


“May the dreams of your past

 be the reality of your future.”

anonymous 





And may only benevolent airs
and spirits surround
YOU
this day. . . 


. . . and always.

cloudia




43 comments:

Rosaria Williams said...

Thanks for a lovely tour!
Have a great Thanksgiving Holiday.

Cloudia said...

You too, Dear :)

Junosmom said...

Beautiful scenes, as always.

gigi-hawaii said...

That's a wonderful story about the little girl and Queen Liliuokalani. Very touching.

You sure do get around town with your trusty camera!

carmilevy said...

You can tell whoever designed this magnificent building truly cared about how it was going to be used and how it would impact the lives of those who look up to it.

This is precisely why architecture has always fascinated me. Because it touches us all. In the absence of seeing this amazing place in person, I want to thank you for the brilliant photo walk-through. No one tells stories quite as richly as you.

David Cranmer said...

Terrific architecture.

who said...

yes! I have a new favorite style. I love the use of concrete forms (and not just because I spent 2 years working prestress in Harrisburg for a company now called knife river) I think it's a marriage of Japaneese and Dutch colonial with engineering architects and architecturing engineers.

maybe even a dash of medical technology

who said...

to the symphony in the soundtrack to the III episode or as some know it the first episode released in a motion picture of fluidity.

I almost, forgot to mention the musical side of my dream (I thought at first of only mentioning the significant aspects of me dream)

Cloudia said...

Glad you could make it today friends!

Heff said...

Beedeep, bippity bop, bwong !

Hilary said...

Thanks for the tour and for sharing the legend of the queen. That's a fine looking building and that opening sunset is a beauty!

Hilary said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brian Miller said...

thanks for showing us around...what a neat place...

Cloudia said...

Bippidy Bweeep!

magiceye said...

amen
amazing!

namaste /\ from mumbai
aloha!!

DeniseinVA said...

I love learning about Hawaii. Thanks Cloudia, everything from the photos to the quotes to the lovely story of the little girl and Queen Liliuokalani was amazing.

Thanks for stopping by. The photo was of my cappuccino when I got together with my friends the other night. And I would be honored if you used the quote. Aloha my friend.

Anonymous said...

Capitol of Hope, so it looks to me. Surely a place, a root that continues to grow in the Capitols of the world, so I wish. Please have a wonderful Thursday.


daily athens

Kavita Saharia said...

Beautiful water mosaic ! You talk about Hawaii with so much of fondness-i love that about you.Hawaii through your eyes is always so beautiful.Aloha Cloudia :)

Pearl said...

What a beautiful place. And what beautiful people, don't you think?

Pearl

p.s. Will you please contact me? I meant to buy your book ages ago and really dropped the ball. Is it too late to try to buy it again?!

Cloudia said...

Cool!

Feisty Crone said...

Oh gosh, it looks so warm :)

Phivos Nicolaides said...

Interesting and beautiful.

黄清华 Wong Ching Wah said...

A wonderful variety of images, from sunset to architectural to a little bit of abstract and street photography.... cheers !

Windsmoke. said...

The watery mosaic looks like tiny oceans in the floor and it's haunted by a ghost, great stuff.

Rajesh said...

Wonderful shots. The first shot is gorgeous.

claude said...

Hello Cloudia ! I'am back from vacation. I was under some coconutrees.
Sky on the first photo is so beautiful.

Joop Zand said...

They are all very nice Cloudia.....my compliments for this good work.

Greetings, Joop

the walking man said...

Benevolence there are so many interpretations of it. Yet I will say i never met a dis-corporate human that i did not like to play with.

Bitch said...

Thank you for walking me around.
Wish you a sunny day like here
in Greece..

Ash said...

Interesting post! Thanks for sharing

Myrna R. said...

Thanks for the pictures and history. May benevolent spirits surround you too.

Teresa said...

The pictures are wonderful, and I loved the story!

Daryl said...

Such a magical place, how could anyone ever doubt

Charles Gramlich said...

I love the stone details and textures.

irinapictures said...

Another juicy report from the heaven lands.
Great building, open sky - everyone can dream about the office like this!

Hattie said...

A lot of pride there. A good thing to think about.

Trotter said...

Hi Cloudia! The sunset is gorgeous and I loved to see the Palace again!! Lovely story to end the catch...

Blogtrotter Two is facing the legendary question: «What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three in the evening?»
Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Fireblossom said...

It's good to be Queen!

Dave King said...

What an original concept for a Capitol building! Great!

Anonymous said...

Nice.

Freda said...

Fantastic buildings - and photography. such a wonderful place demands an architecturally special building. And as for the fragrance of the Queen...... magical.

Lana Gramlich said...

Lovely sunset!

Cloudia said...

Thanks, Lana