Honolulu and Hula

Saturday morning we bought a Day Pass for the local busses ($ 5,50) and drove into Honolulu, which is separated from Waikiki by a channel (left pic) and which is a completely different world, a regular metropolis with high-rises, condo buildings, markets ,,, and much fewer tourists. First important stop: my favorite fabrics store with fantastic Hawaiian prints for decent money. Bought fabrics for curtains and a dress.

Then we checked out the "government center", with its modern State Capitol Building (pic). The Iolani Palace (pic below) was the place where Queen Liliʻuokalani (statue) ruled, the last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom. She reigned until the overthrow on January 17, 1893. What a splendor and what a woman, very eager to keep the Hawaiian culture alive!

Chinatown - again, another world: busy, colorful, lots of shlock "Made in China", but also a good and cheap selection of veggies and fruit and other goods as well as "lei" (flower) shops. We had a late breakfast in Chinatown.

Inbetween downtown and chinatown there is a new neighborhood slowly coming up with a fancier infrastructure with more restaurants and shops, but, still, old and new contrast with each other (pic!). It's easy to picture how Old Honolulu at the time of the queen looked like, with unpaved roads and carriages, dry goods stores and garment shops.

We headed back to the oceanfront and the Aloha Tower. The Aloha Tower is a lighthouse and a landmarks of the state of Hawaii. Opened in 1926, in Art-déco style, it greeted hundreds of thousands of immigrants to Honolulu. At ten stories and 184 feet (56 m) of height it's a wonderful observation point. Always have the impression that not a whole lot of people know that you can take the elevator up for free to enjoy beautiful views of the commercial port, the cruise ship harbor, the coast guard headquarters and the city and mountains.

At the tower's feet the Hawai'i Pacific University and a Marketplace spread out and walking along the piers a lot of exotic fish and coral riffs can be seen with the naked eye. The former Maritime History Museum, on the other hand, is rotting away and closed, unfortunately.

Shopping: Alamoana Center offers high-end shopping, again, and is crowded by Japanese. I think - due to the concentration of shops - that shopping is easier in Waikiki than in NYC! Gigantic spectrum of shops. We watched our first of three hula presentations this day here on the stage, but it appeared a bit touristic. Though it's not necessarily our favorite occupation to buy high-end fashion and brand names for a fortune, we have one destination we love to visit: Uniqlo. Other than in NYC or other cities, they have a special Hawaiian collection here and, of course, we bought some stuff for a summer, which is usually very short in Germany.

On to the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, a city on its own, huge, with several hotel towers, a shopping mall, pools, restaurants, etc. Not our kind of accommodation, though. Took a beak in the shade there before we grabbed a bite during Happy Hour at Waikiki Brewing Company, a brewery without real walls. Good beer, but overprized food.

Next hula presentation took place at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center (closeby the legendary hotel from 1927), at least they gave some historical background and it appeared more authentic.

Bit farewell to the Duke and checked out the oldest hotel in Town, the Moana Hotel, before sunset, which was no real sunset today because of a thick layer of clouds. On the stage on the beach a hula dance school gave a 1 hour presentation after sunset and this was worth to see! Serious and instructive. A good end of a long, interesting day!