February 22, 9:00 PM Life (Hawaii)
Dinner in the evening was neat. A gregarious waiter coaxed us out of a line-up and we ended up on a balcony area overlooking the main thoroughfare. He brought our beers balanced on his head, and overall was a delight.
February 22, 1:00 PM Life (Hawaii)
The agenda for today was to try snorkling at a state park. The bay was very scenic and popular, but the snorkling was disappointing - only a few fish.
February 21, 9:00 PM Life (Hawaii)
Today was a beach day. We walked to the east end of Waikiki and spent a couple of hours before it got to hot. Then we went to the Hilton Waikiki and were lucky to find a table on the patio that was right beside the beach and the water. We settled in for a few beer (longboards, of course) and lunch. There was a 4 piece band that played music, including a special song for a couple from the UK that had just been married earlier that morning. There were a number of US military vessels (a couple of destroyers, an aircraft carrier and a submarine) going by which was novel.
We thought we would buy some Japanese take-out for dinner and eat it in our hotel room but noticed a couple of small tables on the sidewalk and decided to eat right there. I practiced my konnichiwa and arigatou gozaimasu. Then a brief walk around the shops before heading back to the hotel with a bottle of Pinot Grigio.
February 20, 9:00 PM Life (Hawaii)
We had a continental breakfast at our hotel and then caught The Bus (#22) to the drop-off point for Diamond Head. We then walked about half a mile, including going through a tunnel to the inner part of the Diamond Head crater. This soon lead to the park gate where we began the walk to the summit of the Diamond Head crater. The path was primarily cement with some sections bedrock. It was usually wide enough for 2 people so the people coming down didn't get in the way of those going up. The round trip took just over an hour. (Click on the Diamond Head link to see a few photos.)
We decided to take a taxi back into Honolulu and were dropped off at a shopping complex called Wards where we found an excellent restaurant and had a nice brunch. I had yellowtail tuna which was lightly grilled and delicious.
While eating we watched 5 Black-Crowned Night-Herons in the park across the road from the restaurant. We also saw 2 Cattle Egrets.
We browsed a few shops and I bought a CD in a Tibetan shop that had buddhist chanting, and then a brief book on Hawaiian culture at a Hawaiian shop. We ended up finding the same taxi that took us there and he drove us back to the hotel for a cool shower and brief nap.
Dinner was at an upscale Italian restaurant where I had a seafood linguine dish that was phenomenal. We then walked the streets with a few thousand tourists, enjoying the lights and ambience before returning to the hotel. A perfect, low-key day.
February 19, 3:00 PM Life (Hawaii)
We walked along the shoreline to the major shopping mall in Honolulu.
I bought 2 books at Barnes & Noble:
* Tao Te Ching (2002) by trans. R. A Dale
* A Book of Abstract Algebra (1990) by Charles C. Pinter.
February 18, 7:30 am Life (Hawaii)
Our first morning in Hawaii. Lots of Spotted Doves, a Zebra Dove, a few Red-vented Bulbuls, and lots of House Sparrows. Heavy rain clouds on the mountains, lots of joggers on the path by the canal, a few outrigger canoes. Still windy. Shorts and sandals instead of long pants and shoes. Feels good.
Lunch was a superb break at an upscale Italian restaurant. We returned home with wine and nibblies and had a relaxing snack before heading out for dinner. This was the time that everyone else also wanted to eat so there were lineups everywhere. We finally opted for a sandwich at a food court. Then back to the unit for another glass of wine before hitting the bed.
February 17, 4:10 am Life
We are up early to catch the 7:30 am flight to Honolulu.
6:00 am - fully checked in and waiting in the departure lounge.
7:45 am - in the air
8:10 am - cloud layer at about 9000' as we fly over the mountains - the peaks above that were visible as little islands in a sea of white. Neat.
12:30 PM (local time) - now the islands are green in a sea of blue. We have arrived in Honolulu.
We picked up our luggage and easily found a taxi to take us to the Best Western Coconut Waikiki hotel. The ride in was a delight. The driver was an elderly man who drove very carefully and slowly, yet no one passed us. The pace of life here appears to be much more relaxed. This is good. The desk clerk said that our rooms would not be ready until 3 PM so we checked our luggage and walked a short block to an iHop restaurant for some lunch. Our body clocks indicated it was 3:30 in the afternoon and we had yet to have something to eat. The days of free food on airplanes appears to be over.
1:30 PM lunch - hash browns with eggs & sausages, and 3 cups of coffee and I was ready for the day. We are clearly in the tropics. The temperature was in the high 20's, with, surprisingly, a fairly strong wind. It is always a joy to see the lush, green, vegetation.
2:00 PM We had arranged to meet friends from Lethbridge and they arrived at the hotel just as we returned from lunch. We were able to check into our room early and then head to a nearby Irish pub. We all ordered a Longboard island lager beer, brewed by the Kona Brewing Company. Very, very nice. This is the way to begin a vacation.
We then took a leisurely stroll along the beach - the sand is beautiful but not very wide. Maybe the tide was in. We shall see. The shops are very touristy, but definitely up-scale and classy, not at all tacky. The hotels along the shore are very posh and elegant.
6:00 PM Dinner at Thai restaurant near hotel. Delicious!
February 13, 6:30 PM Life
I enjoyed the movie "The Taming of the Shrew".
I was impressed with the costumes and settings. It was much more elaborate than I was expecting. I now have a much better sense of European life in the 15 century.
It really was a movie rather than a play. The settings helped make much of the dialogue totally understandable. The acting by both Taylor and Burton was superb - a perfect case of type casting.
At the moment I like my sequence of first reading the commentary about the play by Marjorie Garber, then reading the play, and finally viewing a movie based on the play.
February 12, 3:30 PM Life
Win some, lose some. I had checked with the online web site for the Lethbridge Public Library and it indicated that they had the DVD for The Taming of the Shrew starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. So I drove over to the library this afternoon and joined the library (seniors rate!) and then took out the DVD. So far, so good. But when I was home and tried putting it in my player I received a disc error. Not good. I returned to the library and they tested it and discovered that it had an area code that prevented it being read locally. They thought they had checked all of the discs for this issue but obviously this particular disc slipped through. I'm not sure when they are likely to receive a replacement disc. It was disappointing as I was really looking forward to viewing this particular disc, having just read the script.