Shangri La, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art... the tour.

I won a lottery to visit the Shangri-La / Doris Duke Museum for free.  The excursion was for four and it was last week Wednesday.  Kelli and I went along with a couple of friends/Realtors from my office.  

I have always wondered how the Shangri-La was because it was Doris Duke's residence that she left to the museum to share Islamic and other pieces of art and design that she picked up from her world travels.  Photography is not allowed indoors so here are a few photos that I took in the areas that were permitted.

You board the shuttle at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

The Diamond Head View from the lawn.

Another view of the water feature & the view.

Path to the tennis courts.

The front door.

Moris's visit to Edomura Wonderland in Nikko...

I read on my friend's blog, Moris's Aloha Style Blog, that he visited "Edo Wonderland Nikko" as part of 1st year anniversary celebrations. Check out that website! It's quite graphic intensive and takes quite a while to load the initial page. Lots of maps and information about the place that takes you back to the samurai era of Edo, the Edo Period. I'd like to visit this place the next time I visit Japan. I've been the the Eigamura studio in Kyoto, but I think it was late in the day or a holiday of some sort so there weren't any performers at that time.

The Honolulu Academy of Arts & The Pavillion Cafe...

Over the Labor Day Weekend, we visited the Honolulu Academy of Arts. I estimate that I haven't been there for perhaps 20 years! I used to go there a lot for elementary school field trips and that's the last I remember of it prior to this last weekend. I have been to the Contemporary Museum of Art several times in recent years, but just never made it to the Honolulu Academy of Arts. I think it must be due to the difficult parking options, but Sunday afternoon is a great option for free street parking directly in front! It is very nice now. I don't even remember the museum having that many things to see back then. I think when we visited for school fielt trips, the tours are cut short to keep elementary school students interested. I definitely know that the galleries were not so well air-conditioned back then and also did not have automatic sensory lighting that would adjust slightly brighter when you entered the gallery. Very impressive renovations done to the Honolulu Academy of Arts since the last time I've been there! =P I don't have many photos of the great displays of art because photography isn't allowed in the galleries. Although, photography is allowed in the open courtyard areas. There are some special collections on display right now. There was a collection of drawings titled "Goya's Disasters of War" by Francisco Goya. They are a very detailed collection of drawings that appears to be done in pencil. Read the museum's description of this collection here. The Honolulu Academy of Arts is on the web at http://www.HonoluluAcademy.org and they are located at 900 South Beretania Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96814 <--Google Map. General admission is $10 and they do have other discounted admission rates. Their normal hours are Tuesday - Saturday: 10a-430p and Sunday 1p-5p. They are closed on Mondays, New Year's Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas according to their guide sheet. The first Wednesday of every month is supposed to be FREE and you are able to visit the shop, The Pavillion Cafe and the library for free too. We actually went to the Honolulu Academy of Arts to check out The Pavillion Cafe, but it's not open on Sundays. We're considering the location as a potential spot for an upcoming party. Looks good so far, but I haven't asked if they can accomodate our event yet. We'll try to check out The Pavillion Cafe another time, but they are only open Tuesday - Saturday during lunch (1130a-2p) so it might be difficult!

My Kitchen Counters...

Well... I planned for a week to be ready for the longly anticipated custom granite counter tops to be installed on the custom cabinets that have been functioning in my kitchen for about a year and a half now with plywood tops. It's definitely been a lengthy journey to this point, but guess what... It's not done yet! The granite comes on Wednesday and I cleared all the kitchen plywood countertops off so the installer(s) could work on putting some real countertops in. It's a lot of work to clear off the counters! Not to mention figuring out where to set up the espresso machine, microwave & toaster to be operable for a day or so during the install. It's not like I'm in a house with a garage to throw stuff in. I'm stuffed to capacity in this 2 bedroom condo! So anyway, I find out while they are bringing it in that the installer had to finish another job so he wasn't able to come today!! So now I have to wait until some time next week and set aside another couple days to watch the granite people install the granite. Well, I don't have to watch them, but I at least need to be here for them to come and work. That's not so much of a concern. What is a concern is that I will need to keep all the stuff I moved off the counter tops in it's odd locations... I'll also have to try to find a street parking again some time next week so that I can keep my parking stalls open for them to park in. That's a real challenge some times. I peer out from the lanais looking down to the streets, trying to spot that stall. If just so happens I see one, I'll run to the elevator and press the down button and wait for what seems like minutes for the elevator to come get me. Then I run into the elevator and press "1" and ride the elevator to the lobby. Then I run to the entry to the garage to get to my car, start it up and zip out to the street just to see that someone has already taken the parking spot!! Oh well that's the condo life in the city... at least there is non-metered street parking around this block! So here it is... the granite. Happily garnishing my lanai for the next week or so. It enjoys basking in the afternoon sun and gazing at the sunset views. In the morning it watches the Trump Tower Waikiki as it reaches completion. It's anticipating the brilliant Hilton Hawaiian Village's Weekly Friday Night Fireworks Display. It also greets us and says, "how was your day?", while we step into our entry way just like a pet dog. Makes me want to respond... "Move! Get away from the door!" Hahahah... Oh well... at least I didn't remove the kitchen sink, stove and refrigerator to help speed up the install. I had to move some things back onto the counters, but will not put everything back just to remove them all again next week!

AIA Honolulu Third Annual Free Historic Walking Tour of Honolulu Down Town

On Saturday the 25th of April, Kelli and I joined up with a friend of mine who invited us to the "Third Annual Free Historic Walking Tour" conducted by the AIA Honolulu. We registered and started our walking tour at 1015am and finished our walk a little over time at about 100pm. It was a cool and sunny day. The registration and tour started at 119 Merchant Street at the AIA Honolulu Building, formerly known as the tallest highrise building of Downtown, Honolulu (at 6 stories high). A guide book was provided with color photos of the buildings on the tour and a brief, but detailed summary of the building's highlights. It was very interesting to be able to spend so much time in each spot and reflect upon the surroundings. I think this is the most time in my life that I have ever spent in Downtown Honolulu. It's not the same driving through or walking from 1 parking structure to another office building for appointments. The sidewalks were not crowded with other business people rushing from point to point because it was on a Saturday. To be able to recognize the fine detail in most of the older buildings and see the back drop of modern day highrises towering over them was a very dramatic feeling. I wouldn't mind signing up for some of the paid walking tours and other candle light walking tours that are conducted through out the year or even this AIA walk again! It was a fun way to burn some calories and spend the day out on an urban Honolulu walking trek. No mosquitos or mud provided in this experience... Most of you know I only take and publish photos taken from my Nokia N82 5.0MP Camera Phone. I don't like carrying extra devices on me everyday or any day. My friend's blog should have photos from a "real camera" posted up soon.