We scheduled a slow start for today. We thought we could sleep in after a long day, but we still were on Greensboro time in our heads. We woke up early. We still took our time getting ready to go out.
It was only a short walk to Waikiki Beach from our hotel. It was an interesting walk to the beach. While the sand and the waves were what we expected, the traffic and the crowds were quite a surprise.
We enjoyed seeing a famous beach and having a warm day in November.
After the beach we went for a drive to see the capitol. Driving in the traffic was a challenge. Finding a parking spot made the driving seem easy. It took us about an hour and a half to find a parking spot.
Travel Tip: Bring lots of quarters if you want to park your car. While the meters have credit card slots, many of the screens are not legible. We finally decided to find a bank to get some quarters. We found the bank, but could not park to go inside. We split up one in the bank, one in the car. Between the long lines in the bank, and the challenge of driving around in downtown Honolulu, it took more than thirty minutes just to get change.
After our parking adventure, the visit to the capitol and the surrounding area was a lot of fun. We got to see King Kamehameha’s statue in front of the Supreme Court building. (It is not the front of Five-O headquarters !)
For an island so steeped in traditions, the Capitol is a very modern building. We got to see the capitol and got a lesson in architecture at the same time. The capitol was built in the 1960’s at the same time the SUNY campus in Albany New York was built. There is an amazing similarity in the design of the buildings in both locations.
We found the Hawaii capitol was another capitol undergoing a renovation.
We were able to see the Senate and House chambers through the glass windows. The rooms were closed because they were counting ballots in the rooms.
The capitol is a large square around a center open area. The arches give the building a unique appearance.
The open area in the center of the capitol is much different than the domes in most capitols.
As we left the capitol to return to our parking spot, we found this banyan tree shading the parking lot for visitors to the capitol. Too bad it was after we were done with our visit.
After our visit to the capitol, we had a very long drive to the Luau we had reserved. During the drive, we experienced Honolulu traffic The 25 mile bumper-to-bumper drive took almost an hour and a half.
The luau was great. There was way too much food. The entertainment was amazing.
There were solo songs and dances.
There were also several traditional group dances.
They also had the most amazing fire dancer. He spent about 10 minutes putting on a spectacular demonstration of fire dancing. He spun the lit baton. He tossed it high in the air. He laid on his back and twirled it right above his head. And then he was done, or so we thought.
We did not know that his encore would be even better and longer than his first act.
Instead of one lighted baton, for an encore he used two batons. He was so fast and so entertaining, it was spell binding. We took fewer pictures only because we were so busy watching the show of skill. These four pictures capture some of the speed and agility that he showed during a thrilling exhibition.
The luau was a great finish to a wonderful first full day in Hawaii.