Week in Waikiki: Day 3

Sunday 3/27: Reserve Starbucks, Waikiki Browsing, Shen Yun 

My morning workout included a run along Magic Island and Ala Moana Park (saw a rainbow!) followed by yoga and laps in the lovely outdoor pool, which was shaded and completely empty at 7:30am. Then we headed off to the main part of Waikiki for some window-shopping, starting with breakfast from the Reserve Starbucks on Kuhio Ave. We took our goodies over to the courtyard area of the Royal Hawiian Center, where Mr. E made a new feathered friend.

The Center was hosting a kids day with lots of activities in the courtyard along with a local craft fair on the 4th level that we perused on our way back towards the hotel. In the meantime, we strolled the length of Waikiki, pausing in various shops to check out some options but making only a few purchases, including an ornament for E&C. 

Our afternoon activity was the Shen Yun classical Chinese dance performance at the Blaisdell Center. The troupe was only in Honolulu for the weekend, so we lucked out by purchasing some of the final tickets available. Our seats were in the last row of the orchestra level, about eight spots in from the audience right aisle. Great view! And the show was incredible. Varied dance styles, incredibly talented and athletic performers, sumptuous richly hued costumes, and an extensive multimedia background that fully integrated with the live performers. We've seen so many ads for Shen Yun over the years but had never attended a performance, and I'm so glad we took advantage of this opportunity to enjoy the cultural experience and also learn more about the troupe and the background of the artists.

A Charley Taxi was our mode of transport both to and from the show. We discovered that the neighboring Ilikai Hotel has a rooftop restaurant called Pesca that offers Happy Hour every day, so we took the short walk over and rode up in the glass elevator with a lovely couple from Australia. We managed to snag two seats at the bar and enjoyed our cocktails and oysters. What we did not particularly enjoy was the attitude and [lack of] service from the main bartender. Luckily, he had two colleagues who were working at high speed to take care of the customers and make up for his lackadaisical and unfriendly approach.

We wrapped up the evening with takeout dinner from Red Lobster across the street from our hotel while watching a handful of the virtual Sac French Film Fest shorts. 

The sunset was particularly striking this evening thanks to the bank of clouds hovering in the sky over the water.