day 2: tourist for a day

still on mainland west coast, we woke at 7am and milled around until 9 when we could finally step and head to the mall. oh yeah, go on vacation and head to the mall, baby.

Ala Moana shopping center (www.alamoana.com) was impressive and we headed straight to Nieman Marcus to enjoy an early lunch at Mariposa. we had called to make a reservation earlier, but the first available time was 4pm. taking our chances, we walked up right when they opened at 11 and we were able to sit right down. we asked for an outside table and ry commented that it felt like sitting on top of macy's in union square at the Cheesecake Factory but so much prettier. everyone was served delicious popovers with pineapple papaya butter and a chef's treat of a clear broth soup. i ordered a glass of champagne and a grilled ahi sandwich, but ry outdid himself and ordered up a $21 lobster club sandwich that was TOTALLY worth it. so good. stuffed, we pounded the pavement and did some good ol' shopping.



check out onokinegrindz's review and pics of the mariposa from July 17th this year at onokinegrindz.com.

next we headed to Iolani palace and the king kamehameha I statue. the highlight was ry playing judge in the old courtroom.





then we drove to the USS Arizona memorial. sadly, we got there a tad late and missed the last ferry to the actual museum but still got some good pics from afar.



for dinner we made reserverations at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel's Plumeria beach house. it was just lovely. the view was gorgeous, the food good and the atmosphere relaxing and serene. we enjoyed the spring rolls for starters, ry had the furikake encrusted salmon and i had the pot roast but the real treat was dessert. we had the mud pie, baby. so good.



earlier in the day we had called peter's brother to see if he wanted to hang. we wanted to thank him for hooking us up with his friends and family discount at our hotel. we met at Neptune's Garden bar for a couple cocktails then headed to side street inn and restaurant for more cocktails. nothing fancy, this place is known for their pork chops and is a favorite hang out amoung local chefs not to mention where peter and chris can be found every night peter's in town visiting. after all the hype, we had to come see it ourselves =).