Aulani to WDW: The Lurkyloos' Anniversary Vow Renewal Extravaganza! Resort Tour 5/13!

[blabbermouth]

I'm just waiting for the lazy river review

Actually, I have been trying to convince DH that we should go to Hawaii and there are great ticket prices for April, but he's trying to be responsible or something

I might be able to sway him with war history though, great pics!

And about those smug early risers.

[diswish]

Thanks so much for the detailed report and pictures. I leave in 3 weeks to go to Kauai for a cousins' reunion and we planned a couple of days on Oahu just to see the Pearl Harbor exhibits. I also hope to check out Aulani for a future DVC trip to meet my daughter who lives in Japan. I love that Hawaii is the halfway point between us!
Lurkyloo, you have a gift for making each one of us feel like a friend.....

[Wonders10]

So thrilled to see you have another trip report...it's wonderful but I'd expect nothing less from you

You've helped inspire me to start a travel blog, too!

[MrsWEsq]

Thank you for sharing the pictures of the Missouri. My dad was in the Navy reserves for 20 years. His last two years were active duty on the Missouri for the recommissioning in the 80s. I was young but I have some memories of being on the ship after they got back from several months at sea. I hope to get to Hawaii at some point to see it as a museum.

[Mel*Pie]

So, I followed you to Tokyo (in real life, even) and now I guess I will have to follow you to Hawaii. Oh, well!

[disbride713]

What a fantastic trip report so far! So sorry about your room, but at least you managed to put a positive spin to it. I love all of the photos and write-up of Pearl Harbor, I've never seen photos of it up close and now I want to go more than ever. I was able to tour the USS Midway when I was in San Diego on a business trip, and it really is amazing to see how our men and women live when they are out at sea, so humbling and puts thing in perspective.

Thanks for sharing Carrie and congratulations to you and Patrick on your anniversary!

[Disneybuckeye]

As always Carrie thanks for sharing your adventures. Enjoyed hearing and seeing pix of this important part of American history.

Mary Kay

[lurkyloo]

Originally Posted by blabbermouth

I'm just waiting for the lazy river review

Spoiler alert: It's awesome! Longer than the Beach Club's, with more shade for vampires like me!

Originally Posted by diswish

Thanks so much for the detailed report and pictures. I leave in 3 weeks to go to Kauai for a cousins' reunion and we planned a couple of days on Oahu just to see the Pearl Harbor exhibits. I also hope to check out Aulani for a future DVC trip to meet my daughter who lives in Japan. I love that Hawaii is the halfway point between us!
Lurkyloo, you have a gift for making each one of us feel like a friend.....

I feel like we all really are friends, thanks to the magic of the Internets!

Originally Posted by Wonders10

So thrilled to see you have another trip report...it's wonderful but I'd expect nothing less from you

You've helped inspire me to start a travel blog, too!

Way to go! Now be prepared to spend every future trip with a camera or a smartphone in front of your face the whole time.

Originally Posted by MrsWEsq

Thank you for sharing the pictures of the Missouri. My dad was in the Navy reserves for 20 years. His last two years were active duty on the Missouri for the recommissioning in the 80s. I was young but I have some memories of being on the ship after they got back from several months at sea. I hope to get to Hawaii at some point to see it as a museum.

Wow! That is VERY cool! You might get some nifty flashbacks if you ever have a chance to tour it again.

Originally Posted by Mel*Pie

So, I followed you to Tokyo (in real life, even) and now I guess I will have to follow you to Hawaii. Oh, well!

Tough break, I know...

Originally Posted by disbride713

What a fantastic trip report so far! So sorry about your room, but at least you managed to put a positive spin to it. I love all of the photos and write-up of Pearl Harbor, I've never seen photos of it up close and now I want to go more than ever. I was able to tour the USS Midway when I was in San Diego on a business trip, and it really is amazing to see how our men and women live when they are out at sea, so humbling and puts thing in perspective.

Thanks for sharing Carrie and congratulations to you and Patrick on your anniversary!

Thank you! We'll have to put the Midway on our list for a future San Diego trip... that sounds fascinating!

Originally Posted by Disneybuckeye

As always Carrie thanks for sharing your adventures. Enjoyed hearing and seeing pix of this important part of American history.

Mary Kay

So glad you're enjoying the report!

[AGPrincess]

Subbing! I saw some of your vow renewal pics over on the Roots' website - gorgeous. Can't wait to see more! And I love all the Aulani pictures - I haven't read much about it yet, it's so neat to see and hear your impressions!

Also, can't wait to hear about the CAKE!

[lurkyloo]

Our next stop was Doris Duke’s Shangri La, a tour that is only offered a few times a week and fills up fast, so it was the one I built our whole day around. Shangri La was the winter home of Doris Duke, who became known as The Richest Girl in the World after she inherited a tobacco fortune at the age of 12 in 1925. She eventually used her immense wealth for philanthropy and perpetual globetrotting, in addition to stints as a journalist, art collector, wildlife conservator, musician—and the first female competition surfer!

Hawaii was the last stop on her round-the-world honeymoon with first husband James Cromwell, and the couple liked the place so much they stayed for 4 months. Duke purchased nearly 5 acres of land on Diamond Head, a now unheard-of amount of property in what has become Oahu’s most exclusive neighborhood. Duke had the home designed in a Middle Eastern style and filled it with art and artifacts from her honeymoon and subsequent travels to the Middle East. This “vaguely Moroccan” connection made the tour seem a fitting activity for the fifth anniversary of our “vaguely Moroccan” wedding!

Tours are offered by the Honolulu Museum of Art from Wednesday–Saturday, and they depart from the museum. We had a somewhat stressful trip across town from Pearl Harbor to the museum due to unexpected Saturday traffic on the freeway and the scary-sounding warning about arriving late in the ticket info provided by the museum. They told us to park in the Honolulu Museum of Art School parking lot about a block away from the museum, where we wolfed down the last of our Pearl Harbor sandwiches and slathered on a fresh layer of sunscreen. The lot costs $3 for up to 4 hours of parking, unless you can’t find anyone working in the lot to pay when you get there or when you’re ready to leave, in which case it’s free!

We literally ran down the block to the museum, skidding to a halt at the ticket desk. They checked us off the list and told us the tour would be departing from this courtyard:



Except nobody showed up to check us in until about 5 minutes after the drop-dead “do not miss this or you’ll miss the tour and get no refund” time. They told us to go watch a film about Shangri La playing on a loop in one of the galleries, after which we waited another 10 or 15 minutes for the shuttle to show up. Guess they were operating on the “island time” we’d heard so much about.

The shuttle trip took 15 or 20 minutes and deposited us in the driveway of Shangri La. The tour group was split in half and led to separate spots under the ginormous Banyan tree to get pooped on by birds as we heard a little background on the house.


Bombs away!






Our group went into what’s known as the Mughal Garden first. Opening the door to the garden was one of the tour’s two breathtaking revelations (that’s right, there was a word for that before reality TV made “reveal” into a noun!).







The garden features a view of Diamond Head (with just a bit of ocean, seen below) and is meant to be a synthesis of various royal gardens in India.





Sneak peek at the ocean!






Workers are repairing the roof of the home’s master bedroom, known as the Mughal Suite, which meant we didn’t get to see it on the tour.








We were led back to the courtyard so we could enter the house through the front door.





The bird that pooped on us—way to go, jerkface!


One of the reasons Doris Duke loved Hawaii was its seclusion. She’d spent her whole life being hounded by the press, and living in Hawaii gave her some privacy. The traditional design of a Middle Eastern home features an unassuming facade that shields the home from prying eyes, which is perhaps what attracted her to the idea for her own home.




One of these camels had to be put back together again after a delivery truck backed into it. Can you tell which one?





Answer: This one. You can tell cuz he won’t shut UP about it!

[lurkyloo]

We weren’t allowed to take photos inside, which I never understand, because if flash really does damage the artifacts, they should just let us take non-flash pictures. I’ll include some images from the website to try to show why we were so cracked on seeing Shangri La.

Although the decor in most of the rooms of the house sticks to one country of origin, the foyer is the one room that combines many different styles, including components from Morocco (ceiling, stained glass clerestory windows, balustrade, screen, doors, and stucco arch), Turkey (wall tiles), Iran (basins), Egypt and Syria (lamps).


© Tim Street-Porter

I love how the stained glass clerestory windows glow!


© Tim Street-Porter



© Tim Street-Porter


The Shangri La Historical Archives have a surprising number of vintage photographs documenting the work, including this one that shows the ceiling when it was still in Morocco.


© Shangri La Historical Archives, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Honolulu, Hawai'i


And the ceiling today...


© Tim Street-Porter



Our first stop was the Damascus Room, an entire Syrian interior that was reconstructed at Shangri La. It only became open to the public in July of 2012, and they use it to display photos, letters and other ephemera from Shangri La’s historical archives.


© David Franzen



© David Franzen


Check out the amazingly detailed woodwork close-up!


© Philipp Scholz Rittemann


The next stop on the tour would probably have been the Mughal Suite, but it was closed for those roof repairs you saw earlier. Here’s the exterior portion of the private hall leading to the suite, which Patrick shot while we were in the Mughal Garden.





Here’s what the interior hall looks like, courtesy of http://www.shangrilahawaii.org/.


© David Franzen


Duke commissioned and had the Mughal Suite built in India. It was originally going to go into another home, but when she and Cromwell decided to put it in Shangri La, it inspired the Islamic theme throughout the rest of the building.



© David Franzen



© Tim Street-Porter


From there we backtracked to the Central Courtyard and learned a little more abotu Duke’s participation in the construction and decorating of Shangri La. Apparently she was very hands-on and, fortunately, had great taste! The only trouble with this part of the tour is that you can glimpse the ocean through one of the doorways, and all you want to do the whole time is run out and see it!


© Tim Street-Porter


That doorway on the far left is the one you’ll be craning your neck to see out of...


© David Franzen



From there, we were lead into the living room, and the first thing you see is this AMAZING view of Diamond Head, the pool and the ocean through floor-to-ceiling windows (which, of course, retract into the ground for better communing with nature!). I tried to find a photo online that captures what we saw, and this is the closest:



© Tim Street-Porter


Here you can see the windows with the carved screens drawn in front of them (goodness knows why you’d ever block that view!)


© Tim Street-Porter


Even though we’d seen tons of original artifacts, for some reason I was really struck by the fact that these are the original couches. Like, Doris Duke’s buns were HERE!


© David Franzen


We’re big fans of Hearst Castle, so it was interesting to learn that Duke bought this fireplace off William Randolph Hearst.


© David Franzen


At the other end of the room is a focal point nearly as captivating as the Pacific Ocean, a prayer wall known as a mihrab that dates from 13th Century Iran. Apparently it’s one of the largest and best remaining examples, and Duke had to outbid a museum to get it.



© David Franzen



© Tim Street-Porter



© Tim Street-Porter


I liked this room cuz we got to sit down!


© David Franzen

[lurkyloo]

The Mihrab Room leads you into the dining room, maybe the most striking of all the rooms. Certainly the most fanciful! The tent panels you see are recent re-creations, but the originals were not put in until Duke redecorated in the ‘60s. Before that, there was an aquarium set into one of the walls.


© David Franzen



© David Franzen



© Tim Street-Porter


Original Dining Room


© Maynard L. Parker. Courtesy of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California



© Maynard L. Parker. Courtesy of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California


Once we got out on the dining room’s balcony, we were OK to take photos again. They also had ice water out there for us (oh! And I forgot to mention paper fans when we entered the house, since there’s no air conditioning!).







A small garden on the other side of the dining room...

















It’s interesting that here you’ve paid for this million-dollar view, but because all of Hawaii’s beaches are public, you’ve got tons of people hanging out in your “backyard”!

[lurkyloo]

The pool is filled with seawater, which means it has to be drained and refilled once a week via a pump that draws from the ocean below.













We didn’t get to go in the Playhouse, Duke’s name for a structure with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room and a small kitchen. Sounds like just a house to me!





In 1947...


© Maynard L. Parker. Courtesy of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California



Now...


© David Franzen


These days the Playhouse is occupied by visiting scholars on research trips. Several people on our tour asked what you had to be researching to qualify. I’m guessing Underwater Basket Weaving doesn’t count...





The exterior of the Mughal Suite. Seems like it has a pretty stellar view!








Our last stop was the Syrian Room, which wasn’t added until the early ‘80s, when Doris Duke acquired late-Ottoman period wall paneling, stonework, tile and doors from NYU. This room is interesting because it’s the one most like a museum display (but we still got to sit down!). I love the fountain and the colorful lantern in the center of the room.


© David Franzen



© Tim Street-Porter



© Tim Street-Porter


This is the hall of the house in Damascus where many elements of the Syrian Room came from, including the doors.


Shangri La Historical Archives, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Honolulu, Hawai'i


And that was the end of the tour. I highly recommend it if you’re a fan of house tours or Middle Eastern Art or just had a vaguely Moroccan wedding. You need to allow at least 2 ½ hours, what with the travel time to and from the Honolulu Museum of Art. Wear sunscreen, good walking shoes, and a broad-brimmed, poop-deflecting hat!

The bus took us back to the Honolulu Museum of Art, where Patrick grabbed a couple of shots as we dashed off to the next stop on our whirlwind tour of Hawaii... ‘Iolani Palace! Stay tuned...






Up Next: Touring the Only Royal Residence in the U.S.!

[lurkyloo]

Originally Posted by AGPrincess

Subbing! I saw some of your vow renewal pics over on the Roots' website - gorgeous. Can't wait to see more! And I love all the Aulani pictures - I haven't read much about it yet, it's so neat to see and hear your impressions!

Also, can't wait to hear about the CAKE!

Thanks for joining in! I'm looking forward to the cake parts too!

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Wow, great update! The colors and patterns in those rooms are absolutely stunning. And the pool area is gorgeous with the picturesque view. It's a shame that no one gets to swim in it.....or do they? Wonder if those "researchers" can sneak in a dip in the pool at night.

Originally Posted by lurkyloo

We weren’t allowed to take photos inside, which I never understand, because if flash really does damage the artifacts, they should just let us take non-flash pictures.

Yeah, I don't like that rule either at some of the museums I've been to. But then again, maybe the curator took a ride on PotC and saw how well the no-flash rule was being observed.