Posts Tagged ‘Changing of the Guard Ceremony’

King’s Village is a delightful place to shop & dine in the heart of Waikiki.  Evoking the ambience of a bygone era, it is cleverly constructed allowing one to stroll around in an ever expanding spiral upwards to three levels and back to street level with ease.  It is a perfect place for a stroll with comfortable benches and tables & chairs scattered about, with several water-fountains/features providing delightful ambience.

Those who need a fast food fix will find that King’s Village is the only outlet in Waikiki for KFC & Burger King, along with one of the largest Subway sandwich shops in the area.  Those seeking more adventuresome fare will find Tanaka’s of Tokyo on the third floor a truly elegant place to unwind & dine at the end of the day.  Osho serves up Ramen & Gyzo on the ground floor, while many flocked to Odoriko for a variety of seafood & steak in a traditional Japanese setting and those opting for Americana take comfort in the Rock Island Café which serves up traditional hamburgers & malt shop specialties along with memorabilia from the 1950s through the ‘70s.  However the most unique and charming eatery is Cha No Ma on the second, a delight for all the senses from the moment one passes through their door, a place for Japanese & Taiwanese Tea & delicacies in a serene setting.

King’s Village is host to a variety of stores providing just about every gift item on one’s list of gifts to bless family & friends.  The Royal Peddler has been purveying Hawai’i’an Heirloom Jewelry, Music Boxes, Scrimshaw, Music Boxes and other elegant gifts since 1969.  Royal Selection provides fine European china & accessories and boasts of having one of the most extensive collections of Wedgewood giftware in the nation.  Between Worlds is an emporium of unique collectibles from all over the World.  Regal Décor is chock full of knickknacks including Teddy Bears by Anita, Hummel Figures from Germany, Limoges porcelain from France.

Apparel & Jewelry shops abound among them is Amy’s Corner nestled on the third floor, Honolulu Surf & Sports on the second floor, US Camp featuring military & police style clothing & accessories, Kiki Land has clothing for newborns to teens, Shining Star which aims to put glitter in your life with specialty clocks & bags & jewelry, Village Silver with a unique variety of silver jewelry, and many many more.

Tucked away on the third floor is the one of a kind Fukuro where one can have their fortune foretold for fun by Minoku who offers Japanese/Asian style readings by birth date and corresponding signs.

Now the reader might have the impression that they need to spend money to enjoy all that King’s Village has to offer but no, aside from the open air courtyards where one can sit a spell, there is an incredible bargain, a genuine freebie that very few are aware of.  Deep inside the Village is the King’s Guard Museum a treasure trove providing a look at the past.  Tucked away in display cases an amazing assortment of Glasses, Cups, Mugs, Napkins, Matchbooks, Stir-Sticks bearing the logos of bars & restaurants a few familiar many sadly long departed from these isles.  The museum has all sorts of neat items to ponder; newspaper bursting with the joy of ‘Statehood,’ books & magazines from a by gone era, coat hangers from laundries, Aloha shirts & Muumuus, clippings & snippets from the past, all on display for free.

King’s Village honors the Royal Hawai’i’an Guards whose story is on display in the museum, and there is a better known Waikiki Freebie, a changing of the guards ceremony & rifle drill demonstration daily at 6PM.  King’s Village is open every day from 9AM to 11PM, it is definitely worth a visit.

phto courtesy flicker dot com