Sunday, November 21, 2004
Hawaii, Part 8: Fourth day on Oahu
Arose at the crack of dawn on October 11th for a half-day excursion of Pearl Harbor and Honolulu. Turns out the secret to visiting Pearl Harbor in a timely fashion is to get there EARLY....otherwise, the wait to get in can take hours. We arrived at the park that morning at 7:15, 45 minutes before the first Pearl Harbor tour and 15 minutes prior to the park admitting visitors for the day. When we made it inside, we got tickets for the third tour of the day.
That day, a veteran and survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack was at the park. I shook his hand and told him it was an honor to meet him. While we were waiting for the tour to start, we had a look around the gift shop. We purchased (the money supports veterans) a flag that had been flown on the memorial on July 4th of this year.
The tour began with a flim detailing the events of December 7, 1941. This brought tears to my eyes as most acts of war do. I learned some things I didn't know before and realized that things would have been much worse if all had gone according to plan.
Next, we took a shuttle boat to the memorial of the USS Arizona. It's a sobering experience, beautiful in an eerie way. No one says a word as they walk around. You can see portions of the ship sticking up out of the water and small stains on the water's surface of oil still leaking. There are markers in the harbor of where the various vessels were located that day. And inside the memorial, names of those who perished carved into a wall. The list doesn't seem quite so huge until you see each and every name right before you. There were velvet ropes hanging from silver stands in front of this wall. From the stands, matching flower leis were hung. One other interesting thing: a list has been started of survivors who chose to be interred with their ship-mates at the end of their lives.
When we returned to the visitor center, I was glad we had gotten there early because it was now jam-packed with people. I was hoping to visit the museum before our bus was due to leave, but the line was just too long. I was happy to sit back down on the bus anyway.
Our next stop was the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. This is in Honolulu inside Punchbowl Crater (an extinct volcano). Over 30,000 veterans are buried there. The area is appropriately serene and beautiful, with sprawling trees shading the rectangular gravestones. There is a carved statue of a woman with her head bowed at the top of a long staircase overlooking the cemetery. A very dignified resting place.
Afterward, we drove around downtown Honolulu with our guide, "Uncle Bob" (calling someone aunt or uncle is a sign of respect in Hawaii), pointing out all the interesting or signifcant sites including the state capitol and Chinatown. Our last stop was at the statue of Kamehameha the Great, the king who united Hawaii. The statue stands in front of the State Judiciary Building and across the street from Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the United States. Such a diverse mix of old and new Hawaii in such a small space.
We were done with the tour by noon, so after we had some lunch, Dan and I decided we needed some quality beach time. We put on our swimsuits, and I brought the camera and a woven beach mat I'd bought at one of the corner shops. While I paddled around in the surf, Dan caught some rays. After awhile, we decided we needed a snack because it was very hot out (about 92 degrees). We went across the street to an ice cream place called Coldstone, where everything is made fresh. I determined what would be safe for me to eat and gave it a try. I had basically what amounted to a gourmet hot fudge sundae....amazingly delicious!
After the snack, we took a walk in Kapiolani Park at the south end of Waikiki. There were some less crowded beaches near here, so we decided to hang around. The waves were harsher here because there was no retaining wall, but I discovered that once I'd gone out a certain distance, I could just float and let the tide bring me back toward shore. Had I been healthy, I could have stayed out there all afternoon, but when I got too tired to swim anymore, I grabbed the camera and walked out on a nearby pier to watch the sailboats and surfers. There were all kinds of small black crabs on top of the pier, and they would scatter as I approached. After getting my fill of people and watercraft watching, Dan and I made our way back to the condo to rest.
That day, a veteran and survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack was at the park. I shook his hand and told him it was an honor to meet him. While we were waiting for the tour to start, we had a look around the gift shop. We purchased (the money supports veterans) a flag that had been flown on the memorial on July 4th of this year.
The tour began with a flim detailing the events of December 7, 1941. This brought tears to my eyes as most acts of war do. I learned some things I didn't know before and realized that things would have been much worse if all had gone according to plan.
Next, we took a shuttle boat to the memorial of the USS Arizona. It's a sobering experience, beautiful in an eerie way. No one says a word as they walk around. You can see portions of the ship sticking up out of the water and small stains on the water's surface of oil still leaking. There are markers in the harbor of where the various vessels were located that day. And inside the memorial, names of those who perished carved into a wall. The list doesn't seem quite so huge until you see each and every name right before you. There were velvet ropes hanging from silver stands in front of this wall. From the stands, matching flower leis were hung. One other interesting thing: a list has been started of survivors who chose to be interred with their ship-mates at the end of their lives.
When we returned to the visitor center, I was glad we had gotten there early because it was now jam-packed with people. I was hoping to visit the museum before our bus was due to leave, but the line was just too long. I was happy to sit back down on the bus anyway.
Our next stop was the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. This is in Honolulu inside Punchbowl Crater (an extinct volcano). Over 30,000 veterans are buried there. The area is appropriately serene and beautiful, with sprawling trees shading the rectangular gravestones. There is a carved statue of a woman with her head bowed at the top of a long staircase overlooking the cemetery. A very dignified resting place.
Afterward, we drove around downtown Honolulu with our guide, "Uncle Bob" (calling someone aunt or uncle is a sign of respect in Hawaii), pointing out all the interesting or signifcant sites including the state capitol and Chinatown. Our last stop was at the statue of Kamehameha the Great, the king who united Hawaii. The statue stands in front of the State Judiciary Building and across the street from Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the United States. Such a diverse mix of old and new Hawaii in such a small space.
We were done with the tour by noon, so after we had some lunch, Dan and I decided we needed some quality beach time. We put on our swimsuits, and I brought the camera and a woven beach mat I'd bought at one of the corner shops. While I paddled around in the surf, Dan caught some rays. After awhile, we decided we needed a snack because it was very hot out (about 92 degrees). We went across the street to an ice cream place called Coldstone, where everything is made fresh. I determined what would be safe for me to eat and gave it a try. I had basically what amounted to a gourmet hot fudge sundae....amazingly delicious!
After the snack, we took a walk in Kapiolani Park at the south end of Waikiki. There were some less crowded beaches near here, so we decided to hang around. The waves were harsher here because there was no retaining wall, but I discovered that once I'd gone out a certain distance, I could just float and let the tide bring me back toward shore. Had I been healthy, I could have stayed out there all afternoon, but when I got too tired to swim anymore, I grabbed the camera and walked out on a nearby pier to watch the sailboats and surfers. There were all kinds of small black crabs on top of the pier, and they would scatter as I approached. After getting my fill of people and watercraft watching, Dan and I made our way back to the condo to rest.
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