E&M traveled separately from me &A because we each of different frequent flier programs, but we started our journey together very early (3am-ish) on Thursday after varying amounts of sleep. I think I had the most, with about 3 hours and Mike had the least with <1. So needless to say, we were all bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and in fabulous moods when we got in the car.
I'm gonna skip over the flying part because it was 15 hours long and not a lot happened, except I watched Midnight in Paris, which was not good and paid $7 for some red wine, which the flight attendant apologized for, but which Andrew and I thought was a really good deal, because now where in NYC can you get 2.5 glasses of wine for $7.
We landed at around 5pm in Honolulu and took a shuttle to the Aston Waikiki Beach hotel. We were all pretty zonked, so we just went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. Of course we ordered fruity drinks and the boys bought the girls leis which was super sweet, because, unlike any movie or tv show you've seen (I'm talking to you, Full House), you do NOT get lei'd upon arrival.
We hit the hay pretty early that night and got up for breakfast on the beach (kind of--we were running late, so we made it breakfast on a bench looking at the beach) and an early shuttle to Pearl Harbor.
We had about an hour before our tour was scheduled at 9:30, so we walked through a couple of exhibits. There was a ring of plaques surrounding a flag pole out by the water which commemorated the 52 submarines that were lost during WWII and some indoor exhibits about the events leading up to Pearl Harbor. My favorite thing, though, was the Pearl Harbor veteran signing books outside. He took a picture with us and told us about his experience. He enlisted in his early 20s (I think he might have been only 20, actually) and was immediately shipped out to Pearl Harbor. He arrived on December 6th 1941. Everyone who went to PH thought of it as a vacation, I guess. It seemed very far removed from the war. On his first full day, Pearl Harbor was attacked. I can't even imagine what that must have been like. I mean for anyone who was there, but especially for this young, green soldier.
At 9:30am we lined up and watched a 20 minute video about the attacks. Then we loaded onto a shuttle boat out to the Arizona Memorial. For some reason, whenever I thought about Pearl Harbor, I never thought about taking a boat to the memorial, but I guess that's really the only way it could be.
The memorial was beautiful, just like any picture you've ever seen. The walls and ceiling were open and the bright whiteness of the walls was very striking against the blue water and green land behind. There is one area with a hole in the floor, surrounded by a wall, where you can look straight down and see the battleship. The harbor is so shallow that part of the ship are still above water. What I found most interesting, and something I never really thought about before, was the oil. Obviously, battleships carry fuel, and when they sink, that fuel goes down too. The Arizona is still leaking oil--only about a quart or so a day, but enough that you can see it on the water. The memorial committee decided not to disturb the ship--because it is the grave of so many soldiers--so they fuel is still down there. It's been over 70 years, and they estimate it will leak for another hundred. For some reason, that fact really struck me, even more than any of the other things I learned that day.
Below are some of the pictures I took. I always feel weird taking pictures in memorial-type places, but I think it's important to remember my trip there.
Up next, and on a lighter note, will be our Friday night luau!
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| The plaques commemorating downed subs and their crews |
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| Open floor over the battleship |
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| Inside the memorial |
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| The slow-leaking oil |
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| Parts of the Arizona rise above the water |
