Aloha again! So, we're up to Day 2 of the Hawaii Chronicles. That would be Monday May 20. We woke up plenty early again, had our breakfast buffet, then piled into the rented van to visit the USS Arizona memorial (that's Pearl Harbor, to the layperson). We were told to arrive there as early as possible cuz of all the crowds and the tide is low enough then so you can really see the sunken ship. We got there just before nine and already the line was huge. But, it seemed like we got inside really quick. Oh, here's something ironic: Most of the other people there were Japanese! Rob suggested that they could be planning to do it again. But, I think they learned their lesson the first time!:)
Admission to the Arizona memorial is free, unless you're with a tour group. They group people together and give them a numbered ticket. When they call that number, you're supposed to go to the theatre and watch a "short" film about the events of that fateful day. Then, you exit out the side to a dock where you take a boat over to the memorial site. The film was really good! It really put you in a somber mood, and no, it didn't have Ben Affleck in it!:) Well, the boat took us out to the memorial, which is a long white tube (kinda) that sits over the remains of the USS AZ. It dips down in the center, which symbolizes the losses of that day, but the two raised ends symbolize our imminent victory. Neat, huh? They asked everyone to keep our voices to a whisper and conversation minimal as we are, after all, standing on the cemetery of the men still sealed inside. Some people tossed flowers and leis into the water, and several others were crying. There was the very faint sound of chimes playing "God Bless America" and other patriotic songs. You can see the gun turrets sticking up out of the water, and oil leaks up to the surface every so often. At one end of the memorial is a wall with all the names of the people who were killed. There was a stone in front of that wall, to the left, with the names of all the survivors who had their remains interred with the other men who went down with the ship. Several were as recent as last year! Well, you can only spend so much time there, then you have to go back to the museum/gift shop area. We spent some time looking around there, both before and after seeing the memorial. There's so much to see there! Submarines, memorabilia, the USS Missouri where the Japs officially surrendered. It was eerily similar to September 11th.
Well, on that solemn note, we left there and went to lunch at a McDonald's, of all places! I think the afternoon was pretty much beach time interspersed with watching the Stanley Cup playoffs. Then, around 4, we had to leave the hotel for the luau! But, if I write about that now, it will make this entry waaaaaay too long, so I'll save that for later. Mahalo for reading!