Down the street to get the bus for the tour to Pearl Harbor. Bob the Driver, not Bob the Builder pulled up in the big green coach and welcomed 'Bob's Family'. We were the first pickup and there were two more and we had a full bus.
Out we go with Bob giving commentary on the way. He has a funny turn of phrase so it's quite amusing. At times he sounds like he's a preschool teacher talking to a group of five year olds. Like, "take your digital camera and take lots of photos. You go through them later and delete the ones you don't want." That doesn't come out half as funny as when he said it...
This is also the long tour - I thought I had booked the short tour. And apparently I had ordered lunch... Though I did have an inkling of this when they somehow got out of me that I didn't eat meat. Should have been a clue.
We get to the Harbor, go in and pick up our audio tours. Then inside for a video about the events of that Sunday morning. Very interesting. So many people died. The Japanese were hoping it would cause the Americans to be demoralised and give up but of course it did exactly the opposite. It certainly was a blitz attack, though.
After the movie, we're out and onto the boat to take us over to the Arizona memorial. This is quite a solemn and moving memorial - particularly the wall at the end with the names of all the people who died - over 1,000.
The audio tour is interesting, narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis. It goes into more detail about the memorial. There's oil still leaking from the wreck cos it was refuelled the day before and they can't stop the leak now without destroying it.
Next port of call is the Missouri. We're divided into two groups and we have a guy who is hilarious and gives everything a very theatrical touch. (Insert photo here!) he runs over the signing of the end of the war on the boat. With details like the guys who lined the way the Japanese came onto the boat were not the best or brightest but the biggest and meanest-looking - to intimidate.
It was very interesting but it was hot! After the tour, we had a bit of time so I did the zoom around inside. It was really great to see. The mess halls, the offices, the officers' bedrooms, the bunks for the men, the bridge. All great.
Then out for the lunch which consisted of lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle. A small thing of potato salad and a packet of crisps. Apparently 'vegetarian' means no bread roll - cos that has meat in it - apparently.
Anyway... Back onto the bus and we now have a city tour, which is the extended part of the tour, which I didn't know I was doing but was happy to. Mainly because we went past Iolani Palace, which i did want to see. Also saw the statue of the old king and the courthouse, which is beautiful.
Next, up to Punchbowl which is an old crater and now serves as a cemetery. It's quite lovely too. Beautiful trees, green lawns. The Hawaiian victim of the Challenger shuttle disaster is buried here - they did recover some remains.
Back to the hotel to sit and rest for a bit. I'm trying to find a couple of tours to fit for tomorrow and end up going down to the bookings here and booking through them. Then down to have an early dinner and it's a delicious sandwich yet again - this one with eggplant, tomato, grilled asparagus and cheese. Delish!
Now is when I'd like the photos to be working because I went down to the main street where it seemed like the whole of Waikiki was parading up and down - all dressed up in their Halloween gear. It was amazing! So many people and some outrageous outfits. It was still very hot so every now and then, when it spittered with rain, it was quite nice.
Wondered up the road, up to the Pacific Beach Hotel, a place I considered staying at but only because of the massive fish tank. They were feeding the fish, the person in there had a skeleton wetsuit on - pretty cool.
Then back down the street, sat for a while, just watching. Then it was toomhotmand too crowded so I came home. crazy!
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