Honolulu---Days 2 & 3

Two more lovely days in this Hawaiian paradise. I am delighted to report that this morning at 7 am it was 30 degrees F. colder at home than it was here in Honolulu. I know my daughters are hurling insults my way after reading that statement!

We treated ourselves to a lovely lunch at the Royal Hawaiian. I can highly recommend the tempura lobster roll.....Nonie used to come to the Royal Hawaiian with her grandmother when she was last here in Honolulu. Let's see, that was 51 years ago!

A nice view of Diamond Head from the beach.

We found a lady outside the International Market doing charcoal portraits after dinner. We each had one done. Nonie's is very good, as is mine. (Although she made me look not only younger than I am but prettier! I'm not complaining.) I like Nonie's, which is pictured above.

I really enjoyed watching this talented lady work. How she can do such a fine job, on the street under the harsh street lights in about thirty minutes is waaaaaaaaaay beyond me. Besides being very talented, she's very nice.

We took an eight hour tour to Pearl Harbor. Visiting the Arizona Monument was a sobering experience. Both of our fathers served in the US military during WWII and being at this place, this monument, that was ground zero for the beginning of the US involvement in that war, was more of a connection than I expected. I have been to the Peace Park at Hiroshima. Both of these places feel the same to me...somber, sad and profoundly heart wrenching. I kept wondering why, after all these thousands of years, mankind can find no other way to work out their differences than kill each other?

We also toured the USS Missouri. I had the opportunity to tour the Missouri in 1998. My DH's company made the power cords for the ship before it was towed to Hawaii. (See the photo below!) We were able to go all over the ship in '98 and did!---I think we spent about 5 or 6 hours aboard at that time. What I remember the most was seeing the quarters for both the Navy sailors and the Marines that were stationed aboard. I noticed that there were a great number of mirrors on the walls (bulkheads?) in the Marines' area and just a few mirrors in the Navy area. I'm not saying anything in particular, but you might come to the conclusion that one group was much more vain than the other.

Our plugs and cables.

You can see the Arizona Monument off the left side.

And, to end on a lighter note, here's a sign we saw on our way to Pearl Harbor.