To start my final day in Hawai'i I awoke at 5:30 - a time I firmly believe is intended to be stayed up til, not got up by. It's even harder when some part of your body is still desperately trying to tell you that it was a little after midnight.
The reason I got up so early was because I was told to get out to Pearl Harbor early because the USS Arizona Memorial books out by mid morning. It was lucky I did get there early as I made it onto the first trip out and the second trip was the final for the day because of high winds.
The Arizona memorial can only be reached by shuttle ferry, hence the closure due to strong winds, and this was an enjoyable ride, both out and back, with the seaspray helping to make you feel alive and vibrant again after the sombre reflections on the memorial. The memorial itself was incredibly beautiful and moving, I could barely believe how emotional it was making me even though I have no connection with this place or the people involved in its history.
The entire experience was amazing and awe inspiring
It had also started raining so I didn't spend much time looking at the various other memorials around the monument park. Instead I looked at the USS Arizona Memorial Museum, accompanied by another audio tour (this time narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis) which I thought was surprisingly free of bias for the situation and provided lots of information about the intentions and motivations of the Japanese without making them out to be evil villains. This didn't necessarily continue through to the other people in the museum as overheard a woman answer her daughter's question of “why did they attack us?” with “Because they were evil communists who didn't love Jesus and their empreror-king hates freedom.” - I worry for that kid.
Also at Pearl Harbor are the USS Missouri, USS Bowfin and Pacific Aviation Museum. I decided to check out the Missouri an Aviation Museum first because I needed to head out to Ford Island to see them and I didn't want to get stuck there too late, especially as Ford Island is an active naval base.
The Missouri was first, it is famous for being the place where World War II ended. The ship was pretty impressive and a group offered free tours of the main deck with really interesting insight into the history of the ship including a devastating kamikaze attack as well as a detailed description of the power of the guns, which can hit targets obscured from those on board by the curvature of the Earth.
The USS Missouri
The view from her navigation bridge
One of the very first naval internet precursors The ship's library, both relaxing and educational
The very place the war ended
The Pacific Aviation Museum is only a short bus ride away from the Missouri and is housed in a pair of aircraft hangers. As well as the aeroplanes on display there were films about Amelia Earhart's flights and about the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in 1942. The museum also housed a large restoration workshop and even though I had missed the last tour of this section, the volunteer at the door pointed out some of the more interesting things inside.
Japanese Zero
Cobra Helicopter Antiaircraft Gun
Although allowed, sitting on the seats inside a museum exhibit feels somehow wrong
By now I was both out of time and out of camera charge so I caught a bus back to the hotel. This lead to one of the most interesting conversations I had all trip because the driver was interested in travelling to Australia and discussing all things similar and different between Australia, Hawai'i and the rest of America. It certainly made me decide to chat to more bus drivers during the trip, made me want to chat to them back here as well but that is prime reading time.
Finally I headed out to the airport and boarded my next flight.
Culture shock for the day: A British culture shock today, as I met some pommies on the bus. The one thing they could think of about Australia was that I should be ashamed of myself about the situation with the Indian nurse who committed suicide because of the stupid Australian radio hosts who called her up pretending to be the queen. They were quite rude to me because of this, even though I'm fairly sure I had absolutely nothing to do with that situation. All in all not such a nice way for Australia to be viewed by other countries just at the moment.
Next time: Changing flights, states and times.
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