Hawaii Vacation - WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument

There have been quite a few changes to this site since my last visit 25 years ago. In 2010, the newly designated WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument was created. Congress combined 9 major historical sites into one umbrella park which includes multiple sites in Hawaii- including this one, Alaska's Aleutian Islands and one site in California.

Since my last visit the site itself has been "refurbished."  The visitor center was built on filled-in waterfront land. The engineers believed that the site would eventually settle to a maximum of 18 inches. Instead, it decided to settle as much as 30 inches. The visitor center was given a life expectancy of only 5-10 yrs in 2003. The site had to undergo major renovations or be entirely rebuilt.

So, in 2010 the completely rebuilt and expanded $58 million USS Arizona Memorial Pearl Harbor Visitor Center opened.The visitor center now rests on concrete friction piles driven more than 200 feet into the soft soil

The USS Arizona Memorial itself remains untouched by renovations. Oil leaks slowly from the ship as it was on my previous visit. I don't know if the correct word is ship or boat but in my post today I am using the word ship. Each day up to 4500 tickets are sold to visit the Memorial.

Access to the Memorial is by US Navy ship. They were really fussy about not stopping to take photos on the ramp leading from the Navy ship and the Memorial so I had to find a picture from the Internet.

Funds to originally build the Memorial came from public and private funding sources. And, though he declined to have any information about his contributions at the site itself, Elvis Presley held concerts and raised 10% of the funds needed to construct the Memorial. There were suggestions that a statue or plaque be placed at the site. Elvis said no. Elvis also had a huge connection to our very hotel. He always stayed there. He performed in the very spot where there is now a restaurant. We had dinner there one evening.

The trip to the Memorial is short but slow.

There are a few stories about the meaning of the design of the Memorial itself which floats above the submerged USS Arizona. [Note: The water is not that deep in the harbor so part of the ship did stick above the water level. In order to build the Memorial a few parts of the top of ship had to be removed.]

The stories: the Memorial appears to sag in the middle. This might represent the height of American pride before the war and the sudden national depression following the December attack. There are 3 sets of windows each with 7 windows for a total of 21 windows. The "7" might represent the date of the attack and the "21" might refer to a 21-gun salute or 21 marines at eternal rest. Guides say these stories were not the intent of the architect.

This photo by S. So much better than my shot of the same image.

The Memorial is an active military cemetery. Surviving members of the USS Arizona crew may choose to be interred within the ship or have their ashes spread above the ship. There are only 6 crew members who survive today. They range in age from 93-97. Inside the Memorial is a marble wall listing  the over 1100 crew who perished. A small plaque lists the approximately 30 survivors. In total about 2400 people lost their lives during the 2-hour attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1999 the USS Missouri was brought to the site and docked behind the USS Arizona. On the deck of this ship the Japanese surrendered to US General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz ending WWII. The USS Arizona was destroyed at the start US involvement  in WWII and the USS Missouri was witness to the conclusion of the war.

Hawaii Vacation- Circle Tour Plus

Many of these photos are from a long day trip we took being driven all around the Island of Oahu in a small bus.

This trip included a stop at Pearl Harbor that is covered in it's own posting.

We also visited a macadamia nut outlet with all sorts of tasting stations. I liked most of the flavors I tried except maybe garlic and onion. Maybe as a coating on fish but just as a snack item I think I prefer my macademia's plain or as a sweet rather than a savory item.

We stopped at a Dole Pineapple visitor center.

There are 28,000 plants per acre. All planting is done by hand. All harvesting is done by hand. 70-80% of the pineapples planted by this group are sold as "fresh." Each plant can produce 2 pineapples. They harvest one and another one grows. After that the plants are replaced.

S and I would definitely would have liked to explore this place further but the bus didn't stay long enough. We did get a chance to savor Dole Pineapple Whip- a concoction of frozen pineapple blended with milk and sugar and intensely pineapply! Our trio voted YES! YES! and NO!

There were stops along the North Shore famous for winter waves and major surfing competitions. Naturally our visit in August held no "big waves" but we saw some pretty scenery.

Along the North Shore S managed a glimpse of a sea turtle on the beach.  I'm not sure those people should have been down there....

A farmer apparently released rabbits on the larger island below. Rabbits did what rabbits do and so later all of the rabbits had to be removed.

Is this Key West? Those of you who have spent any time in Key West will remember seeing chickens/roosters all over. They are protected in Key West. They are pretty well tolerated and have even come to achieve tourism status. However, Waikiki seems to be accepting the birds as well. We were told that recent hurricanes had released a bunch of the birds and now they are all over. And it's true, we saw a lot of them.

We stopped at the famous "blow-hole" on the island. The "blow-hole" was not willing to blow on our visit. However, the water and the surf were very pretty, and the surf sounds were terrific.

Our guide pointed out that on a tiny snippet of beach just adjacent to the non-functioning "blow-hole" was the location for the filming of the famous scene from the film From Here to Eternity. In the scene Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster roll around in the sand and surf. I've watched the movie since and this beach has changed quite a bit since the early 1950s when the film was made. In the film there is much more sand and much less exposed rock.

Hawaii Vacation- Intro

Aloha from the Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort!

Recently, I was able to vacation with my mom and our niece in Hawaii. I was last in the islands 25 years ago. That's long enough that I don't remember many specifics so I can't answer a question like, "Has it changed much?" On my previous visit B and I spent more of our time on other islands so time at this location was pretty limited. This trip was all Waikiki and Oahu.

Naturally, my flights to get there began at 6 am and that required a departure from the apartment at 3:15 am. Nearly all of our flights seem to begin at 6 am.

My flights were as follows (and much easier on the way there than on the return):
Here to Tokyo, Tokyo to Honolulu. Door to door actual time: 23 hours

My return flights were not so easy: Honolulu to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Tokyo, Tokyo home. Door to door actual time: left on 15 August and arrived midnight 17 August;  you can imagine the rest and the math is up to you.

I arrived in Honolulu much earlier than my roommates but the hotel was able to let me check in early so I got at least a bit of sleep before the others arrived some 6 hours later.

Just look at the view from our hotel room! Fabulous!

***Photo disclaimer. I'm using a few photos taken by our niece because many of her photos were better than mine.

We teased my mom that we certainly wouldn't lose her in a crowd when she's wearing chartreuse. Here's a shot of my travel companions for this trip.

She was harder to spot when she paused with a background of vegetation!

Here's a couple of shots of my roommates. I guess I wore them out!

This one is actually awake and laughing that she was able to catch a little snooze while the other two ran an errand.

Our hotel was HUGE!  The resort had multiple towers with thousands of people. I'm not sure how many thousands but the place was packed. A few shots around the hotel.

Some ticket stubs.

I can't explain this one...but as long as it's chocolate!

We attended a luau show one evening. Two of us got shell necklaces at the door. One of us who shall remain anonymous got the shell necklace but also got a plumeria lei.The one that got the plumeria lei took this photo:

Singapore Again- Part 2

We took a photo of that odd boat-shaped restaurant on top of the Marina Bay Sands complex. There was also a large mirror reflecting an image of the ArtScience Museum which was interesting.

When last in Singapore, we saw signs for a new Gordon Ramsey restaurant which would open soon. We decided to check it out for lunch on Friday.

I had the fish and chips with mashed peas. B had a pork chop with a fabulous cider and onion soup. There is a back room but all of the action is in the small front area of the restaurant. We were seated at a high top with full view of the kitchen. We were very close and could see everything. A view from our table:

My fish and chips was pretty good but now I know why Gordon Ramsey always talks about seasoning (salt) on his cooking competition shows. He must really like salt. My dish was too "seasoned" for my taste.  B said his pork chop was salty as well. We didn't order dessert but the waitress brought us a jar of cookies in case we wanted a little nibble.

We had a little ice cream at a Swensen's after visiting the Spotlight shop. We don't get much ice cream here so it was a treat.

There was a quilt store in a mall here on our last visit but it was closed due to Chinese New Year. We tried to visit the shop on this trip but it was closed. Gone for good. Also closed since our last visit was the Hediard shop from France. I was looking forward to a few pieces of paté de fruits, but it was not to be.

The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The National Orchid Garden is on the far side of the place so we got a good walk from the entrance. So many pretty plants and flowers in this enormous garden. Here are a few:

Golden showers

A pineapple!

Renanopsis 'Lion Spendor'

Now this one has nothing to do with plants. We saw a small water monitor on the edge of this water feature. Naturally I squealed with delight a little too loudly and he popped right into the water. He was kind enough to leave a watermark which we are happy to share.

On our last visit to Singapore we did make use of taxis and the MRT. This time we stuck with the MRT (think subway) which could take us to or close to all of the places we wanted to go. Any extra distance was accomplished on foot. The MRT is clean, well marked and very easy to negotiate for the most part. We had trouble finding the correct route out of one station. We had the same trouble last year. Now we think we've figured it out. There is a station a few blocks from our hotel so it makes using the MRT pretty easy. I should mention we didn't get the best advice on which MRT stop to exit for the ArtScience Museum. We got off way too early or we took the wrong line. Anyway, we knew what the building looked like (a baseball glove or a flower or just the odd-shaped white thing depending on who you ask) so we just had to walk to it.

Singapore residents use the public transport systems in part because plates for cars are on a lottery system. You can't just buy a car and drive it.  But I think the system is also used because it is so efficient.

I must also mention that the escalators are the fastest I've ever seen. They probably need to be due to the number of people using the system. They could never run them this fast in Indonesia, people just don't move that quickly!

Singapore Again- Part 1

A long weekend trip to Singapore was prompted by the opportunity to visit an exhibit called "The Art and Science of Gems" at the Artscience Museum in cooperation with the French National Museum of Natural History.

There is also a new natural history museum in Singapore. Next we wanted to visit the National Orchid Garden at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. We didn't get the chance to see this on our last visit to the Gardens. Lastly, there is a very large craft store in Singapore. All good reasons, right?

On arrival Thursday we made our plan: Friday- ArtScience Museum and Spotlight, Saturday- Natural History Museum and Botanic Gardens, Sunday- fly back home.

It turns out our plan was not the greatest. On arrival at the ArtScience Museum Friday morning we learned it was Family day so kids were free. Crowds! Fortunately they were interested in 2 other exhibits which didn't really interest us so the Gem collection was relatively quiet. We didn't do enough research into the Natural History Museum. Both Saturday and Sunday on this weekend were free for all of the nurses in Singapore. We figured the place would be packed so we put this visit aside for another trip to Singapore and spent more time at the gardens.  If only we'd switched the days in our plan. Oh, well. Thankfully, though, the forecast of rain for both Friday and Saturday didn't happen but it was hot.

The ArtScience Museum is located at the famous Marina Bay Sands resort/shopping site. We see ads for it on TV all the time.

Just a few gems and minerals from the exhibit ( non-flash photos were OK!):

Possibly reconstructed emerald and pyrite on calcite. Another piece was labed "Reconstructed". This one might be real.

Rubies waiting to be mounted in the famous Mystery Rail setting

Papillon Oeil de Tigre Clip of gold, yellow sapphires, spessartite garnet, tiger's eye and diamonds

Gold, emerald, diamond necklace with detachable pendant. Can become 3 bracelets.

Emerald single crystal- 365 ct

Aquamarine with black tourmaline closeup

Blue topaz 21560 ct (yep, 21560 ct)

I'd like to be able to touch all of these. Can you ID the stones from the list in the caption?

includes  37 ct tanzanite, 653 ct purple flourite, 107 ct green ceryl, 109 and 57 ct kunzite, ametrine, orthoclase, citrine, danburite, 2624 ct smoky quarta, 308 ct green flourite, alexandrite variety of chrysoberyl, 111 ct aquamarine beryl, 107 ct blue flourite, chinese amber carving, 40 ct apatite, 54 ct spessartite garnet, 54 ct almandine garnet, 1436 almondine garnet sphere ! 

A famous zipper necklace. These necklaces can come apart to form  bracelets and earrings

Polished malachite

Gorgeous pin!

Amethyst crystal

Just one photo from several sets of animal related jewelry- inspired by cartoons seen in the 1950s. 

A hidden watch

An 800 kg quartz crystal discovered in the Alps in 1754 and presented to General Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797. (very difficult to get a good photo of this! It's not white but is lit from below.)

Bowl of sapphires

There were lots of items previously owned and worn by Liz Taylor, Princess Faiza of Egypt, Queen Nazli of Egypt, Her Serene Highness Grace of Monaco, Princess Caroline of Monaco and others. This one was worn by Her Serene Highness Charlene of Monaco (married Prince Albert III of Monaco).

gold, sapphires, diamonds

A multi-ruby display from raw ore to polished faceted stones

Butterfly gem and mineral mobile