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 We
had a six hour layover in Honolulu, so I hired a limousine and had the driver
whisk us around to the major sites in southern Oahu. All but Pearl Harbor. We
saw Pearl from the air on the way in, and simply couldn't see most of the other
sites and spend the time in Pearl that it deserved.
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When you arrive in Hawaii, one of the first
things you notice is that the concepts of "indoors" and
"outdoors" were never clearly grasped here. The climate is so
mild that the two ideas blend and flow together. |
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The first stop was to get some leis
so that we could be officially welcomed to the Islands. Then we took off
for downtown Honolulu where the first stop was the Iolani palace (the only
royal Palace in the U.S.) and the statue of King Kamehameha the first, who
unified the islands in the 18th century. Behind the palace is an enormous
banyan tree, the first one the girls had ever seen. |
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Across the street is the Kawaihao church, built
in the 1820's from blocks cut from the reef. The galleries have paintings
of members of the Hawaiian royal family. We had to slip in between
weddings. Many young Japanese fly to the Islands to get married. |
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We then drove up into the windward (Koolau) range to the
Nuuanu Pali (pali = cliff). The view was spectacular, but the wind was ferocious!
The story was that in the final battle for the island of O'ahu,
Kamehameha drove his enemies up the valley, and back over the pali. We
looked: it's a looong way straight down!
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Over the Pali and down to the Valley of the
Temples, a large memorial garden where we visited the Byodo-in temple.
Marie made a prayer for our vacation and rang the gong. |
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Back towards Honolulu, with a stop at Hanauma
bay, a flooded crater which has become a fish sanctuary. The fish are so
numerous that we could see them from the top of the cliffs! |
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And so, as the sun sets rapidly into the sea off
Diamond Head Light, we bid a fond farewell to the most populous of the
Hawaiian Islands and board our next flight, taking us to Kona on the Big
Island. |
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