A Great Couple Days in Honolulu

Aloha from on board Norwegian’s Pride of America where the cruise portion of this Hawaiian adventure has begun.

Had a great couple of days in Honolulu, seeing Pearl Harbor, downtown and Chinatown and spending some quality time in Waikiki where I was staying.

On Friday, I headed out to Pearl Harbor, one of my must-sees for this adventure. The scene of Japan and America’s entry into WWII has been made a national park with a great audio tour narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis.

The centerpiece of a visit to Pearl Harbor is a boat ride to the resting place of the USS Arizona, with 1100 of her crew still entombed within her as they’ve been for almost 84 years. This solemn spot evokes quite a bit of emotion.

Having seen Hiroshima two years ago, I’ve now visited the beginning and end of the WWII engagement between Japan and the US. Both reinforce the horror of nations choosing to go to war. It’s rarely the leaders who start the wars who suffer its atrocities, it’s the young US sailors attacked in surprise and the Hiroshima residents going about their morning who lose their lives. Every war is an abject failure of “leaders” who discount the cost because they do not share in it.

I was very glad to see an exhibit of Sadako Sasaki’s cranes which I learned about in Hiroshima two years ago.

Moving on from Pearl Harbor, I was glad to try out the brand new Honolulu metro on a ride to see downtown. While a business center, downtown Honolulu also has its Chinatown and Iolani Palace, the only royal palace on US soil.

On Friday night, I was lucky to catch the Waikiki holiday parade, right on Kalakaua Avenue. High school and military marching bands parade by, with many singing Mele Kalikimaka, the classic Hawaiian Christmas song.

Prior to boarding the ship on Saturday, I spent some time walking around Waikiki. I was thrilled to find a couple of Japanese chains which I remembered from my trip two years ago including my first Onigiri 🍙 since then.