Leaving Hawaii....

Well folks, the time has come for us to leave Hawaii (and the USA in general!) and head to Fiji.
















We've had a steady last few days in Waikiki, taking in the Thanksgiving Parade on Friday night and Pearl Harbor today. The parade was an eclectic mix of marching bands from all over the USA (including a very impressive band from a high school in Pennsylvania, complete with bearskin hats and a 6-piece bagpipe section!), Pearl Harbor survivors riding in open-top sports cars with cool old-school names like 'Herb' or 'Mack' and other random people, including a troop of bodybuilders and their light-festooned Hummer.




















Today we visited Pearl Harbor, and more specifically the USS Arizona Memorial. After a lengthy-but-worth-it queue, we entered the visitors centre and did a tour of the exhibits, complete with audio from said old-school veterans. Then, we took a boat out to the memorial itself, a large white open-plan 'bridge' over the sunken Arizona. Seriously, Clare and I were very moved by the place and its shocking to think that the bodies of over 900 men still lay trapped in the rusting hulk, barely 6 feet below the water of Pearl Harbor.

I think the memorial itself is a beautiful piece of architecture, see what you think:
















The 'sagging' in the middle of the structure represents the low point of the war, e.g. Pearl Harbour, and it curves upwards to the 'high points' of eventual victory! The whole thing is open plan, with a massive marble wall at the back with the names of all those that died enscribed on it.

Anyways, I think we're both ready to move on now and see what Fiji has to offer (hopefully NOT a military coup!). We will speak to you from our next tropical paradise! We're not sure what internet connectivity is like there, so it may be a while until our next entry.....

-Si