05.02.2020 - Day 42 - Honolulu, Hawaii/USA

Pearl Harbor .... I've been here over 30 years ago and yet it was very impressive again. On 07.12.1941, almost the entire US Pacific Fleet was destroyed here within two hours. A total of 21 warships were sunk or heavily damaged. In addition, the Japanese destroyed about 190 American combat aircraft. Approximately 2,500 soldiers were killed and 1,200 were injured. Alone on the large destroyer USS Arizona, 1,177 sailors died, 900 of whom are still buried in the hull of the ship. Above it is the famous USS Arizona Memorial, which can only be reached by boat. We had booked a tour and after a short introduction film in the specially built cinema, we were taken to the Memorial by the Navy. Before and afterwards, we had some time to visit two small museums on the premises, where we could learn a lot about the Battle of Pearl Harbor. Of course, also with corresponding pathos, but that's how the Americans are. In addition to our booking, we also had a small city tour, where we stopped at the famous statue of the first king of Hawaii, King Kamehameha (by the way, my ukulele is also called that).

On our last evening here in Waikiki/Honolulu, we were surprised by a real tropical rain after dinner, which poured down from the sky in torrents and led to Brigitte having to walk barefoot 🦶 to the hotel to save the leather soles of her shoes. But that was no problem at about 25 degrees 😃.

A small summary of Honolulu and Waikiki: we really liked it here. A bit too much commerce perhaps, a bit too crowded and quite expensive, but still great. But we already knew all that and just went with it. Otherwise, it's really great here and the island of Oahu is simply paradise. Especially when you can ride there on a Harley without a helmet 😉. What's really annoying, as everywhere in the States, is paying, especially in restaurants. Not only that, everything is taxed, you are also told how much tip to give. And that's always between 15 and 20 percent. We don't leave a restaurant here for less than $100 in the evening, even if we only eat burgers and drink beer.

Enough of the complaining ..... tomorrow we fly with Hawaiian Airlines to Kona on Big Island. We are very curious to see what awaits us there.