More sightseeing from my neighborhood

Sometimes you just need to take a day off slow. I've got a list of things to accomplish and see on this island before I leave, but sometimes one forgets how much is close by. Last Wednesday we drove up to Punchbowl National Cemetery. It is a beautiful site, most of the remains from Pearl Harbor and many battles throughout the Pacific from WWI, Korean War and Vietnam lay to rest here. At the end of a long promenade are stone slabs covered with all of the medal of honor recipients and walls of maps...all mosaics of crushed glass...showing all major Pacific battles. Leaving this focal point of the cemetery, you follow a memorial walk way up to the observation deck. The walkway overlooks the plaques and grave markers below, some punctuated by colorful floral arrangements of ginger and bird of paradise. And once you reach the observation deck, you're treated with a spectacular view of Honolulu, Diamondhead and the mountain range. Everything looks so distant from up above, what only takes ten minutes to drive seems to stretch out for miles. Endless buildings edged by an even more infinite ocean.

Punchbowl is not nearly as awe inspiring as Arlington, nor as reverent as the Arizona Memorial, but tis beautiful nonetheless.

After Punchbowl we perused downtown and Aloha Tower. Beer overlooking the harbor. And stopping into a store probably better left undiscovered as I will more likely than not be back to satisfied my submerged Gothic tendencies. And possibly make a retail connection for a few items of my own...