Hawaii - Day 1 Part II

As much as I've gloated about the room in which the Sheraton provided, the more impressive part was the view.  And I think this was intentional.  You want to put a premier hotel in a premier location, right?  And the best room would be the one with the best view, right?  Can I thank the Sheraton more?

This is the eastward view from the main balcony toward Diamond Head volcano.  Waikiki is the beach.  The view was exhilerating.  

One of my stupid(?) interests is seeing the progression of an area.  Once we returned home, I was Googling pictures of Waikiki looking for pictures from the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's.  I even watched early episodes of Hawaii Five-O to see early views of Waikiki.  There is one scene in the opening credits of Waikiki beach showing the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (below) and the Sheraton Waikiki has not yet been built.  Once the diamond of Waikiki Beach, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, though still exquisite, now stands in the shadows of the towering hotels that surround it.

This view is from the balcony of the master bedroom looking inland.  It seemed like it was always cloudy and\or raining inland.  The houses climbed the hills with only the steep cliffs laying barren.  Tall high rises clung to the shores of the island, not matter where you where.

In one of those twin towers on the left, several scenes from a Magnum P.I. episode were recorded (the one with the Sicilian mob boss and came to reclaim a necklace that was swiped when Magnum rescued a girl being held against her wishes.  The low-rise black building is actually a parking garage.

Downtown Waikiki at night.  Have I mentioned that it is exhilarating?

A rainbow always points to paradise, right?

After we finished being in awe of the view, we went to dinner at one of the malls on the famous Beachwalk.  My oldest and I shared a Japanese meal, my son wanted Subway, and my youngest wanted Sbarro's.  My wife just wanted to go to sleep.  It was 9pm Hawaii time, but it was 2am Baltimore time.  Surprisingly, we were all up between 4 and 5am the next morning, which all the tour books said would be the case.