Hotel

We arrived on the 31st, and Jochen, also from the KNES department was already in Hawaii, helping his daughter move. She goes to university there. He was kind enough to pick us up at the airport and deliver us to the hotel. That was so nice of him, and made our lives significantly easier.

Here are some pictures from our room window. We went with the mountain view rather than ocean view, to save money. Fortunately, it was still a great view, and it was easy to get to the beach.

Keep in mind when looking at the pictures that I often tried some of the techniques I learned in my camera class. The first picture is an example of that.

Our first foray to the beach. So beautiful.

The banyan trees are quite amazing. The roots grow down from the branches. This one had many roots that were being protected by chicken wire. I guess it was because it's right on the main street, and people might damage them if the roots aren't protected. All in all, very cool trees.

This picture isn't focussed, but I liked the fact that the bird flew into the frame. The Duke is a famous surfer, and his statue is always covered with leis. 

The flowers in Hawaii are spectacular. The colours are amazing, and they are everywhere. At first I was distressed about them being used so freely, then realised that they grow all over the island, all year long. they aren't as rare as they are here.