Tampa is well known for all the great local restaurants we have...My favorite by far is the grand old Columbia Restuarant
The Columbia is the oldest operating restuarant in Florida and the oldest Spanish - Cuban restuarant in the United States
It has been in this same location in Ybor City on the corner of 7th Ave and 21st St. since 1905
The same family has owned and operated the Columbia for all of it's 111 years
Inside and out it is a beautiful place. The tile work outside is beautiful
The entry way
Inside it's many dining rooms are also beautiful and a great atmosphere
The food is spectacular...starting with a 1905 salad and ending with the amazing and not to be missed guava turnover
Places like this make the Cigar City special...if you are in Tampa don't miss the Columbia
We visited Hawaii a few years ago. This blog will be some pictures I took at the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor
Everyone has seen the images from December 7, 1941 of the Arizona as she lies burning in Pearl Harbor
The scene is much more serene today as you look across the harbor at the Arizona Memorial and the mighty USS Missouri keeping watch
At the visitors center you board a boat and the Park Service takes you across to the Memorial
People are very quiet as they walk up the ramp. This is the final resting place for 1,102 of the 1,177 men that died on the Arizona
A gun turret sits above the water line
75 years later she is still leaking oil
And the most somber thing about the Memorial....the names on the wall
An aerial view that I did not take
As you leave the Arizona Memorial you can drive across the bridge to Ford Island and visit the USS Missouri
The 16 inch guns on the Mighty Mo
The spot on the deck where the Japanese signed the unconditional surrender ending World War II
For the final pic I am standing in a spot where you can see the beginning and the end of World War II in one photo
