After another relaxing morning, we are off to Abu Dhabi. We made a quick stop at Carrefour (think of Walmart on steroids – just different people) for batteries and another SD card for my camera.
Things along the way to Abu Dhabi:
- The main road from Al Ain to Abu Dhabi is a nice 6 lane road (3 on each side) with well-manicured palm trees down the center median and some scraggly-looking trees maybe 15 deep on either side; then sand dunes as far as you could see
- Street lights all the way from Al Ain to Abu Dhabi - each pole is number (not sure why)
- Small little communities with a few houses and business and always several mosque
- Trash cans all along the side of the road to discourage littering; people are fined for littering – For example: 500 dirhams (about $137 USD) just for a cigarette butt
- Sign pointing to “Remah Forest” – small group of scraggly looking trees; could see through to the sand dunes; not very dense – We just thought it was funny but I guess you could say a small group of trees in the middle of the dessert could be considered a forest.
As we were getting closer to Abu Dhabi, located on the coast, we
started to see more and more clouds. The
sky is just bright blue in Al Ain – very few, if any, clouds. We were impressed with the roads and bridges
– much like our “spaghetti junction” here in Atlanta. We certainly noticed how nice and smooth the
roads were – no potholes. Imagine that!
We had lunch at the Lebanese Flower.
Randy had lamb/chicken grill; Andrea had Chicken Schwarma; I shared with
both of them. We thought this was funny – Emerati people just drive up; sit in
their car; the waiter comes out and takes their order; they just wait in their
car – not in a parking space; waiter brings their order out and they pay. They are completely oblivious to the traffic
jam they are creating.
We wanted to see the Leaning Tower – Home of the Abu Dhabi National
Exhibit Center. Andrea had been to this
building when she first came to Abu Dhabi for an introduction to the Abu Dhabi
Education Council.
We set the GPS and set out to find the Leaning Tower – we could see it
from a distance so we knew we were headed in the right direction. After following JAMES (the GPS) and his
misguided directions and going around the block a couple of times, we finally
got close enough that I could take pictures.
There is construction all around so we couldn’t get as close as we would
have liked. Andrea asked the security
guard if he would let us drive closer but he was firm in his answer – “NO!”
Leaning Tower known as Capital
Gate
- Iconic gravity-defying tower
- World’s furthest leaning man-made tower
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We left there and headed over to Yaz Island and Yas Viceroy Hotel.
Yas Island and Yas Viceroy Hotel
- $36 billion development island outside of Abu Dhabi; currently home of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Ferrari World, Yas Marina, Yas Arena and many hotels including the Yas Viceroy Hotel
- Outside of hotel is multi-hued gridshell which can be seen from quite a distance away
- First hotel ever to be built over a Formula One race circuit
- The pool is on roof top – provides a skyline view of the marina on one side and the Yas Marina Circuit on the other side
- There was a real life-size gingerbread house in the lobby – it smelled yummy and there were beautiful Christmas trees throughout the hotel
Another great day in the UAE - lots of fun and lots of laughs. We have stories to tell for many years to come.
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