April 8, 2024
Abu Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Day 94 of 137
Happy Birthday to Harry IV and Jim Kracht!
Today’s excursion is entitled Abu Dhabi Orientation and High Tea at the Emirates Palace. We don’t leave for tea until 13:30, so we have the morning free. Which is nice because we can go into the terminal, not nearly as nice as the one in Dhabi, and use the free wi-fi. Having to rely on the wi-fi on the ship maybe the one major drawback. Although the ship goes in next year for a complete retrofit and wi-fi will probably be upgraded, at least that is the hope.
The excursion starts with a drive around the city by motor coach. Again it starts out with the port area under construction. The motor coach begins with a tour of Yas Island. The first thing you notice is that you are back on that starship again. Everything is so sterile. There are lots of high-rise buildings, again with very interesting architecture, but it is still very sterile. There does seem to be a bit more green here than in Dhabi, but it is negligible.
Yas Island is home to the Yas Marina, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and Ferrari World, the world’s first Ferrari-themed amusement park. It features the Formula Rossa, the world’s fastest roller coaster. Ok honestly all of this haute bourgeoisie feeling is nauseating. There is the Warner Brothers World Abu Dhabi is the world's largest indoor theme park in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, owned and developed by Miral at a cost of $1 billion. The park features characters from Warner Brother’s franchises, such as Looney Tunes, DC Comics, Hanna-Barbera, and others.
The motor coach then takes us to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (Arabic: جَامِع ٱلشَّيْخ زَايِد ٱلْكَبِيْر ;Jāmiʿ Aš-Šaykh Zāyid Al-Kabīr). It is the country's largest mosque. This sucker is huge! It took fifteen years to build. It covers more than thirty acres, and that doesn’t include the exterior landscaping or the parking area which is probably even bigger.
The project was started by the late president of the U.A.E., Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The guide says that the sheikh hoped to build a structure that would unite the cultural diversity of the Islamic world with the historical and modern values of architecture and art. All of that sounded a bit rehearsed. Sheikh Zayed died before it was completed and was buried in the courtyard of the mosque.
Let’s see. It cost $545 million US dollars to build. There are 82 domes and four minarets. It can hold up to 41,000 people for prayers. It has the largest hand made carpet. It took 600 women in Iran five years to weave. One can picture the women shackled to a wall, in 100-degree heat, wearing burkas, weaving the rug, for which their reward was something to eat that day. There were a lot of other facts about how great this place is. It has a lot of wonderful features, but honestly God doesn’t care about what you build or how much gold was used, He cares are you and how you treat your fellow man.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center (SZGMC) manages the day-to-day operations and serves as a center of learning and discovery through its educational cultural activities and visitor programs. The library, located in the northeast minaret, serves the community with classic books and publications addressing a range of Islamic subjects: sciences, civilization, calligraphy, the arts, and coins, including some rare publications. The collection comprises material in a broad range of languages, including Arabic, English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Korean. For two years running, it was voted the world's second favorite landmark by TripAdvisor. Really?
The motor coach was loaded and we were now off to high tea at the spectacular Emirates Palace Hotel. Wait a minute. This palace was built in 2001. It cost $3,000,000,000 (billion) US dollars to build. However, by 2020 it was in such bad shape they had to close it for two years to fully renovate it. Charm points Zero! Glitz and glamour points? Who knows? Reminds one of the Bellagio in Las Vegas, all glitz and no substance.
Yes it is beautiful. Staying there would be a treat. Tea was wonderful. We really like high tea ceremonies, and this was clearly one of the best. The cappuccino with real gold flakes served after our tea made very little sense. However, now we can say we drank one. Feeling a bit guilty about it.
The guide was very informative. Half the people living in Abu Dhabi are ex-pats from nearly everywhere. If you are native to Abu Dhabi you have all of your schooling paid for, everything from rent to food is cheaper than what is offered the ex-pats. They are not troubled about ripping off not only the tourists but the ex-pats which make up so much of their population. Everything is safe and clean the guide points out. They don’t go outside much. They love it when it rains, which is rarely does.
Ok, interesting. Lots of things to do and see. Good for a visit, yes by all means. George has already expressed an interested in attending the Grand Prix held here. He would like the theme park as well. We didn’t visit the mall here as there wasn’t time due to the excursion, however we did here how great it was. One can assume it probably was.
This would probably we a great educational exercise for Grace. Fashion merchandising at its most extreme. Let us know if you need a trip here Grace. The 2024 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX is sold out, we’ll have to look to 2025. It is held in early December.
Buonanotte e Ciao, Enrico e Maria
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