Some Houses in our Neighborhood

Emirati houses are typically very large with walls built around them. The large ones usually have seven or eight bedrooms and a ladies salon and a men's salon. They sometimes have very large windows. One near our house has stained glass windows in the front. I find it quite interesting that not many have garages. They will have a mansion of a house and park their cars in a large driveway or on the street. They usually have lots of cars. Many houses in my neighborhood have eight vehicles outside. I have been told my landlord owns ten. Our neighborhood, Al Mushrif, is considered to be one of the old neighborhoods where some of the old important families reside. They are typically more conservative Muslims. Al Mushrif is considered a middle class area. We have a few old, wealthy families scattered among us but the more wealthy families and the Shaikh's live in another area. Now if you want to see a mansion......just look there. I don't have photos of this area yet. I do plan to get a few of these houses as they are magnificent.

Sipping Tea

John and I frequently drive over to the Shangri La Hotel and drink tea in the grand lobby. It is fun to get dressed up and experience the grandness of the hotel. It is similar to the Emirates Palace but not quite as extravagant and not nearly as big. We usually walk down to the "souk" (the market with upscale stores) and buy John some dates. The Arabs like dates very much and you can get all kinds of varieties to satisfy your taste buds.

Camels in the Neighborhood

John and I were recently on an excursion to the shoppette to get the Baby Dog some Baskin Robbins ice cream :) and was surprised to see one of our neighbors had built a make-shift pen for a baby camel. Of course, I whipped out the little pocket camera to get a photo of this. As neighborhoods go, one doesn't get to see a camel in the midst very often. I have learned after living here the last six months that barnyard animals are quite common place in some of the older neighborhoods.

The next day we noticed two camels in the pen. Now our curiosity was really up. We both speculated that the camels were for slaughter. After asking a few people about it, I found out that maybe the camels were not on their way to the slaughterhouse (which was sited as a real possibility) and the deep freeze. Some residents of the city have camel farms out in the desert. So, it is possible our neighbor bought the young camels at an auction over a couple of days and penned them up temporarily before transporting to the farm outside the city. Of course, it could still be they were awaiting slaughter. I opted for the camel auction theory as they look like the Majhim camels that are highly favored among breeders. I liked that idea better.

Day Three the camels and the make-shift pen were gone!

More Emirates Palace Photos

I borrowed some photos from the Emirates Palace website that really showcase the property better than mine do. Enjoy!

The palace is truly one of Abu Dhabi's pride and joy! It is one of the landmarks that most represent the grand scale to which everything is built and a good example of the wealth of the country. Of course, the average person cannot afford to stay in the hotel. World class entertainers and athletes stay in the hotel frequently i.e. Brittany Spears, Rihanna, and Gwyneth Paltrow just to name a few.
The premiere of My Name is Khan was held here recently with a large cast of Bollywood entertainers on the property. The hotel is truly a ritzy place to visit and quite posh if you are a resident.

Night at the Opera at Emirates Palace

John and I recently went to the Emirates Palace for a night at the Opera to see La Boheme. Just being inside this exquisite building is quite a treat even when not going to see the opera. We experienced a night of great entertainment in a beautiful theater inside the palace surrounded by nationalities from all over the world. What an experience!

The Emirates Palace is a seven star hotel (the only one in the world) that contains a beautiful auditorium that is host to concerts and theater throughout the year. During March and April, the city hosts the Abu Dhabi Classic Festival featuring opera productions, the London Symphony Orchestra, a Chopin Festival with piano solo performances, Wynton Marsallis, singers such as El Divo, and the ballet. Many of these events are held in the Emirates Palace.

20,000 workers built the 3 billion dollar Emirates Palace over the course of three years.
Some interesting facts about the hotel are:
There are 128 kitchens in the hotel that serve 200 tons of fresh squeezed orange juice daily.

There are 114 domes in the structure. The central dome reaches a height of 72.6 meters.

1800 people are employed at the hotel.

There are 1002 Chandeliers, the largest weighting 2.5 tons. All the crystals are Swarovski crystals.

There are 8,000 trees on the property.

40 people are on staff just to change light bulbs.

There are 8 escalators and 120 elevators in the hotel.

There are 12 fountains outside and 8 inside.

5 kg of edible gold are served on desserts each year.


The scale of the building is extremely hard to capture in a photograph. The ceilings and doors are of enormous heights. The grand entrance has a huge design in the floor tiles. Everywhere you look is something grand. Many of the ceilings are domes outlined with gold filigre.

Visit to Italy Again

I actually wrote this blog from the Marco Polo Aeroporto in Venezia as I departed my beloved Italia. I spent ten days in March drinking Italian wine, eating pasta, and doing the mundane everyday things Italians do. (Unfortunately, I did not make the time to get it posted so you are reading a re-write of the original blog. )On top of that, I spent some time searching for un apartmento or la casa. John and I have long wanted to buy something in Italy where we may possibly retire when his time is up with the military. No real luck this time but I really didn’t expect to find anything in such a short time. I found a few possibilities and will continue to follow up on them. Now is the time to buy with the prices down and the prediction that the Euro will take a dive against the dollar. So that means less USD for the dollar.

One of the highlights of my trip this time was going to wine country near Udine in a little town called Propetto. It was just one vineyard after the other. My good friends Jill Butterfield and Glenda Green invited me to join them as they searched out a new wine they recently tasted at a wine festival in Venice. So we spent the day on a quest for Sciapettino. What fun to go from vineyard to vineyard tasting the wine. We had a special treat when one of the wineries offered to take us down to the taverna (cellar) where the wine was aging in barrels and drink some of the wine right out of the barrel. He used a clear tube that worked like a siphon to draw out the wine and pour into our glasses. It was such a treat to get to do this. Then to cap it off, we ate at the most fabulous little restaurant in Cividale.

I went to Stradella’s every morning for cappuccino and enjoyed sitting in the hustle and bustle of the little town of Aviano. The same family has been serving the town for who knows how many years. Paola, the owner, knows exactly what each person wants as they walk in the door. It really is the center of life in the town. Then, another café in the Piazza called Café Centrale, is celebrating 100 years of service to the community this month. Imagine. They have been open for 100 years in the same location!!!!

I spent a lot of time just driving around and soaking in the area. It was so nice to get up each morning and be greeted by la vista panoramica of the snow-capped mountains. Of course, my camera tagged along. I have yet to sit down and review all my photos to determine the best and worthy of sharing. I just love Italy and was sad to leave.