Our empty nest

It has been over a MONTH of living in a hotel. And though the hotel is dignified and such - it has a very grand lobby, and looks kind of like an MC Escher print from the elevator....

....we are so excited to move to our new house, a block away.

Which house, you ask? We are living in one of the blue towers on the right hand side. Doesn't look like a house, does it? It is a bit funny looking, we admit. At least one of our parents thinks that the architecture is absolutely hideous. But it has a Waitrose (yes, the Waitrose that gave us our groceries on trust) and ... a lot of jewelry stores. And we like it.

It is near our favorite camel burger joint....

....and across the street from the Corniche and our windsurfing/paddle board rental spot....

...and best of all, it has room for visitors, which isn't true of our current abode. Here is the guest room. It is the most furnished room in the whole house (the process of said furnishing was an epic cross-city adventure from which we are still recovering).



And here is where your breakfast gets cooked. No windows, but there is a washer-dryer and an ice maker - all the better to make smoothies!

 Based on our current habits, this is what you will get.



And this is our study/yoga room/mini-library. That's Coconut Island behind the two buildings.



And here is the bedroom. We haven't figured out how to cover the extremely creepy window from bathroom to bedroom (not pictured), but there's time....



And this is the future room of ping pong, movies, reading, and lounging of all kinds. Nick is happy because he can see Coconut Island from here. And I am happy because I can see the Emirates Palace helicopter pad. To each his own. We can also see a football field (not the American variety - poor Nick), the real palace (where the Sheikh lives), and Marina Mall.



We can't wait to settle down, play some ping pong, and get some bikes to hang on the wall like trophies. Nick's sister Katie has got us dreaming of indoor hammocks....and Margaret is contemplating electrical DIY projects to spoof the local chandeliers and testify to the glory of the mason jar....but those things may wait a while. In the meantime, come play!

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

On Saturday, we went to the biggest mosque in Abu Dhabi - actually, it was planned as the world's biggest mosque, but there were objections - shouldn't the world's biggest mosque be in Mecca? So it is a very big mosque, but not the biggest.

It looked big enough.


Outside, there are pools and courtyards in dizzying plenty.

Despite its size, every individual piece is crazily elaborate - here is a column, with mother of pearl inlaid into marble.

And there are SO MANY columns! 

Inside, there are six chandeliers, shaped like upside-down date palms.

Here is the biggest of the chandeliers - five tons!

The carpet, we learned, was designed to look as if the chandelier were dripping its many colors onto the carpet, patch by patch. The carpet is handmade - it took two years to make in pieces, and was eventually stitched together inside the mosque!

There are acres and acres of carpet - with built-in rows, so that worshipers can arrange themselves into lines.

Most beautiful of all are the walls - embossed flowers on this one. You can't tell in this picture, but I am actually enjoying the flowers. I am not enjoying the outfit, which made me feel like a Goth Little Red Riding Hood.

 But the walls. The walls are amazing. Each piece of the wall was beautiful...

...fading into a beautiful ceiling, carved with verses from the Quaran, each bit different from the last.

Here is my favorite wall - intersecting circles, with a few patches made transparent, letting the light in.