Tuesday, 23rd April - Robyn writes:
                               
Wow! What a big day! At 2.30am we were both awake with a touch of jetlag, but fortunately managed to go back to sleep until nearly 6, when we decided it was light enough to legitimately be awake. Had another delicious hotel breakfast - I'm addicted to the chef's personalised omelettes! We were ready to head out by 8am, but then found out that the Grand Mosque, our first visit for the day, didn't open until 9am. There is a "Big Bus" Hop-on, hop-off tour here like we did in Macau when we were there, and we'd been planning to take that...until we discovered that it was 200AED each. That's nearly $200AUD for both of us! We lost quite a bit of enthusiasm for it also when we noted that it didn't start until 9.35 from here and ended at 6pm. And of course, you still have to pay admission at many of the places you visit. So, we decided to do our own thing, and take taxis and use the free hotel shuttle.

As there was no point in leaving too early, we walked around our group of hotels, over the road and past the Grand Prix racetracks to The Yas Viceroy Hotel. It's a huge, very posh hotel which resembles a massive silver durian as much as anything else (at night it's covered with lights that change colour. Very cool!) It was getting quite hot even at that early hour so we wandered in and had a welcome cup of tea each (probably the most expensive cuppas we've ever had - cost us roughly 50AED which is around $20AUD! However, the toilets had little individual hand towels to use instead of the nasty driers- that made it worth the money.

Then the bellboy out in front summoned us a taxi and we headed off to the Sheik Zayed Mosque.

 

That black lump in front is me !

 

 

 

Domes and more domes. The big ones are above the prayer hall.

The mosque is the most amazing building I've ever been in - even the photos don't do it justice and the whiteness is dazzling in the desert sun. No expense was spared by Sheik Zayed and his son who finished it in 2007. Zayed himself is buried there though we never saw his tomb. I knew there were strict dress rules so I'd gone wearing my black, loose 3/4 length pants and had taken a scarf and long sleeved top. However, I was immediately told I needed an abayah as obviously my ankles couldn't be on display! So, I got to really feel how it is to dress in the Islamic fashions - in a word, very hot! We borrowed some ipods from the information desk and headphones with a self-guided tour and it was excellent, as we could wander around at our own pace. When we got to the main prayer hall (huge - it can hold up to 7000 men at one time), we had to take off our shoes. The entire building is so beautifully decorated with Islamic art - all plant and geometric motifs. The courtyard outside the prayer hall can hold 35,000 men (women have a separate prayer hall). It was a wonderful tour and I think the highlight of our stay here.

Around 10.30 I gave my robes back and we got another taxi to the Heritage Centre. This was really interesting but rather in need of some TLC, attention and money like the rest of the city! It had displays of Bedouin life and artisans working on traditional crafts.

I bought a little ceramic wall hook in the shape (the head and neck) of a camel. We had a lovely buffet lunch of mainly traditional Arabic foods in the restaurant there. The highlight of that was the dessert table - little Arabian doughnuts, pastries and custards. Yum!

At about 1 o'clock, we headed towards the Marina Mall, about a kilometre walk away. We got talking to a nice lady from New Jersey who walked with us. Then a taxi driver pulled up (the Indian ones are very proactive in getting fares; the rest don't say a word!) and said he'd take us to the Mall for 10AED (about $4AUD). I said "Done!" and jumped in. It was pushing 35 degrees and the American lady, who was older than us, didn't even have a hat! We've been totally amazed by the Europeans here especially - many of them don't have hats, they never seem to have heard of sun safety, and they will do crazy things in 40 degree heat like choose to sit in the sun when there is a shady seat just near them. Mad! Anyway, I digress...the Marina Mall, sadly, turned out to be just another swanky upmarket mall of very expensive shops (we went into the Ferrari shop and I looked at baby T-shirts, thinking how cute Louie would look in one - until I saw they were over $100 each!) Sorry, Louie, no t-shirt for you  :(

The mall has a viewing tower with a café in it, so we headed up to it and had a lovely break looking out over Abu Dhabi.

At ten past three we caught the hotel's free bus shuttle home from the mall. Altogether we only spent about 90AED on fares, so we were quite pleased with ourselves at saving so much over the bus trip, and we got to see the main things we'd really wanted to see. The shuttle bus trips have actually been quite a highlight as you see so much en route, and often get to chat to the other passengers.

We flopped in a heap when we got back and went down to the hotel's restaurant again and had some drinks (the hotel's "Happy Hour" features 15AED glasses of a Barossa Sav Blanc - about $6.50AUD and Lex has greatly enjoyed the beer selection at similar prices!) and a lovely light meal (not that hungry after the huge Arabian meal!).  All in all, it's been an enjoyable stopover and we've been quite lucky to avoid the horrors of really bad jetlag. Well worth it!