Trip Of A Lifetime....Wrap Up

I'm sure you are all getting sick of my travel logs, but a)we are almost finished, b)I am going into such detail because my memory is terrible and I want to really remember this trip, c) I figure that if you hate it, you certainly don't have to read it, and finally, d) how else am I supposed to fill up 30 posts in a month if I don't draw it out like this??!!?!

Our final day of the trip was spent taking a road trip to Abu Dhabi.  It is the capital of UAE and was only about a 45 minute drive.  Nate said we should go because they have one of the world largest mosques there.  It had recently been finished and was open for tourists and non-Muslims. 

Wow! This place was HUGE!  It was so white, so massive, and so beautiful!

I could not believe the detail work that went into this mosque.  It was absolutely amazing.  The whole mosque had a flower or garden theme and so there were flowers interpreted EVERYWHERE.

There was a huge outdoor courtyard where people could pray if the inside was full.  It had a beautiful floral tile floor, and even though it was pushing 100 degrees, it was cool to the touch because the tiles were cut smaller to reflect heat...how cool is that (no pun intended)?

You can see the flower design carved on the side of the mosque.  I was so impressed with this place, and I hadn't even been inside yet!

This is the outer room that leads to all of the prayer rooms.  I LOVED the chandelier and the marble flowers on the walls!

It's hard to fully appreciate the details by looking at the pictures, but these are marble flowers placed ON the wall.  They were sticking out and there were so many different types and colors of marble.

This is the ceiling of the women's prayer room (women are separated from the men).  It was so beautiful and when I looked down at the beautiful carpet, I realized it was a reflection of the ceiling!

If you look at the carpet, you can see lines running down it...these are the prayer lines, so Muslims can line up in the right spot.

This is the chandelier in the men's prayer room.  It is the largest chandelier IN THE WORLD!  The whole thing couldn't have fit in my family room!  I loved it, but thought that the red and green balls at the bottom were almost "Christmasy" and didn't seem to fit, but I know I'm being a little picky....it was stunning!

On the pillars around the room, they had inlaid Mother of Pearl inside a marble pillar...we were told this is very hard to do...so pretty.

On our way back to Dubai, we saw another crazy shaped building.

Ryan has known Nate since grade school.  We are so glad to be friends with him and Carolynn.  They have wonderful children and we had a great time!  Thanks so much for putting up with us!!

So, that's my trip put into eight long blog posts!!  Words cannot describe how much we loved both cities.  We have definitely caught the traveling bug and can't wait to go on another adventure!

Trip Of A Lifetime....Part Seven

Aaahhhh, beach day in Dubai!!!  Nate and Carolynn have a membership to the Jumeriah Beach Club, so we spent a glorious day in the sun, how cool is that?  

Swimming in the Persian Gulf...check!  The water was so beautiful.  I don't think I've been swimming in the ocean with Ryan since our honeymoon.  It has been too long, and we both agreed we need to spend time at the beach more often.

Swimming within the sight of one of Dubai's famous landmarks was so cool...

Besides the ocean, they had a wonderful swimming pool.  Now this is the way to vacation!

Ryan and I just walked on the beach for a while.  The sand was perfect....

We gathered up some small shells and corral for the kids....

And we found these little "sand balls".  We were told that little crabs dig holes in the sand to build tunnels.  They scoop out balls of sand with their claws and push them out of the holes.  I really wanted to see a crab, but they all must have been napping...

They had these really yummy lemon popsicles...I think I had 3 or 4 of them!

We then took a little boat ride around the resort.  Little islands had been built so that guest of the resort could have privacy and the only way to access the little islands was by boat.  It felt like a Middle Eastern Venice.  It was just beautiful.

What a wonderful day at the beach!  Another big thank you to the Oscarson family for taking us there.  For me, it was one of the best parts of the whole Paris/Dubai trip!!

That night, I was wiped out, so Ryan and Nate went on another sight seeing adventure, and I went to bed.  They went and checked out Ski Dubai, an indoor ski resort attached to yet another HUGE mall.  I wish I could have seen it.

Nate told us that they had built the Ski Dubai building and then raised it up off the ground in a slope...wow!  The builders in Dubai are amazing: super tall buildings, creating new islands, and now a sloping building that was lifted off the ground!

We couldn't believe that our trip was almost over!  We had collected so many fun and wonderful memories!  Final post coming tomorrow!

Trip Of A Lifetime....Part Six

After a good night's rest, we were ready for a new day!!  Friday is their Sabbath, so we headed off to church.  It was a very small ward and about half of the members were Filipino and the other half were expats from various countries living there.  It was a neat experience and I am always comforted to find that the church is the same, no matter where you are.

After church, we drove to the Palm.  It is a huge, man made island in the shape of a palm tree.  There were huge, gorgeous houses on the "leaves" and at the top was a huge hotel and water park.  If you watched "The Amazing Race" last year, the contestants went down the water slide at this resort. 

We drove around and looked at all of the amazing growth that is happening in Dubai.  There are so many tall buildings going up all at the same time.  It is crazy to think that this skyline didn't exist 10 years ago!

They can't just build really tall buildings and be satisfied.  It seems that they all have to "out do" each other and be crazy shapes and sizes.

I love how this one is twisty!  A twisty sky scraper! Who does that? 

Look at all of the cranes in this picture!!  They just throw up buildings left and right! 

Cool surfboard shaped building.

This is looking out over the fountains in front of the world's largest mall and the world's tallest building.  It was huge and beautiful.

We then went to the Burj Khalifa.  It is the tallest building in the world.  It was going to be named Burj Dubai, but when Dubai started having financial trouble, they changed the name. I can't describe how enormous this building is. I was so excited to go to the top.

This is one of the views from the top of the Burj Khalifa...amazing!!

Well, it actually wasn't at the very top of the building.  This is the rest of the building, looking up from the viewing deck!!

Looking down on the fountain and the world's biggest mall (with an aquarium and an ice skating rink inside).

We could see all the way to Sharjah, the next city over.  Nate told us that the visibility is never this good due to all of the sand in the air.  I guess we lucked out!

It's hard to see in this picture, but the boat in the middle of the picture is dredging up sand from the ocean floor.  The boat on the right hand side is spraying that sand to make more man made islands.  It was so cool to watch!!

They also made islands to look like the map of the world.  Unless you are on an airplane or watching from a satellite camera, you don't get to see that....check that out!!

Not the greatest picture, but you can see the Palm in the background with the Burj Al Arab to the left.

We watched the fountain show from the top!  It was wild to think how high up we were.

Just before we went back down, they did the fountain show again, this time lit up!

It is an absolutely amazing building!  While we were up there, I learned that from an aerial view, the building is shaped like a flower.

Quite the day in Dubai!!  Such an amazing place and we couldn't wait for the next day...a day at the beach!