two breathtaking buildings in one day

On Tuesday our friends took us to The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

It was absolutely stunning.

I know it looks like there was no one there but us but it was quite busy in places and quiet in other places and I could take photos without getting many people on them.

 It cost over 2.2 billion dollars to build.

 It is the fourth largest mosque in the world.

I boasts the worlds largest chandelier.

and the worlds largest Persian carpet

They love their world records over there!

 Every surface was decorated.

It was exquisite!

 After looking inside we walked around the perimeter of the building.

Then a bit of lunch at the Noodle House.

Then after getting changed back at the house we went back out to Hakkasan at the Emirates Palace to The Connoisseur Dinner with Macallan Single Malt.

An other breathtaking building.

 View from the grounds above.

The hotel was opened in  2005 costing 6 billion US dollars.

We had time to take photos outside and in the public areas of the hotel interior.

 There is even a Gold ATM that gives out gold bars!

 Fantastic food and drink and company

It was over all too soon!

The adventure continues....

And so we arrived in Abu Dhabi.

Meet Penny and Bond our friends dogs. Penny was a rescue dog from the animal shelter in Abu Dhabi and Bond was taken out there with them when they moved over there two years ago.

The first day we went to Ferrari World. 

A sort of Ferrari theme park with rides and museums and a great cinema showing old films of motor racing.

 We bumped into Fernando Alonzo!

We then made our way back to the house,

The houses are mainly painted in a sandy colour and I was surprised to find Abu Dhabi a lot greener than I thought it was going to be.

The next day with our friends having to go to work we made our own way into Abu Dhabi city.

We went into the souk and found the roof terrace.

Then we walked to the Heritage village.

How they farmed the land

Showing examples of the different houses and tents found in the region over the years.

Spot the cat?

 And how they lived.

We walked down the road a little past the Theatre (below)

And then made our way back to the house.