The Emirates Palace

I thought that today might be another ho-hum day in the life of Anu Dhabi: walk, eat, nap, eat, swim, eat, sleep....but as I was putting A down for her morning nap (and anticipating joining her), the phone (the one in the bathroom...apparently the only one that takes incoming calls in our room) rang. I picked it up quickly, pleasantly surprised that it was my new friend (from Edmonton, who is currently visiting her husband, also P's co-worker and name-sake) Kathy. I was more pleasantly surprised by her invitation to go to the Emirates Palace, especially as she had already toured it with her husband earlier on.

We made plans to meet in the lobby at 1 pm (and A co-operated with both her napping and eating which was wonderful). Though I have seen the palace many times across from the Corniche, and when we had driven by, I was completely unprepared and amazed at its truly majestic stature. I have never before seen anything like it in my life. Honestly, I don't believe we have anything comparable to it in North America. Not only was I dwarfed by the immense nature of everything (the palace gates and floating ceilings must be made for giants to comfortably walk through) but I was blinded by all the gold, everywhere (even on the cheesecake that Kathy and I shared).

The Emirates Palace is where everything happens: the Middle Eastern International Film Festival (just last week) has brought celebrities like Meg Ryan, Antonio Banderas and his lovely wife, Melanie Griffiths, Adrien Brody and of course, some Bollywood celebs (Priyanka Chopra...she is gorgeous, though I have never heard of her...wonder if I might be able to get the name of her plastic surgeon....). Christina Aguilera will be playing there on October 24 (a concert that P invited me to attend, before we actually arrived on UAE soil...seeing as we have neither a home nor childcare...I'm thinking it's doubtful we'll be getting Dirrty with X-tina)...and apparently my absolute favorite musical artist of all time GEORGE MICHAEL will be playing there next month (P will be the babysitter for this one as I've convinced him it would be er...a little bit strange for him to accompany me to a George Michael concert). Every morning I open the City Times to discover that yet ANOTHER exciting event has transpired at the EP.

I really enjoyed my afternoon and A was so great, even while Kathy (who was kind enough to treat) and I enjoyed our Latte Mochacinno's and shared a Lemon Cheesecake (topped with gold flakes). We passed on the house specialty of cappucino with gold flakes...it was 50 AED...and all I had was 35 AED (we truly are running low on dirhams) which I insisted Kathy take.

We also were able to check out future development plans for Abu Dhabi. We saw the plans for Yas Island, where they are developing an entire community for the Formula One Grand Prix race (the racetrack runs through the development). They will need to have this completed by November 15, 2009, as that's when they are booked to host the race!! Go to www.yasisland.ae/ for a peak. We also checked out Saadiyat Island http://www.saadiyat.ae/, which they are heralding as the cultural district of the UAE. Frank Gehry (the famous architect) is responsible for designing the Museum of Modern Art on this island (our very own Guggenheim) and it is an amazingly environmental design. I particularly enjoyed the building which looked like the Starship Enterprise, which I discovered to be some kind of pedestrian walkway. I think Micheal and Janet Jackson might want to film another music video here together in the near future (when all of the island development is complete).

I did take some pics, but as I cannot post them yet, please use the links I've posted (if you are interested). You can go to http://www.emiratespalace.com/ to have a look at the Palace, and all of the wondrous things that are there. We spent about 2 hours walking about, but I think there are still hours worth of touring to be done there. Maybe GM will be able to arrange a tour for me next month (after the show of course)...when I have more time!

And just to show that I am still connected with the goings on in the rest of the world:

1. I would like to send out a loving 'G'day Mate' to all of my family who are currently down under. I hope you had a relaxing flight and are not experiencing any jet-lag. Enjoy some vegemite and listen to some Men at Work for me.

2. Go-bama: To all of my American friends who have the power to vote: PLEASE...the rest of the world is BEGGING you: Vote for 'that one', Barack Obama. It's definitely time for change...and if you need a little laugh (and your internet connection is faster than mine) check out this PSA - http://mccainfreewhitehouse.org/