A day around the town in Abu Dhabi.

I'm losing track of what day it is...it's Wednesday night and I am exhausted.  I sleep heavy and hard but when I wake up (after about 4-5 hours), I'm awake!! About now, I feel really tired. I don't want to go to sleep until later so I don't wake up in the middle of the night!

We went to the Heritage Village this morning. It was a very simple depiction and demonstrations of how life was before the 1960's when oil was discovered. These photos show what Abu Dhabi looked like in the 1960's-only 50 years ago! There weren't really roads in and out of the city. Mostly made up of fishing shacks made of palms or woven blankets and sometimes rocks.

From a small fishing village to this, in the photo below:

As we drove through the city it was amazing to look around and marvel at what oil money has done and what will happen as we move to more renewable energy sources?

This afternoon a group of us took a tour of the Grand Mosque very near our hotel.  It is very prominent landmark in Abu Dhabi and when it was built they made a hill for it to sit on so it would be visible as people arrived in or out of the city. We (the women) were told to dress conservatively with long pants and long sleeves.  I show up in white jeans and a long sleeve white blouse and a scarf to cover my head.  Our tour guide gives me a no pass.  She says I will be turned away at the gate because white is considered see through.  OK!  I will change. I ran up to the room to do a quick change of clothes-long sleeves and long pants, not white. I can do this!

I come down to the lobby again and she gives me a pass but says I'll have to pull my sleeves down as we go through the "check point". My sleeves are about 2" above my wrists. Now, she says that Austin has tattoos on his hands and that is a no pass-he won't be allowed to enter. We must find gloves for him to wear! That's the last thing I thought of to bring to Abu Dhabi but the hotel staff can accommodate the most amazing requests!  We are now ready to enter the mosque.

Beautiful imported white marble exterior.

We enter the mosque, women with our scarves covering our head, me pulling my sleeves down and we make it past the first "checkers." At the second checkpoint with the metal detectors, one of the "checkers" point at Elaine and say her sweater neckline is too revealing and she'll have to find a jacket to wear! We look like deer in headlights-what to do? A woman in front of us in line jumps out of line and says she knows how to fix it and takes Elaine into the hallway and adjusts her head scarf. Evidently this is a problem the women here have learned to deal with.

Elaine in her head scarf covering her neck, And her "savior" in the background.

Austin's white gloves  covering his tattoos.

This mosque was a gift to his people from the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed. He spent years planning and building the mosque. He died 2 years before it was finished and is buried right outside the mosque.  No one knows the actual cost of the mosque since it was a gift and "you would never brag about how much you spent".

As you can see here it is a stunning gift with inlaid precious stones in the pillars, floor the largest hand made carpet in the world, domes covered in 25 carat gold, and enough prayer space for 40,000 people! It's gaudy and beautiful at the same time. No different than the Christian Cathedrals all over the world.

Mosque is surrounded by pools of water that are meant to reflect the beauty of the mosque.

Me in my head scarf. It is VERY hot and muggy!

Sliding glass doors open to the main prayer hall.

Prayer clock changes from 5 names of prayer times to actual times for prayer.

Marble hallways with large jade balls. In the back you can see the pillars with inlaid stones and gold painted aluminum for the tops of the palm trees they represent.

Jade water fountain

Me with my head scarf in the main prayer hall. 

Back wall has the 99 names of Allah in an ancient form of calligraphy.

Chandelier large enough so a person can fit in the stem and clean it.

After touring the mosque we head over the Etihad Towers observation decks. This is the tallest building in Abu Dhabi (Dubai, one of the other 7 Emirates in the UAE boasts the tallest building in the world).  These are the towers where the 'Fast and Furious' movie was filmed where the car jumped/flew from one tower to the other.

View of the Emirates Palace Hotel from the observation tower. 

This is where I can go to buy gold out of the ATM and get my drink sprinkled with gold flakes.

Looks like it could take a  whole day to explore the hotel fully.

Other view from the top of the Etihad Towers.

One of the other towers of the Etihad Towers.

There is a 'smog' in the air which we are told is made up of moisture/fog and fine particles of sand so our long distance view was blocked. There are undeveloped islands all around Abu Dhabi island that belong to the government AKA the royal families.

For you 'Star Wars' fans, you might like to know that the desert scenes from the last 'Star Wars' movie were filmed here in the desert.  I can't imagine how hot it was for the filming!

It was a busy and exhausting day. I show 15,000 steps on my Fitbit (normally 8,000)! Such an interesting place to visit!