A hundred miles west of Dubai is the capital city of Abu Dhabi.  We cruised slowly there during the night, arriving right on schedule at 7am.   I had no reservations today so after a leisurely breakfast in the main dining room (table service, no fighting the buffet crowds!), I went ashore about 9am.  Once again I took a free shuttle to a mall, not to go shopping but as an easy, free way to get out of the port.  The next decision was how to proceed from there.  A lady taxi driver was quoting outrageous prices for rides, and everyone else from the shuttle bus has disappeared so there wasn’t anyone interested in sharing a cab to the Grand Mosque so I ended up taking a different taxi with a Romanian named Lawrence to the central bus station.  This cab charging the metered rate of 13 dirhams, not the 40 the crooked lady wanted to charge!

Our thought was to go “local” and adventurous and get a day pass to use the buses, the system being both frequent and pervasive.  What we hadn’t taken into account were the distances involved and the incredible amount of stops each bus makes. It was at least 40 minutes to the mosque.

Once there we were a bit confused on how to proceed as we seem to have arrived at the rear of the complex.  Then, as if by magic, a security man in a long golf cart shuttle appeared and said it would be his pleasure to drive us to the entrance and he’d would be there afterwards to take us back to the bus stop!  The doubting Russian couple who got off the bus with us demanded to know how much, “free, free.  Why you think it costs money? Everything free here” was his answer.  And it was.  Free shuttle, free entrance, free shuttle, free tour, free shuttle!

Although I had dressed in my most conservative outfit with long pants and long-sleeved shirt I was still made to wear a loaner-abaya, a gown covering head to ankles.  The men tourists could walk around in shorts and tee shirts but they really cracked down on us females!

The timing was such that I arrived just in time to make the free 11am guided tour.  A bonus to this was not only did I learn 101 facts re: the building of, square footage of, number of female carpet weavers hand-knotting the main prayer hall rug of (1200 btw, and 2 years), we were allowed in the said main prayer hall to walk on said world’s largest carpet while non-tour members could only watch from the sidelines.  The mosque was truly really impressive, and well-worth the effort to get there.

I parted ways with Lawrence after the mosque, as I wanted to take Bus #32 to the Emirates Palace and he didn’t want to wait in the sun and so he took the first bus that came along to ….?  Unfortunately I hadn’t learned my lesson from my first bus trip, this one was interminable, excruciatingly so. The locals must really hate walking as it seemed like there were at least 2 stops per every block; it took forever to reach the Corniche, the waterfront near the Emirates Palace.  As in 1 hr 45 minutes forever.  I kept looking at the map on my phone thinking I must be getting closer, but no.  In hindsight I should have gotten off and grabbed a cab but after a certain point one gets committed….

Anyway, I finally got to the Emirates Palace which used to be the leader’s private residence and is now a fancy hotel.  I thought to have lunch or tea but seeing they charged more than $10 for a coke I had a glance around and promptly left.

Next and last on my list of Sights To See: the Louvre Abu Dhabi.  Just open for a year, the museum is as well known for its architecture as it is for its art.  It’s small, but impressive.  It efficiently and eloquently displays the  world’s history in art.  I appreciate the linear layout, how it commingles different cultures’ art based on the historical era versus keeping them regionalized; however I wish I had more energy and firing brain cells to really apply myself to understanding and contemplating all I saw but I’m afraid I was tired and museum-itis set in and despite my best intentions I ended up doing the museum shuffle from hall to hall, looking but not necessarily seeing everything.

I did appreciate they had a Leonardo da Vinci (I’m a sucker for Renaissance art.  No, unfortunately it wasn’t Salvador Mundi), a Titian and a Bellini.  A piece, unknown to me, by most of the Impressionists, even Whistler’s Mother, on loan from the Musee D’Orsay.   Same with Post—Impressionists and modern artists, ie Matisse, Picasso, Miro, Rothko, and others I’ve no clue about, like the one who’s installation consists of huge burnt-bottom cooking pots.

And then you leave the main museum building for a transition to the special exhibition space and children’s museum and you’re in a courtyard under Jean Nouvel’s bird nest-like roof and an amazing Zen-like sense of calm/invigoration descends.  The museum stupor is washed away and you feel refreshed yet enlightened by what you’ve seen.  What a great way to end a visit.

I ate once again in a main dining room tonight.  The first night I dined in L’Ippocampo with a couple and last night I ate solo in the buffet as I wasn’t hungry at my assigned 6:30p eating time.  Tonight I wanted fresh company so I changed to La Bussola restaurant to a table of 9.  That didn’t work out so well.  But I was able to write my blog!