Adventures

I realized that I had left out some of the fun we've been having here.

October 1st was our 1 year anniversary.  Alan and I went for tea at the Emirates Palace, which was quite extravagant.  The tea was delicious, I got the smoked tea, and it went really well with my strawberry tart with gold flakes!  Alan had a tea I cannot recall with a berry fruit mousse layered creation with some gold flakes thrown on top too!  The tea came with some nibbles and a peice of dark chocolate with some gold flakes on top...do you see a theme?  They also serve a cappuchino with gold flakes on top...you know, instead of chocolate powder?  We enjoyed ourselves immensly and watched some people use the Gold Vending Machine.  The hotel itself was quite the sight!  Then we meandered our way to Le Royal Maridien for dinner at a rotating restaurant providing us with a changing view of the growing Abu Dhabi skyline.  That was a fun experience for sure.  The restaurant itself was pretty neat, with a live singer that was on the stationary bit of the restaurant, so we would slowly approach her and pass her as our meal progressed.  The food itself was not the most memorable, to put it nicely, but it was a fun place to go.  1 year together and now in Abu Dhabi...who would have thought that 1 year and 3 months ago?

The other day we went to Heritage Village.  It is an interactive museum that has tents and "residents" that show how life was like before the city came to be.  Desert people and craftsmen/women.  A camel that Alan took a particular liking to, as well as a very beautiful donkey.  The rug maker made us some cute bracelets that we wear now.  They were simply made by twirling different colored wool strings together and tying them off.  There was a really cool museum with a Syrian tour guide who explained everything, which I found to be very useful and enlightening.  The city really didn't exist until after the 60s.  It was all tents and a few buildings.  I came to understand the general chaos that is Abu Dhabi more.  The tour guide also let us know about a prospect of doing a fun desert excursion.  He has a friend who does them and he gave us his number, so hopefully that will be going on soon!  We also enjoyed some fresh juices, me with watermelon, and Alan had mint lemonade.

That evening we went over to my cousin Ismael's house for a Barbeque!  It was really delicious.  Seafood and vegetable themed grilled goodness!!  Alan whipped up a generous portion of his famously delicious Margharitas, which Ismael may have fallen in love with.

More recently, I finally went over for Ladie's Night to Relax @ 12, the lounge/bar/club at the Aloft, and I really liked it.  It is quite New York styled and very fun.  The drinks too are delicious and creative.  My favorite name is the Abi Dhabi drink!  Yesterday, though, we went to Le Meridian for Oktoberfest!  To see Indians and Asians in Laderhosen was extremely amusing.  I thought my dear Les Roches German roomy, Steffi, would have laughed and laughed.  I have to say though, they did a good job.  They had a team of yodelers who were really talented, and real Bavarian food!  Alan was so excited about the whole party.  We got some yummy German beers and handmade pretzels.  We were lucky enough to have joined some of the Aloft team and we ended up getting a free ticket to the buffet.  Alan enjoyed the handmade Bratwursts and delicious mashed potatoes, with other goodness on the side.  I stuck with the different forms of boiled and cooked cabbages and the mashed potatoes with onions.  All in all a success!