Abu Dhabi F1 Weekend

We have just had a great weekend with my brother, Steve and his wife, Dora, who came over for the F1 weekend. Steve has been before, to the first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but it was a first visit for Dora. So, inevitably, we did some of the tourist visits again. I actually like showing people around and don't really get tired of seeing some of the best sights, like the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque below....

On Friday we spent a day in Dubai. We hit a couple of malls, they went to "At the Top" at Burj Khalifa, we went to the old Spice Souq and Gold Souq and in the afternoon we spent some time at "The Walk" by Jumeirah Beach. We saw this nice "Cobra" car....

We stopped at Bob's Easy Diner for lunch......

....I was a bit worried about what Walter was doing with his wife on the beach though - you can get arrested for that out here!

I was also a bit worried when they brought these out......

...but (phew) they were for the sticky Buffalo Wings!


Dora and Caz went to a spa on Saturday while me and Steve went to the track. And then Sunday was F1 race day. For once the Abu dhabi GP was a really interesting and exciting race, with lots of incident.  Before it has been a fairly boring "parade", so it was a nice change.

....gotta love the Safety Car!

Jenson Button......

Lewis Hamilton...

Hamilton getting pole in Qualifying....

...and a quick video clip showing the first lap and last lap from our position in the North Grandstand. The leading four on the final lap were all World Championship winners: Raikkonen , Alonso, Vettel and Button.

Night Photography

One night while we had the kids here, my eldest daughter wanted to take some night time photos. We both share an interest in photography. It was seeing some of her results with a digital SLR last year that prompted me to buy one. It was nice to spend a few hours with her doing something we both enjoy.

Here's a few of the results (I'll spare you the 98 pics I took!)

Abu Dhabi Night Shots

Visit to Al Nayhan Mosque

We had a nice weekend with our friend Diane over from the UK. We did some of the "touristy" things and took the opportunity to visit the Grand Mosque, that we had been meaning to do for ages. The whole structure is beautiful and inside is literally awesome. Caz was a bit upset that the ladies room for worshipers was pretty bland compared with the men's - but hey that's Islam!

Pictures from the trip are here:-

Al Nayhan Grand Mosque Visit

We took Diane back to Dubai for the rest of her stay (she was staying at the Westin, which we did have to have a "nose" at - it did look really lovely. We may have to pay a visit ourselves one day.



On the way to Dubai Caz was driving so I took the chance to snap some of the places where the motorway barriers have been demolished by reckless drivers. I missed quite a few, but I am sure you will get the idea! I guess this is about a 60-70km (c.40 miles) stretch and I managed to snap 20 places - not bad, one every two miles!