Long holiday weekend = stay-cation!

We hightailed it towards Abu Dhabi on Thursday at mid-day. It was heartbreaking to leave Luca behind but knowing him, I’m sure he had a party planned on the couch or on top of the bookshelf as soon as we locked the front door. The special Eid packages from the Rotana group of hotels was also too good to pass up. This is the view from the pool deck of the Hala Arjaan Rotana where we stayed.


I shy away from smoking areas, but the only room ready at the time we checked-in was on a smoking floor up on 17. I went to check it to make sure there are no lingering cigarette or cigar smells and it passed with flying colours. So we took it.

It offered a nice view of one side of the street we were in. The parking lot was full because of all the holiday-makers esp out-of-townies. Some of the malls in Dubai, not sure about Abu Dhabi, were open for 24 hours during the Eid weekend. Crazy!

Our small balcony gave me enough space to prop up the tripod and shoot some headlights and tail lights.

As well as buildings across the waterway lit up at night. I was a bit nervous about letting the 60D hang out over the balcony in case the tripod lock got loose and it goes falling 17 stories down to the road below. Ick!

We went for a stroll on the first evening, the boys in search of shawarma!, and I took this photo in the middle of this shaky steel bridge over 10th Street. It was scary!

Setting my mobile phone alarm at 6.20am, I managed to grab a couple of calm sunrise scenes. I was just in time for the sun to peek between the buildings.

And the busy street was dead quiet. I could almost hear it breathing slowly in a deep sleep. Looked like fog was hanging over the city in the distance.

After a healthy breakfast, I got he boys to Zumba with me. It was tough, still tough for me to complete the cardio session. Bernie did well, but he admitted it was tough. Ha! And soon after it was time to hit the pool! It was empty, felt like we had our own private pool because hardly anyone else used it.

Yep, this was on the 26th October. His birthday. His 43rd birthday to be precise. The water was temperature-controlled so it was always the perfect condition for a swim any time of the day.

Patrick loved it! He loved having the pool almost to himself to practice his freestyle. He should be ready for a race now with his cousins!

For Bernie’s birthday lunch, we decided to go to Zyng Asian Grill over at the Marina Mall. We had no time to make plans for it especially as I am following a strict way of eating. This little fella was a surprise. It’s a good idea, hey? Instead of hiring a worker to stand with a flag under the heat of the sun to direct traffic. Cool.

Patrick and the iPad3. He loves it – thanks again, Stefan! Larger screen to play his games in. And portable of course. We loaded it with some of the TV shows we missed the previous week and it played very well. Next time we need to buy a mount for the car and maybe a decent speaker.

Yes, I was there too. I never seem to post photos of myself. Bernie took this as we waited for our yummy Asian noodles and sake sushi.

And of course I brought my knitting with me. This is me in the hotel room, while Bernie was out buying their dinner, Patrick took this photo of me. I was wearing a pair of socks made for me by a knitter in the USA who picked my name from an international sock swap group.

Here is a close up of what I was working on. And I finished that item too! It’s part of a larger item so more strips to follow soon.

What did you do this Eid weekend?