A Sunkissed Qatari Weekend

Thursday

Jon's weekend started on Thursday night. It's a little different here, the weekend is actually Friday and Saturday than you start your work week on Sunday! Thursday night we went to the City Center Mall, which is close to our hotel. We did a little shopping and I saw the restaurant Chili's out of the corner of my eye and just had to eat dinner there! It is so weird because Qatar is more like America than Germany, in the way that there are so many American restaurants here. That is definitely a treat for us. I am a little ashamed by my food order, but I have to say it was delicious! First we had chips and salsa, (my favorite thing at Chili's) than I ate the chicken crispers! and Jon had chicken breast, he's Mr. Healthy ;) We were going to have dessert but there was no way I could cram anything else down. I was so happy to eat American food, it had definitely been to long!

Thank you Chili's


After dinner we walked through the mall. This mall is humongous! There are like four levels and it would take you all day to walk through the entire mall. We found a couple of really neat stores but didn't buy anything. There is an ice skating rink inside the mall. The last time we were here there was a hockey game being played at this rink but I wasn't able to take a picture because I forgot my camera. Here is a picture of the rink.



Jon and I


It had been a long day for everyone so we called it an evening and headed back to the hotel.

Friday

We got up early and had breakfast at the hotel. This breakfast is so yummy. It is a buffet so there is so much to choose from. I love fresh fruit so I load up every morning with fresh fruit and usually have granola with milk. After breakfast, we decided to take a stroll along the Corniche, which curves along Doha Bay. Although it was extremely hot this day we did enjoy our walk, seeing neat buildings, boats, shops, and parks. During the day most people stay in doors but we toughed through the heat. Here are the pictures from our walk.

The Museum of Islamic Art

Another view

We stopped to watch this man fish. It was the most interesting way of fishing we've seen. He had a water bottle that he had cut the top off of. He put some sort of fish food and water inside the bottle, than threw the bottle into the water. He watched as fish ate from the bottle than quickly pulled the bottle in, magically catching a fish inside. It was amazing.

A pretty water fountain

A large clam with a pearl inside!

I loved the palm trees

The view across the bay

My awesome sun burn

Poor Jonny! We're both so fair skinned!


After walking along the corniche we grabbed lunch at the city center mall. We ate subway, than decided to see a movie at the movie theater inside the mall.


Burn After Reading. It was a great movie that we highly suggest. Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malcovich! There were so many great actors and actresses. It is a black comedy and there really are some funny parts. We found ourselves laughing through most of it. This is definitely one we will buy to add to our DVD collection.

For dinner we went to a really nice Italian restaurant in the Rydges Hotel near the Corniche. We had a really nice bottle of wine from South Africa, a pinotage, and some great Italian food.

A picture Kevin took of Jon and me at the dinner


Saturday

Zoo Day!!! Jon, Kevin, and I had been looking forward to checking out the Qatar Zoo. It was a cloudy day which we were soooo thankful for, since Friday we all got sun burnt.
Pictures or our zoo day!

Zebras.




Giraffes




Scimitar-Horned Oryx


Red-necked Ostriches!


Pretty Parrot


This shot was so hard because my camera wanted to focus on the fence and not the Lion. This was the only shot I got.


Flamingos




Jon and I in front of the giraffes


Nile Crocodile


A vulture. This guy was huge!


I was impressed with the zoo; being that it is in the Middle East, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed it. There were several exhibits and I couldn't believe how many animals they had. When I was photographing the zebra's, I counted 15 zebras in the same exhibit.

After the zoo we grabbed lunch at the Villagio mall and headed out in search of the infamous "Singing Sand Dunes." We drove for two hours without luck. I was super disappointed, the directions we had just didn't make sense, so we never found them. Sound is naturally produced from these sand dunes hence the name "singing sand dunes." I am very intrigued by this natural wonder. Maybe we will get a chance to see them on our next adventure to Qatar.