Our last Two Days in Doha

Thursday morning we were at the State Mosque of Qatar by 9:00 to meet a man who was giving us a tour.  Rachel and Cherie had to put on black abayas on before they could enter the mosque.  Once in the mosque the tour guide explained Islam and their practices which include prayer time, 5 times a day.  We visited the library and the central mosque worship area.  The mosque is new, opened December 2011.

State Mosque of Qatar

View of City from Mosque

Dressed in Abaya for Mosque Visit - With guide from Virginia (American)

Mosque Prayer Area

After visiting the mosque we drove out into the desert almost halfway across the peninsula of Qatar to the Sheikh Faisal museum.  This museum is a collection of things that the Sheikh has been gathering for the last 40+ years.  We saw collections of furniture, old cars, Arabic rugs, swords, guns, clothing, a Syrian house, fossils and much more.  The collection is enormous and quite nicely displayed.  The museum is still in the development stage.  The whole compound will be a place to spend a day once it is finished.

Driving through the Desert

Sheikh Faisal Museum

Transporting Royalty in the days of camels and donkeys

Syrian House

Syrian House

Types of Burqas/Abayas

Bedouin Tent

Soccer Stadium in Desert

Back in Doha, Cal had a nap while Rachel and Cherie had a second a massage before we got back in the car heading to the Corniche, a water front promenade which extends several miles around the West Bay area. We boarded a Dhow boat for an evening ride around west bay which is where the Islamic Art Museum is located.  The time of the ride was well planned because we were able to see the bay in the setting sun and early darkness. Once we got off the boat we went to Applebees for a very tasty American Cowboy Burger, which is a real treat here in Doha. We figure this will be our last American food for several weeks!!

Dhow Boat for West Bay Cruise

Doha Skyline at Dusk

Islamic Center Museum

Riding a Skidoo in a Abaya

Skyline with Airplane Coming in

Friday morning we were up and back on the Corniche to meet one of Cherie’s friends and children to spend some time walking around the bay.  The heat became very oppressive by 9:00 forcing us to head toward "Jones the Grocer" for breakfast.  This is “the place” for ex-patriots to gather for breakfast. (Friday is like Sunday morning in the western world)  Everything was very tasty and enjoyed by all.  The restaurant became filled by the time we were finished and ready to leave.  After saying good-by we were on our way back to the apartment to spend time getting things together for the next leg of our trip and our dinner guest this evening.

Doha,Qatar – The Land of Sand and Tan!

Daughter's Housing Complex

Daughter's House on left

Qatar is a large sand box! Plus the houses are sand color or tan!  As the rest of the Middle East it is HOT and DRY.  Everything green in color has to be watered.  The temperatures have reached and exceeded 100 deg every day. 

Qatar has Liquid Natural Gas that is estimated to last a looong time!  Electricity and gas are cheap ($.90/gal of gas)! We don’t know about water, except there is water all around. 

Rainbow Round-a-Bout

Doha City-Scape

Qatar as a country has existed for hundreds of years, but is a relatively newly developed country, in the past 20-25 years.  Doha, the capital city, has developed different areas of the coast line around the bay.  There is Downtown, and to the west is an area called West Bay. Farther west is the airport which is now too small so a new airport is being built farther west. To the east of Downtown is an area called The Pearl. (Diving for pearls is an old tradition in this area), then south of all these areas is Education City.  In each of these areas and between all of these areas, construction of all sorts is taking place. The architecture is very interesting. In the near future all of theses areas will be one big city.  Embassies for many countries dot this Capital City area, many having prime locations along the water.  Doha will host the World Cup Soccer matches in 2022 and is trying for the summer Olympics in 2020.

Museum of Islamic Art

Museum of Islamic Art - Inside

View of City From Museum

The Pearl Development

The Pearl

The Pearl

Souq Waqif - Shopping Area

The Souq

Souq Police

Qatar Men at The Souq

Camels for sale at The Souq

The Souq

Preparing a Pastry - Very Tasty

Women at The Souq

Arriving at The Souq to Shop

The Souq at Dusk

Waiting to Transport Purchases

The Qatar Foundation, a branch of the Qatar Gov’t/Royal Family owns/finances. The Qatar Foundation, QF.  QF has/are continuing to build the area of Education City. Within Education City are 7 western Universities each with their own emphasis – I will list those I can remember - (Carnegie Mellon, Texas A & M (Engineering degree), Northwestern, Weill Cornell (Medical School), Georgetown (Foreign Service degree), Virginia Commonwealth Univ. (VCU) and a school from London(First year).  Each university has around 250-300 students and provides an education in only one specialized area here in Qatar.  Under The Qatar Foundation there are 7 pre-university schools, Qatar Academy, The Academic Bridge Program School, A Music School and several other K-12 schools.    

Texas A & M Building

Georgetown Student Lounge

Georgetown Library

Education City Ceremonial Court

Education City Green Space

Carnegie Mellon Building

Carnegie Mellon Entrance Hall



Carnegie Mellon Student Lounge



Also in Education City they have just completed a Convention Center, a hospital (still under construction), a State Library (still under construction), and Islamic Studies Center (still under construction), and the Northwestern University building (still under construction.  Construction is going on everywhere.  It will be interesting to see this city in 2, 5 and 10 years from now.

Our daughter works for QF in their pre-university Administrative Offices.  She is working in the area of Professional Development for the pre-university schools. Today, we had a tour of several of the University building.  The University buildings are built and owned by QF, but have University Administrators and Staff. These buildings are ‘over the top’! The architecture is a study in itself!  Designs for the builidings are only accepted from the top 20 ‘Signature Architects’ in the world!

We are touring and meeting our daughter’s friends who are each involved in school Administrators in the 7 pre-university schools, with whom she works. 

Besides taking care of our jet lag, we have visited the Islamic Art Center, Islamic Cultural Center, walked around the Pearl area, driven through the West Bay and Downtown areas several times, visited the Souq (the traditional market area) and Rachel has had a wonder massage.  It is HOT so drinking plenty of water is a MUST - you do not leave the house without bottles of water. 

Visiting Qatar and Exploring Nepal

Another Adventure!

Another adventure is around the corner – actually it is one that has not been on our bucket list!

However, for a long time Cal has been enamored by Mt Everest and those who are willing to risk their lives to make the climb, but we never really considered vacationing in Nepal. 

Over the past several years 17 Rotary Clubs in southern Iowa raised money to be matched by The Rotary Foundation to complete a large water project in Nepal.  This water project is being dedicated on May 20.  It is recommended by The Rotary Foundation that the international partners of a Matching Grant visit the project.  When working on a project, Rotary friendships develop via phone calls and emails, so a visit is a wonderful way to connect with the Rotarians with whom you have been working over the life of the project.

The lead Rotarian in Iowa for this particular water project let it be known that he was going to Nepal for the dedication.  He gave an open invitation for others to go with him and his son.  The final group will include 4 Rotarians and his son.   

Rotary District 6000 (southern Iowa) is very active in doing Matching Grant projects around the world.  Cal & I visited India on two occasions, looking at completed projects, at projects in progress, and possible new grant projects.  We have also been at the dedication of several of the India projects.  Our trip to Nigeria was for the express purpose of looking at situations in which a Rotary project would have an impact on the lives of villagers & students. So we are thrilled to be able to go to Nepal to see this water project and celebrate the dedication.  We want to see our Rotary money in action!  

Another part of our decision to go to Nepal included the fact we could stop in Qatar to visit our daughter who moved to Doha in January.  We are going ahead of the group, and visiting Doha, Qatar for 6 days before flying into Kathmandu, Nepal.  We were not planning to visit our daughter this soon, but when opportunity arose, a quick decision was made to fly via Doha to see where she lives, works and meet her friends. 

Regarding blogging – We know we will have electricity full time in Doha, but we understand Nepal is different – maybe only 12 hours per day.  We also do not know about the speed of internet.  We will blog as often as possible, but ending photos may be more of challenge, so we will see when photos are posted to the blog. 

 

    

    

Munchen to Frankfurt via Nurenburg

Our last day in Germany visiting Christmas markets!  We left our hotel in the town of Starnberg south of Munich under very cloudy skies but by the time we got to Nurnberg the sun was shining.  We drove through a region where they were growing hops.  Field after field!  We exited the autobahn to get a photo of the hops and as we drove through a village I saw a farmer working with his cows in the barn.  I quick took a photo of his barn yard. 

Hops Fields

Barn in Town

Due to our time constraints we were on the autobahn most of the day.  Cal was feeling pretty smart when he was driving 100 mph, but then this little red sports car blew by us as if we were standing still – Wow! They had to be going 120mph, as they were out of sight in no time.  They sure knew how to burst Cal’s bubble!   

We walked into the Nurnburg market just as things were opening.  The longer we were there the busier it became.  Busloads of people were coming!  We went into the main Cathedral around noon – they were apparently having a simple Mass.  A men’s choir was singing and Alpine men were played instruments during the service. The Cathedral was packed for the concert/service – standing room only.

It is interesting, even though most Europeans do not attend church, they definitely celebrate Christmas and the meaning of Christmas is everywhere. It is amazing how many booths sell creche’s or items to design your own creche’. 

The oldest Christmas market is Nurnberg’s which began in 1697.  Unique to Nurnberg are the ’prune figures’.  The legend has it that a farmer was too poor to have Christmas for his children, but he remembered a prune doll his grandmother made for him so he made some that year to sell at the Christmas market.  They sold so well that he not only had Christmas for his family but had enough profit to make it through the hard winter. The dolls have now evolved to have prune bodies with a walnut head on which faces are painted.  Some of the dolls now include fig bodies, and have accents of raisins. They were very interesting and this is the only place we have seen them. 

Famous Nurnberg Building on the River

Nurnberg Christmas Market

Friendly Store Keeper

Marzipan Fruit Candy

 

Nurnberg Date People

 

Nurnberg is also known for its gingerbread.  Gingerbread was everywhere.  We bought a piece that had been dipped into chocolate.

Around 12:30 the market was so packed with people, you could hardly move. They say 2 million people visit the Nurnberg market each season, well I think 1 million were there today!  It was no fun any longer, plus it was beginning to sprinkle.  The sun had disappeared and heavy clouds were everywhere.  By the time we reached the car we were wet! 

Solar Panel Fields

 It rained most of the way to Frankfurt, very had at times – actually a miserable drive.  We drove directly to the hotel we had reserved, checked in and unloaded our stuff.  We returned the car to the rental company at the airport before catching the train into downtown Frankfurt.  It is Sunday night and here again the crowds of people were horrible.  We walked through the market and bought some food before returning to the hotel to repack for our flight tomorrow morning. 

 

These three weeks in Germany have been great, so glad we came -we have seen and experience so much.