Holiday 2019 Visitors - The Arrival

As I mentioned at the end of the fall post, we had special visitors for holidays! So special that I had to weed through 1500 photos to pick out 150 to edit....we shall see how many make the cut for blog posts (luckily not all of them....and I'll probably split them into a couple posts....lol). Over Thanksgiving week, Mason flew to Texas to enjoy the holiday with his dad and step mom. On the return flight, Richard's parent met up with him at the airport. So though technically he flew back unaccompanied, Mason had travel companions. I think a highlight for my in-laws was upon arrival in Doha, Mason flashed his diplomatic passport and then asked the customs official these are my grandparents, they are traveling with me, can they accompany me in the diplomat line....and the official allowed it (typically just a shorter line for weary frequent travelers with special visa requirements).

Once over jet lag, we took Ann and Jim out to Ipanema, a Brazilian steak house, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Richard and I have been here before. The grilled pineapple is the best (so my non-meat eating self will go and get the vegetarian meal and gorge on grilled pineapple!!). It was a big anniversary this year, which I happened to mentioned when I was setting up the reservation. The restaurant was super sweet and brought a special piece of cheesecake for the couple.

Also, that first weekend after they arrived, Jim gave a presentation to Clarissa's and the other Brownie troop in our local Girl Scout committee on Morse Code. So while getting over jet lag that first week he had to get to work making his sign. The girls enjoyed Jim spelling out their names and other expressions in Morse Code. G.I.R.L. is a big catch phrase for Girl Scouts, so we asked him to spell out 'Girls Rule', have a listen.

For their first two weeks or so, the kids were in school. So Clarissa got spoiled having a peeled apple in her lunch everyday (mom will just wedge it, but Bajoo will peel it!). Mason had a belated birthday party with friends (we were so busy in November there were no weekends that worked that we had to post-pone it)! At the start of the school year, I signed up to help with the Winter Holiday class party for Clarissa and both Ann and Jim came with me. They got to see the kids' school and Clarissa's classroom and classmates/teacher. I took in a pinterest snack! Grinch fruit kabobs. I totally nailed it too!

One of the weeks, while the kids were still in school, Richard took off a few days to do some sightseeing with Ann and Jim. Of course one of those days we went down to the Rugman of Doha (we had promised Jim we'd take him much to Ann's dismay). Richard and I and had decided we wanted to get a bigger rug also (so we had purpose for going). So we told our parents (both sets) and each other that we'd pool all the gift funds to get a rug. That way we could get something really nice. So we learned more rug history.

I think Jim loved it. The Rugman (Riyaz if you want to call him by his first name) knows so much history and could answer all the questions Jim asked (yes, you take your shoes and socks off so you can enjoy how each rug feels by walking on it). He told histories behind the patterns based on which tribe they were woven by.

We looked at rolls of rugs. Then once unrolled, walked on and admire the beauty of these rugs! So many choices. So many colors, patterns, and so soft!

We finally decided on a silk rug! We knew at some point we would get a silk rug and once you walk on a real silk rug....it feels so soft! You don't want to buy a wool rug anymore. The coolest part of the whole process was the Riyaz's father was in town. Just like older American's like to head south to Florida in the colder months ('snowbirds' they are called), in this instance Riyaz's older parents from Kashmir, India came to Doha to escape the colder weather! Why is this such a big deal? The silk rug we chose was designed by Riyaz's father, Mr. Gulam Rasool Bhat. Mr. Bhat also did some of the weaving on the rug (it takes so long multiple people weave). So to buy a rug and then shake the hand of the man who literally created said rug was pretty amazing!! Here's a picture of us, the rug we choose (it has red and blue....for both mine and Richard's preferred rug colors), along with Ann, Jim, Riyaz and Mr. Bhat!

I did not take a week of vacation, so after that day of fun - I had to work. Richard took his parents out to Katara. Katara is a historical village with all sorts of art, theatre, science, cafes, beaches, mosques, etc.

The weather was nice, warm for Ann and Jim and pleasantly cool for the rest of us!

While they were here we did have a large number of unseasonably rainy days....so many that our Christmas elves spent a day watching the rain....lol.

One day, while the kids were at school and Richard at work. I took Ann and Jim to the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum. Given I'd already been, I let them explore (I sat in the coffee shop and worked on one of the summer blog posts).

After they finished exploring and Jim chatted a while about history to the guy in the coffee shop, we asked him where the Oryx were. The guy directed us where to go. We found not only the oryx but this cute little Arabian Sand Gazelle (it was a heavy sprinkle of rain, so that's why it looks all wet).

We saw a ton of the gazelle and Arabian Oryx. I had read that sometimes the way the oryx turn their head the two horns line up and it will appear to be a unicorn! I snapped a shot of one the "unicorns".

I saw a juvenile and it's momma.

I had a staring contest with this oryx. I liked that the background there was no fencing, so it was more wild looking...and it was happy to pose!

Qatar's National Day falls on Dec 18th, for the weeks prior to the day, the country has all sorts of exhibitions in celebration National day (I mentioned them last year). Given the close proximity, we took Ann and Jim up to Darb Al Saai.

Lots of animals were seen and some were petted.

My horse loving friend from college said the Brown Arabian horse is playing around and either bucking or 'crow hopping'.

Falcons were held!

A maglis tent was sat in, Arabic coffee was consumed, and important decisions were made.

School finished for the winter break on December 17th, we celebrated Qatar National Day the 18th, and then we were in Christmas Break mode. I will wrap this post up here and save the rest of our visitor/holiday break shenanigans for the next post.

Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museums

So Richard was one of the lucky few during the shutdown that was considered essential and need to continue coming into work. So other than the pay fiasco/stress, it was somewhat 'business as usual' in regards to our daily routines. So for MLK day, Richard had a day off work and the kids had school. Once they were off to school, we got in the car and headed out of town to the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museums. No that is not a typo, it is museums. While all housed within in the same "castle" there were multiple halls each with a theme and tons of historical pieces associated with that theme.

That is just a portion of the "castle" museum. Once past the security gate, we watched our speed as lots of animals are on the grounds (we heard rumors of a jaguar also, but did not come across any other info). We did in fact see the emus, but no crossing peacocks.

The castle/fort is owned by Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani and is his personally curated collection. Who is Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani? Faisal is a distant relative of the Emir, HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (note both have the last name Al Thani). Faisal is one of the richest men in Qatar and has gained said wealth as a businessman. He owns multiple businesses, mostly luxury hotels and commercial real estate (you can learn more here). He has a passion for collecting art and artefacts. His personal collection began to get too large and in 1988 the non-profit museum was founded in order to share his collection with visitors. Once we arrived, we paid our admission. We could not bring in any bags (I had a small crossbody purse I had to leave in the car). We were allowed to bring in cameras, though we could not use the flash. I had figured it would be flash free photography and had brought our fixed lens with a large aperture to maximize the lighting. For the most part that did a pretty good job (but a few photos are not as focused as I would like). So here are some of the highlights of what we saw (which is a mere fraction of items to see).

The first hall we enter is what I would call the 'war museum'. Lots of tools from warriors. The first two that caught our eye looked like Fijian warrior tools (though the sign says they are from India....but since the British brought indentured slaves from India to Fiji, it is entirely possible they brought some South Pacific weapons, which were then later crafted with an Indian twist). These look Fijian iUla (throwing club) and Bulutoko (cannibal fork) (check out the Fiji Museums weapons or come visit us to see our copies of Fijian weapons).

There was a massive display of English and Scottish arrows that had been used in the crusades war!

This sword inlaid with copper is from Yemen.

This knife from the Caucus region caught our eye (our old stomping grounds of the Republic of Georgia).

There was a lot of beautiful pottery on display. We have seen replicates of the Moroccan blue flowers on blue background pottery available in markets. We may try to get something for ourselves before leaving Qatar that uses that pattern. This pattern, used in Morocco during the 17th century, was based on Middle Eastern geometric model, but also includes influences from China, Turkey, and India.

Notice how there is no glass glare on these pottery photos! Yep, they are sitting on open shelves with 'do not touch signs'. So very neat to get that up close to pieces (have no fear, guards were watching us too).

There were a number of intricately carved doorways around the museum.

And the rugs, so many rugs on display just covering the tile floors (extra special rugs were displayed differently).

Here are two of the extra special wall hung (behind glass) rugs. The one on the left is a Polonaise rug from Iran made with silver and gold (as in the metals not the color) threads in the 17th century. (according to the googles, Polonaise = from Poland...likely meaning the pattern is Polish). The other rug appears to be a map is the country of Qatar (we think). No sign so it would only be speculation as to what the different colors/boundaries signify.

There was a hall of clothing showing the different styles over the year. Including things such as this wood stamp for textile designs from India.

As well as, fancy footwear from the past. (Those the equivalent of high heel shoes, but it wasn't just the heel...the whole shoe was on stilts).

The next hall we entered (aka nearly an entire new museum of itself) had a lot of everyday household items ranging from tables, chairs, wardrobes,

to water pitchers with a dolphins and dhow boats pattern, lots of plates/bowls, etc;

to an entire Syrian courtyard HOME! Yes, you read that right. There was a sign telling us that this house was dismantled in Damascus, Syria and brought to the museum brick-by-brick using a sophisticated numbering system in order to reassemble it the exact same way!! This was 3 room house with one room to the left of the courtyard and two connected rooms to the right of the courtyard. The courtyard itself was huge (probably bigger than my little starter home back in the states) and had a covered sitting area which could be considered a room in itself. The home was adapted to the hot/cold climate in Syria and maximized the flow of wind and thick stones to keep it cool. This is consider to be a modest exterior!!

Above is a beautiful fountain in the courtyard. There was a doorway into the courtyard and here's part of the arch covered 'outdoor room' as I call it. Very impressive that it was moved and reassembled!

Fun little Mesopotamian telegraph (reminded me of my high school history teacher). There was a hall full of Qarans, ranging from small pocket versions to huge mosque-sized versions.

I guess this little guard was a statue/replica or very tiny human's armor! They also had some scary larger than life armor.

There was a small hall of family photos of current Emir, Father Emir (last ruler and current Emir's father), and other family members doing things/meeting important people. There was even family tree.

The museum is the process of building a dedicated car museum for Faisal's 600+ car collection. Most cars have been personally driven by Faisal over the years. They are all in working order and have permits to drive out on the road today. Some have been taken to car shows (and won...saw some with award plaques). In this part of museum, I thought of my car loving cousin (he rebuilds old classics) and how he would probably spend days in this part of the museum! So here's a few photos for him!!

Any guess as to what this for?

Here is a hint.....

Prior to the 1940s/oil boom, the pearl diving was the major industry of Qatar. These metal trays were used to separate the different sized pearls easier (as shown in this photo of a photo)!

There was a big display on the pearl industry, including multiple dhow boats set up for different uses (Pearl diving, transport of people/luggage, commercial food trading, etc). There was also a display of different shells collected/uses for pearl shells (tea anyone?).

There was small hospital exhibit with a primitive (bicycle pulled) ambulance, there was a collection of household artifacts from the Al Thani family (old toys, clothing, radios, cameras, etc....you name it was there). Then quite possibly my personal favorite was the natural history artefacts collection. Complete with a dolphin skeleton, the sign was in all Arabic, but it appears the dolphin stranded in 2004.

Lots of beautiful goniatites and orthocere "group polished". These are marine fossils estimated to be 280 million years old that were found in the Sahara.

The sign says this is the head and neck of a Plesiosaurus dinosaur, estimated to be 120 million years old, also found in the Sahara. No glass....just a do not touch sign!

Lots of cool trilobite fossils....trilobites were the first marine animals and these are estimated to be 400 million years old!

There were a number of fossilized turtle heads (some bigger than this, but my arms were too short to hold the camera higher to get it all in the frame). These are said to be 200 million years old and were found in the Khouribga in a phosphate deposit in Morocco.

Lots of neat fish fossil specimens.

What personal collection would be complete without a Mosasaur's jaw/teeth?!? Mosasaurs were marine reptiles that live 120 million years ago. This fossil was also found in Morocco.

A ginourmous natural amonite from 250 million years ago found in the Moroccan Desert.

I found these lizard/salamander fossils to be adorable (didn't see a sign for age/where found).

There was a display of some shiny rocks/gems sitting out (I was good and did not touch as requested).

Also laying out to the side where a number of ancient human wall drawings!

By the time we had seen all this we had been in the museums about 2 hours. As mentioned with the cars they are expanding the car and the carpets into separate dedicated museums of their own with in the fort/castle. We were over by the cafe and they had a map to mark where you were from. There were pin holes all over, so given it was January and just a few pins in the map our guess is they "reset" the map every year. So our St. Louis and Charleston pins really are noticeable.

It was a very interesting morning (and Richard and both commented we would need to bring his museum loving Dad here when they visit). We then headed to the Mall of Qatar for a lunch date and made it home about 10 minutes before the kids got home from school!