Also joining Tom with his "Signs"meme. Please check his blog for more signs from around the world.
And today I continue with my trip to Qatar:
Wednesday 1st January - After our New Year's eve party, we had a day of rest at home, watching movies, reading...
Thursday 2nd - We visited the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum - in the Al Rayyan district, connected to the Khalifa International Stadium, the museum opened in March 2022, and focus on domestic and international sports.
Interesting museum, specially for those that love sports.
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| Khalifa International Stadium |
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Rally car of the Qatari rally driver (and sport shooter) Nasser Salih Nasser Abdullah Al-Attiyah |
The area dedicated to the Olympic games was quite interesting, with copies of every single olympic torch, mascots from all the olympic games.
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| Olympic torches |
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| Olympic games mascots |
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| All the cities that hosted the Summer or Winter olympic games |
There was an area dedicated to the Qatari rally car driver Nasser Salih Nasser Abdullah Al-Attiyah, and to Formula 1.
The first Grand Prix held in Qatar was in November 2021 in place of the cancelled Australian Grand Prix due to covid.
In 2022 it wasn't held there due to the 2022 Fifa world cup, between November and December. They have since signed a 10 year contract fro 2023 for the Grand Prix to be held at the Lusail International Circuit.
Jose and I both tried (unsuccessfully) to drive a rally car.
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| Ferrari Alfa Romeo "Testa Fissa" |
All the main sports people were honoured with a short story listing their achievements. They missed out on one of the biggest football greats - Cristiano Ronaldo :(
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| From the 15th Asian Games, held in Doha - uniform, mascots, medals |
After leaving the museum we walked towards the Villagio Mall, going past another architectural masterpiece - the Torch Doha Hotel (or Aspire Tower), the 300 (980ft) metre tall building, the second tallest in Doha. That protrusion (right of photo) is actually the hotel's pool!!
On the roundabout between the hotel and the mall was a sculpture with 2 hands holding letters that read "Qatar" on one side, but read "Forward" on the opposite side. It was created by Italian sculptor and former actor Lorenzo Quinn, also the son of famous actor Anthony Quinn.
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| Hands are Lorenzo Quinn's speciality |
At the Villagio Mall we first chose a place to eat - (can't remember which one).
For a fixed price, we piled our choice of ingredients onto a plate- veggies, meat, fish, spices, sauces - then gave them to the chefs in front of a grill. When cooked they put the food onto a plate and handed it to us.
The Villagio, is a Venetian style mall with a painted sky, and Mediterranean
looking shop fronts painted in pastel colours.
Extensive water canals with gondolas going back and forth, an Imax cinema, go-kart area, ice-rink, mini-golf, plus a range of shopping including a lot of the luxury brands, and various dining options, make it one of the most popular shopping areas.
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| Gondolas on the canals |
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| A little bus also takes people around the mall |
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Gondolandia Entertainment area
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| Can't remember what this was - ice-cream balls?? |
The sun was setting when we left the mall, and we took an Uber home.
A funny mug at my daughter's house
