Abu Dhabi Air Races

Last Friday Chris and I took a drive to Abu Dhabi to see the air races. I don't know enough about planes or the specific lingo to talk about it correctly but there were small planes flown by international pilots really,really fast through markers they placed in the ocean. It was fun to watch but really loud, hot and crowded since it was a free event. It was an excellent change of scenery though since Abu Dhabi is a bit older and doesn't have construction downtown. It also has innovative civil engineering devices such as sidewalks and pedestrain tunnels. Although I am ashamed to admit the end of the day, like most days in Dubai, resulted in a trip to the mall. Through some oversight of planning at the event there weren't any vendors selling drinks or food so after a few hours and a couple of miles walked in the hot sun we (ok I) was a bit thirsty, hungry and tired so our only choice was to cross the street and go to the mall to eat. It was actually a great plan though because by the time we left the mall the crowds had died down and the sun had set. The traffic was atrocious but luckily our car was parked at the other end of town so we enjoyed a relaxing and cool walk back to the car and were just in time for a fireworks show at the beach. I had a little nostalgia for Chicago at this point (and like all reveries involving Chicago it took place in the summer) remembering a trip out on lake Michigan to see the annual WXRT Venetian night firworks show. I have to pause for a moment to miss XRT...it is truly the best radio station and here in Dubai I have an option of only a few English radio stations and they are really, really bad. Not even bad in a good way. Anyway, back to my reverie. Well, this Abu Dhabi version of Venetian night was lacking in a few aspects. I wasn't in a cigarette boat overlooking the skyline of Chicago and the fireworks were not set to great XRT music. Instead the fireworks were set to an Arab version of a Disney score but I do have to say the fireworks were great. Limited in color to the UAE flag and lacking in variety but I am sure they were the biggest fireworks display after the biggest air-race in the world...