Christmas Plans – North and South – wonder where we will see snow…

So, it snowed in Houston for the second time in about 5 years. Wow! It hadn't really snowed in Connecticut yet this year, until the 15+inches this weekend – We are off to Detroit for Christmas, and then Houston for New Year’s.

Cleopatra & Goliath are doing great – clean bills of health at the vet – and high marks for good behavior. I know some of you may find it hard to believe, but really, truly, Rufus (goliath’s alter ego) only shows up at home in the presence of a cardboard box.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays – hope to talk to you soon, but if we don’t may the spirit of the season bring you joy.

-Elizabeth & Stephen, Cleo & Goliath

Abu Dhabi – JFK – Home – Hooray!

For the flight home there were 5 of us on the flight, and we flanked each other – so no rowdy kids, and an excellent trip home was had by all. On the mono-rail to the Avis Rental counter, Eric Hansen felt the need to put his Turbine on one more time – much to Marci’s dismay (there was just one other couple in the mono-rail car with us – an Indian couple… and Marci and I had henna on our hands… yeah 3 weeks – I think it lasted at least 2.5 – at which point in time I started using my exfoliating face scrub on my hands… =)

And if you read the post from Florida – we arrived back in Connecticut to learn that I had reservations on the direct flight to WPB Monday morning – so into the washing machine my clothes went and off to Florida – back to work!

*sigh* time to prepare for the 20 hour trip home…

After the mosque, Stephen negotiated a ride back to the hotel – it started at 20 rials (50 dollars – are you kidding me) and ended up I think at 13 rials – and NO TIP. We got in our swim suits and took one more dip in the pool, and I took several more trips around the lazy river.

Time to say good bye to Oman: one last trip through the gift shops to finish up our shopping, and then finish packing and check out.

Don’t miss the Grand Mosque in Muscat if you get close.

So on the morning of our departure, we got up early to head over to the Grand Mosque, which is only opened a limited time to non Muslim guests. All women must be completely covered and everyone must be respectful.

There were tarps that we were to stay on, but I wanted to know if the carpet was extra soft or special so I risked loosing a toe to touch the floor in the Woman’s Worship room ( which had flat panel TV’s to show the Imam’s sermon)…ooo( nothing special here, just standard carpet – except for the grid on the floor to identify the prayer lines) Interesting – I thought…

Then we got to the prayer room for the men – It was awe inspiring – no lines for aligning the men – ornate oriental carpets, ceilings that seemed to go on forever, with elaborate mosaics and lumber – and a chandelier the likes of which I have NEVER seen before. Heaven help them, when they need to change one of the thousands of light bulbs.

Grand Mosque - link Wikipedia

Johnny Walker Blech....

Ok... so I have had whiskey - I think that there is some Jack Daniels in the cabinet to mix with coke or maybe add to some daring eggnog, but when Stephen decided to try Johnny Walker Black - neat on the rocks - I couldn't help but capture it for history! =)

To the busses – and more food.

I guess I should have done more research on the traditions and ceremonies – but we went back to the room and changed – and got ready for the wedding reception. Apparently hindu tradition is to mourn the loss of the bride to the grooms family after the wedding, so the hindu guests were far less celebratory than they had been at the Sangeet – but still, there were more activities before it was truly over.

Ben and Ritu arrived at the reception and sat at a thron on stage to receive guests that may have not been able to congratulate them at the wedding ceremony. Then it became the brother-in-law show as Ritu’s older sisters husbands gave the new kid on the block advice. It was touching and funny, and a great conclusion, wrapping up the festivities.

There was a live band – and after the toasts, and advice, most of the Hindu guests left and the Western folks were left to celebrate the new couple.

Oh and the food – this evening I guess I saw the food before it was touched, moreso than previous events, or maybe the food was extra special – check out the Food Art:

Papparatzi - like you wouldn't believe

Everywhere we turned around there was a photographer, videographer - I think there were about a dozen of them. There was one that was in charge - that's him next to Ritu walking down the aisle, but for each event, there was this army of photographers - so I'm sure Ben and Ritu don't need our pictures.

It seemed like everwhere you turned there was a photographer or photographic equipment...