Al Fanar and Home Centre

Yesterday I had one of the best meals I have ever had!  This is the Le Royal Meridien Hotel, and that round disc at the top is the Al Fanar Restaurant.  This restaurant has a champagne lunch on Friday's....and it revolves! The restaurant doesn't revolve, the floor does.  It is on the 23rd floor and it has the most spectacular views of Abu Dhabi and the Persian Gulf!  This is what Luxos says about it:

"This is by far one of Abu Dhabi’s most sought after locations. Al Fanar is the rooftop restaurant at Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi, and it is a revolving restaurant, famous for its unashamedly romantic atmosphere, with unforgettable views of the entire city and the sea beyond. The Bubbly Brunch on Friday is very popular, with unlimited champagne and a superb and varied menu, including wonderful desserts. The European-inspired restaurant menu features seafood, grills and salad specialties. All amidst subtle lighting and background jazz."

And the jazz was performed by a lady on the piano and a guy on the violin.  It was great!

                                                      Lobster cut in half, and prawns!

 And the desserts!!!  I can't eat sugar for a loooooooooooong time!  They even had roast beef and yorkshire pudding!  I had never had yorkshire pudding, and was surprised to see that it looked more like rolls, not pudding.  They were wonderful!  Gonna have to work on learning to make them. Everything was fabulous, and the champagne kept flowing!  It is from 12:30-4:00, and whenever any of you come to visit, this is where I'm taking you.  It's not cheap, but then as with everything, you get what you pay for.  I was so wiped out when I got back to the hotel room, I tried not to lay down and profess that I had "itis," but I could only stay awake until about 8:30 PM.  Well, great food and lots of champagne will do that to you.

I was there with a group of "seasoned" young ladies.  One of them, Brenda, had made a comment on Facebook a few months ago about being older than a lot of the others that were being hired, and she wanted to know if there were others of us.  Another Brenda who has been here for a while agreed to set up a luncheon "meet and greet" so that we could meet each other. I believe 13 or 14 came.  I won a prize for being the oldest one there ( which I figured I would be).  It was supposed to be for age  50 and over, but most were in their 40's.  This is the prize I got:

                                                 Cute little elephant key chain from India.
We are about to be spread out all over, so the first Brenda has agreed to set up something so that we could meet about once a month and do things we like to do together.  Suggestions are to see some of the museums, things like that.

Today I went to Home Centre to see what they had in the way of furniture and stuff for my apartment.  They are offering a 20% discount on all merchandise other than those on sale, so I figured I might as well take a look.  Besides, it is next to the Marina Mall which is a HUGE mall that I hadn't been to yet.  Gave me somewhere to walk around and look as I try to walk off the calories I ate yesterday.  I found a bedroom set I can live with.  My apartment doesn't have closets (there are cabinets in the kitchen) so I have to get a wardrobe and a shoe closet also. I found a nice kitchen table with inlaid tile that I really liked.  Found a floor lamp and matching regular lamps for the living room.  Could not find a living room set that I liked.  My non-negotiable for the living room is a chaise.  I have always wanted one.  I found one, and it is okay.  I saw the wrap around couch sets with the lounge, but they were all made of leather, or leather like material.  I don't think that is a good idea in the heat of the desert even if there is air conditioning. I have another store to go to.  There are several places around, but this other place I can also get appliances.  None of these apartments have appliances so I need a stove, refrigerator, and they have these contraptions that are a washer and dryer all in one unit.  Have never seen anything like this before! 

While I was out I saw someone from the Abu Dhabi Education Council go into Home Centre, and when I came back to the hotel I saw someone from the travel agency.  They hadn't been around lately because Group 2 of the teachers came in and are staying at a different hotel.  So far we are taking up 3 hotels.  The teachers at the Intercontinental Hotel are all going to live in Al Ain, Those here at Beach Rotana are either staying in Abu Dhabi or are going to Al Garbia like I am.  The travel agency people have been giving the Business Center things to run off and deliver to our rooms.  We need to know where our orientations will be on Monday and Tuesday, and we need to have our money to start buying things since they will be shipping us off next week.  Things are looking up!