In the morning, it was raining, which delayed out tour at the Qasr al Hosn (old palace). The country of the United Arab Emirates only gets 5-10 days of rain a year, according to our tour guide, and it has been just our luck that it has rained three times since we have gotten to the UAE, and for the past two days straight. The reason it has started to rain so much is because the UAE has started to “seed” its clouds, which is altering them by adding certain chemicals to the clouds. However, we saw firsthand the negative effects of this as the roads flooded, museums and other public areas were closed, and almost every establishment we visited had some type of roof leak. 

Due to our delay we ended up going to the UAE presidential Palace first, no one lives here, however it is where the offices of the President, Vice President and other government officials are located. The palace was quite expansive and ranged over 380,000 square meters, over 90 acres. The interior was elegantly decorated and the space was expansive. In the main hall, the space was so large I felt insignificant. There was an elegant gold sculpture in the shape of an egg titled “The Power of Words,” which was inspired the quote, “Wealth is not money and oil. Wealth lies in people, and its worthless if not dedicated to serve people,” from Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the UAE. Another room in the palace was dedicated to the gifts presented by other world leaders from around the world to the UAE. I thought this was the most interesting part of the palace because I was able to see what other countries valued and how they wanted to present themselves to the UAE, it was also surprising to me and others in the group that the gift from the United States was displayed extremely less extravagant.

We then made a quick stop to the heritage village which gave us a look into the early days of Abu Dhabi, and also boasted a beautiful view of the cities dynamic skyline, as each island has their own unique buildings.

We then made our way back to our original first stop, Qasr al Hosn. Here we were able to learn more about the UAEs relatively young history, which was supported by fishing and pearling before the discovery of oil. This qasr, palace in arabic, is the oldest building on Abu Dhabi island, built in 1795, was used as a stronghold to protect the valuable coastline that Sheikh Dhiyab bin Issa claimed for his tribe during the early 1760s. 

That concluded our group tour, however some of us made our way to the Louvre in Abu Dhabi after. As an art history minor and someone who thoroughly enjoys art I was truly awestruck. The expansive collection they have accumulated from the beginning of time to current is unbelievable. One of my favorite pieces was a two-headed sculpture believed to be from 6500 BC from the Jordan area.

Probably my favorite piece in the collection was a Reliquary cross containing a piece of Jesus’ true cross.

And not to mention, the Louvre itself, an architectural masterpiece.

To cap my day, I enjoyed some nightlit golf at Abu Dhabi City golf course, a golf course tucked in the middle of a horse race track.