Oldies On Tour

Whilst watching the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the box and when the overhead camera panned the skyline, I saw this big red roof with “Ferrari World” painted on top and naturally thought it was something associated with Ferrari and their F1 team; probably a showcase for their cars.  Well I was right in one sense, it was a show case for their cars, past and present, but more than that, it was a Ferrari Theme Park; roller coasters, rides 4D shows and a lot more.

Joe, Jane’s friend staying over Christmas was not the adventureous type who indulged in such hairy activities but on this occassion she had no choice, Jand and Dave “persuaded” or should I say “told” her she was going on the fastest roller coaster in the world.  The description of this ride as per the brochure is as follows:-

“Blast away on the fastest rollercoaster on the planet!  Strap yourself into the F1 cockpit, hold tight as you feel the acceleration of 240 km/h in under 5 seconds and discover what 4.8Gs really feels like.  You’ll launch 52 meters into the sky before flying through chicanes inspired by some of the world’s most famous race tracks”

After normal routines, riding Herbie, walking the dogs etc.,

Ferrari World Entrance

we arrived at the park,

queueing for ages to get our tickets then paid extra for “Premium” tickets; these meant we didn’t join the main queues at rides, there was a “Premium” queue which took prioritiy, well worth the extra.

Upon getting into this huge building, we headed to the first ride on our agenda, “Formula Rossa” the one mentioned above.  The board at the entrance to the ride told us the wait to get on was over 1 hour, however, armed with our premium tickets we were on in 10 minutes, good decision.

Now at this point having seen the roller coaster close up, we thought Jo waould have dug her feet in and said “NO WAY” but she didn’t!!!!  I have to take my hat off to her for going against all that her instincts were telling her, and naturally, I had to go as well; one couldn’t be seen to chicken out, can one?  Christine was on bag duty, well someone had to look after the bags!!!!

We boarded our car, Jane and Dave in the front, Jo and I in the back; strapped in, bar holding us down and we were off, wow, I now know what these Grand Prix Drivers put up with when the lights go out at the start, it was phenomenal and no sooner had we arrived at 240 kph than we braked for our first chicane and so it went up and down, round and round for about 2 minutes: hairy or what, the speed and the force round the corners not to mention when we arrived at the top of the ride, it felt as if we were heading into orbit, wow wow wow!!!  Grins from Jane and Dave, Grimace from Joe’s face and the shakes from me, I hadn’t been through anything like that and the nearest I had was probably about 30 years ago!  I believe Dave said I was going to be promoted from a Fossil to a “yet to be decided” name; ha ha Dave!

Next we all headed of to see a show, but fortunatly there was time to have a coffee, I needed something but had to make do with a coffee in this “dry” country, it helped!  The show we saw was fast and entertaining with jugglers, acrobats and gymnasts

Now we went for the next roller coaster, this is a race between two sets of cars, again on a

The Race Is On

big dipper but after the Formula Rossa, this was a piece of cake.  Had we had done this one first I don’t think Jo or I would have done the big one, this was still a fast and furious ride.  Again, Christine looked after the bags, with her glass back it would be very silly for her to do anything like this.

There was also an Ice Skating show, again spectacular with the skaters not only doing what skaters do on ice but also were carring out manovers hanging in the air.

Next we did the log flume ride, again for a log flume ride the designers had managed to inject some excitement and thrill into this as well.  There were the usual dark areas where the floating car went up an incline or fell away into a lower pool with the associated screams from some people!!!  The theme for this log flume was the insides of an engine, very creative.

We now split up, Christine and I looking more at the gental rides and film shows etc whilst the young’uns went for more excitement.  Firstly we went to the “Speed of Magic”, this was a 4-D ride, featuring a 3-D movie where we experienced flying along crumbling cliffs, ice caves, bottom of the ocean and a fast trip through the jungle, spectacular or what.  Not quite the smooth ride Christine was looking for but enjoyable all the same.

Another exciting ride was the “Driving With The Champion”, in this ride we sat in a motion based simulator as the passenger in, first a Ferrari sports car, then from the cockpit of an F1 car, both driven by Fernando Alonso.  Again very exciting but for some unkown reason, Christine had the giggles all the way through this ride, neither of us know why, perhaps probbly due to the fact that as we sped along this Italian country road at breathtaking speeds, with Fernando at the wheel, we met a heard of cows and he not only had to weave in and out of the cows, he cracked a joke about saying “did you want some milk”.

The Outside of Ferrari World

One of the rides ‘Viaggio In Italio’ was intersting.  As we queued in the premium queue again, we read the notice that said this ride was not suitable for people with a number of ailments, too many to mention, most of which Christine and I had between us!!! Still we went, after all if I managed the Formula Rossa, anything was possible.  Anyway we entered and sat in this very moulded, wrap around seatbelted seat with a bar accross.

Additionally Christine had to take her shoes off as they weren’t strapped on, OMG what have we let ourselves into.  There was a delay in starting as there were many people, me included, who were struggling to lock the safety bars in place, withour them in place you couldn’t go, fortunatly I managed, by leaving my camers out of my pocket, to lock the bar in place and then we were off.   The blocks of seats were hydraulicly operated and we all went into the air of this huge dome and settled when all these blocks of seats were stacked, one above the other, and we were watching an enormous panoramic screen. Now we knew why we were strapped in so tightly, health and safety and all that.  Then we were in a helecopter flying over many of the well known cities and areas of Italy, naturally including the Ferrari Test track and factory in Maranello.  A very good ride, as they all were.

We visited the small mueum full of Ferrari’s,

F1 Technology, in the pits

we went into a Ferrari F1 Pits garage showing all the technology

they utilise in todays Grand Prix Racing, we watched a film “Coppa Di Sicilla”  based on a 1920’s road race which featured Enzo Ferrari as a young man, then a nice comfortable slow ride travelling around italy in a Ferrari model car. There was even a competition, if you felt that way inclined, to change a wheel and tyre on an ex Michael Schumaker F1 car, naturally we declined that one.

We then all met up for a spot of food around 1730 hrs then continued around the venue. Eventually leaving around 2000hrs after having had a wonderful day and being thoroughly exhausted, bed called.

This theme park, apart from the two major roller coasters, is entirely under one enormous sculpured roof, very impressive.

Inside the Hall

When we arrived and paid we were a little surprised at the cost but when we left we felt it was good value for money.  The rides were all spectaular, very technical and exciting and well worth a visit, we can highly recomend this to anyone.

Jane and Joe were up quite early to go and ride Herbie, Dave went for a long run with the dogs, whilst we had a very leisurely breakfast, avoiding a lot of food, as we are going to a brunch today.  We did a bit of domestics, then we all had showers.

Everyone ready, we sat down and distributed presents, it must have been a handbag xmas, as we all had new ones, mine was a Guess, Janes a Disneyworld! and Jo’s was a Prada, I had a necklace, two pairs of ear rings, and a matching purse to go with my handbag, so I was thoroughly spoilt, Geoff had crystal glasses to match the ones at home, some new swimming trunks! and a book? Dave had a new easel and some puzzles to keep him going, but the funniest thing was when Dave gave Jane her sunglasses, we all related our various stories, how we managed to block her buying them yesterday.

Time to put our best clothes on, and go to the Ritz Carlton, wow! it was decorated out so well! and although it was very expensive, it was  worth it. They had carol singers, and a pianist playing all the time, and the decorations were fantastic.

We started with a fish course, with scallops, oysters,crab,lobster, we could have had sushi but passed on that. Then we had foie gras, freshly cooked! it was amazing. For the main course we had a selection of turkey, goose, duck, and the biggest joint of beef I have ever seen.

When it came to the puddings, these were in a separate room, they had two chocolate fountains, with selection of fruit, marshmallows etc., gateau’s everything any one could want, even a candy floss and popcorn machines, just fantastic.

Geoff managed to find some room for cheeses, but I declined.  The drinks had flowed all day, I had chosen the non-alcohol package, so Geoff had ordered me some vodka to go into my lemon/mint drink, I also had some of his wine, so we got away with that one.

We had arrived at 12.30, and eventually moved from our table some time after 5pm, we wondered around the gardens, down to the beach, then headed home.

We played UNO then crawled into bed, we were all pleased with our choice to go out, less hassle. Merry Xmas everyone.

Up early, and we were all waiting at the door by 7.30am, we have a dog sitter meeting us at 7.45am so we mustn’t be late.  Arrived at Michelle’s dropped the dogs, we are now free for the day.

We drove towards Dubai, when Dave suddenly stopped the car, he was getting annoyed with tom tom, so we had a coffee break, whilst Jane was out of sight, he asked us to make sure she did not buy sunglasses, which we all agreed that we would do our best!

On arrival in Al Karama, the first words Jane uttered were, let’s go and look for sunglasses, oh dear this is going to be a long day.  We went from shop, to some back streets looking for cheap handbags and glasses, the prices have certainly gone up over here, no longer the best place to purchase handbags!  It seems every shop, has a separate building for cheap bags, but still did not seem very good value, but they did have all the good names Prada, Chanel, mulberry, and many more.

We then went onto the tallest building in the world Burj Khalifa, it certainly is a sight, unfortunately we left it too late to book to go to the top, but we will be back.  It is a magnificent building, with a lake in front with fountains, that go off periodically, it was amazing, they played classical music, and the waterfalls were choreographed to go off with the music, fantastic.

Jane and Joe picked a restaurant, which was Texas Road House, we had steaks and BBQ ribs, cooked to perfection.  Funny going into a restaurant and not having alcohol, but will obviously help towards the diets ha ha!!

After lunch we split up, and went into the Mall, they had an indoor Aquarium, more fountains, and hundreds of really lovely shops, from Next to Hamleys, Cartier, Channel, and H & M, a real mix, plus an amazing sweet shop, just like mine!!!

Having exhausted ourselves in the Mall, we then went to see Palm Island, where the rich and the famous live, it is the copycat of Atlantis City in Nassau, minus the marina. Jane once again started on her hunt for sunglasses, this time we were ready for her, Joe went into the shop, whilst I stood right in front of a Bulgari stand, so she walked out of the shop thinking they did not sell that kind! We did have a laugh behind her back, anyway all will be revealed tomorrow!

Back to the carpark, and we then headed for home, tired but pleased with our day, we collected the dogs, and arrived back home about 10pm so a very full day!

We Booked the “Big Bus Tour” for seeing Muscat last night at the Hotel and at the same time got the receptionist to telephone the bus company to confirm what time the bus would be along at our local stop; 10.10 hrs they said but suggested we get to the bus stop about 5 minutes before in case the bus arrives a little early.

So after a hearty breakfast we strolled to the bus stop arriving around 1000 hrs and waited, and waited, and waited.  Fortunatly there was another couple also waiting and they knew this was the corret stop as thay had used the bus the previous day and got off at this same bus stop.  After some time we rang the bus company only to be told the 10.10 had been cancelled and the next would be at 11.10.  It actually arrived at 11.20, anyway it arrived, straight upstairs and sitting in the open we looked around at the various sites and with our ear (supplied) ‘phones plugged in, listening to the commentry.  Our next stop was about 25 minutes away.

The sun was shining brightly and it was warm but there was a natural wind, in addition to the wind caused by the bus speading along.  The next minute I saw some paper floating accross the bus and onto the street and to my horror realised it was our tickets, blown out of my top pocket and they had to be used for hopping on and off the bus:  Oh dear what ever else is going to happen to me!!!!! Nothing we could but would tell the driver when he stopped.

At the next stop many people were getting on including a “Big Bus Company” rep who we asked if she could give us duplicates, to which she said no!  In fact she said we would have to leave the bus if we couldn’t find them.  I said we were not getting off as we had paid and that we had had a traumatic morning as the bus that should have come didn’t and we wasted over an hour etc., etc.  At this this point the family sitting behind us jumped in and also moaned about the total lack of organisation by the company as they had also suffered. Now there were 6 people agreived, about 65% of the bus ( it was not very full!) so she went off and made a ‘phone call.  After a few minutes she came back and gave me a piece of paper which acted as a ticket and told me not to lose it, another good result!  Whilst all this was going on we noted in the “Big Bus Company” brochure, it stated quite clearly that if you could   “NOT PRODUCE A TICKET YOU HAD TO LEAVE THE BUS”, oh well we overrode that rule!!!

We did the compete 2 hour circuit listening to the interesting commentry, and seeing the sites, well the few that were worth watching.  Apart from old Muscat, a small area surrounded by the mountains where the Sultans Palace and the Ministry of Finance are situated, Muscat is very spread out and very new.  The nice thing is the total lack of sky scrapers, unlike many other cities in the Middle East, the sultan has decreed nothing can be taller than eight stories.  In fact the tallest building in Muscat is the Air Traffic control Tower at the airport!

Now for a bit of History; There have been may wars etc., in the area throughout time but modern Oman started after the breakup of the Omani Empire when it was broken into two in 1861; Zanzibar with its East African dependencies and Muscat and Oman.  Things stayed prety much as they were until this current Sultan deposed his Father in 1970, when he was 30, and got hold of the country by the scruff of the neck. Realising oil was a diminishing comodity and to survive in the modern world he had to get an infrastructure in place and introduce other business’ and new technology, which he has done very successfully over his 43 yeas of absolute rule.  It will be interesting who will be is heir as he has no children!!!  During this period he changed the countries name to “Oman”, being shorter he probably thought it rolls off the tounge easier!!!!!

We stopped off for lunch at the beach and being Saturday, everybody was out and about taking in the sun etc.  Where we stopped there were a number of Cafes and Restaurants, even a Starbucks and we finally decided to eat at Pizza Express, on the decking and overlooking the sea, it was very relaxing.  We then went onto the beach and as the sea was warmish and reasonable we went for a paddle, though the waves were quite big.

Back on the 3.30 bus we carried on.  We didn’t get off at Old Muscat as we had missed the walking tour and we had walked around there the day before.  The bus stopped for a number of ‘photo opportunities along the way eventualy getting back to the start point just in time for us to catch the 5 pm and last bus that went via the stop nearest to our hotel.

After a leisurely shower and change, we went down to dinner and after much thought, decided to go back to the Indian we went to yesterday.  Last nights food was far too much so cut down to one main meal between us, a whole, but small leg of lamb; again extremely moorish but we had to ask for a doggy bag as yet again it was too much food; tomorrows lunch?

Last  night to-night but nowhere to go as the Hotel is not well situated and besides where can one go, not for a drink!!!!!