Dubai - Abu Dhabi 7 of 7

We left the palace and began our return trip back to the ship in Dubai. We took a quick side tour from our coach to view Abu Dhabi's Art Gallery as there was not enough to take an inside tour. This Gallery named "The Louvre Gallery", after Paris' famous museum. The Abu Dhabi government paid several hundred million dollars to the be able to use this same name for the next 20 years. They also paid  $749 million dollars to rent and display French artworks from The Versailles Palace in France. The building is several stories deep underground and it has an extremely modern glass and solar panelled roof that takes advantage of the solar rays so plentiful in this middle eastern country. Because everything in this building is powered by solar energy the power cost of running this building are negotiabe so buying a name and hiring exhibits and employing staff are the only costs incurred. Entrance fees are high but cheaper than flying to France to view master pieces and people are willing and able to purchase tickets to the "Louvre in Abu Dhabi" 

We had a wonderfully interesting and informative visit today  and we were driven back to the port to rejoin the Sea Princess. We decided to use up our last few Emirati Dirhams in the market stalls in the port terminal. We visited a stall where Mohammed and his two children were beginning to pack up for the day. They were ever so friendly and the children had excellent English. Their dad had a little English so they "helped him " with translation at times in our conversation. The children were in years 5 and 6 at an international school but as they had 5 days holiday they were assisting their dad in the stall. They offerred Ken and I a cop of jasmine tea and some chocolate lollies that looked exactly like coloured rocks. We enjoyed their hospitality and bought about 5 grams of saffron to use in special dishes when we get back home.  We spent our last notes and coins on this middle eastern spice which is very expensive in Australian supermarkets. It will be a wonderful reminder of our two days in Dubai. Sadly we never did get to roam around the spice  and textile souks (markets) and nor did w e get to cross the Dubai Creek in a junk boat as we ran out of time and energy. These will have to wait until next time.