Ferraris & Tea

Ferrari's, F1 drivers and Afternoon Tea at the Ritz Carlton - today I impersonated a posh person. Or as a friend posted on Facebook "Life in the Very Fast Lane".

Today was the Scuderia Ferrari Live Street Demo in Qatar, brought to you by the partnership of Shell and Ferrari and to kick off the Qatar Motor Show which doesn't actually start for a week or two...but hey, that's Qatar for you.

We learned from our attempt to see the National Day parade and went down to the Corniche nice and early. After 3 hours of waiting (ugh), the show started with a parade of the privately owned Ferraris in Qatar. Yes, in country this size (2 million or so people) they were able to gather 26 of them. The worst part is, that probably wasn't even all of them....

(I tried valiantly to upload all 26 on video...but after one hour, I gave up hope that it was going to work...will try again tomorrow!)

Then, my camera battery died.

Luckily our friends managed to catch a couple of pictures with their iphones, but I really wanted a video of the next part.

Marc Gene drove an actual F1 car up and down the Corniche (from Sheraton Roundabout to QNB Roundabout for those who know Doha), about 8 times! It was pretty cool. He didn't go at top speed (obviously) but he did go fast. You could barely turn your head fast enough to catch the car go by! They even did 3 pit stop demos and they changed all 4 tires in 5 seconds!! I am not joking - 5 seconds!!

The car gave off way more exhaust fumes then I was expecting - it was pretty stinky and cloudy behind it. It was loud too, but not as loud as I expected. The driver did a few tricks - over steering once and then some doughnuts (360s) as well.

Thanks L for the pic!

Thanks F for the pic!

After the show, I went to meet some friends at the Ritz Carlton for Afternoon Tea, which was another Doha first for me. So classy! I didn't actually feel like I belonged in there The tables are set with lovely china and (if you can eat gluten) you can order a tea that comes with a small silver tray of small sandwiches, scones and desserts. They serve marscapone, jam and lemon curd (how posh!) to go with the scones. I had a salad (boo) but it was still nice. I made up for not being able to have sandwiches by skipping the tea and opting for a "Cafe Toledo" (coffee, baileys and kahlua...ha.)

Just another weekend...Doha style!

Palm trees & Ferrari

Empty stands for the VIPs...as usual

Sun & wind protection!

Yummy!

Big C's Parental Visit

Happy New Year everyone!

You know, I am never really sure how long after the big night I have to say it, but I just did it ;)

A lot has happened from the last time there was an actual blog post. My parents have visited, the inlaws have visited, there was a trip to Thailand, and a nice quiet NYE party with great friends.

I am going to start with my parents and their visit to Doha. They tacked this on as a part of their first ever Mediterranean Cruise that visited Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. So naturally they had to come a little further to Doha. They were only here for 10 days, but we all managed to see all the best things that Doha had to offer.

We managed to catch a training day for the Camel Racing, take in some Dune Bashing with Arabian Adventures (3rd time we used them, they are great), a trip to the Museum of Islamic Art, a sunset in Dukhan, fireworks at Katara, and a fishing village with a military fort for fun. There was even a day for some golf and a weak attempt at snorkelling.

Apart from the sightseeing and driving around Doha, it was great to have them both see "live and in colour" what our lives are like here. We were able to show them were we lived and what it is like after all the stress we had when we first moved here and how we have learned to live in an Arab country.

Dune Bashing

A great night at Katara (Valley of Cultures)

Dukhan Sunset and Camel Training

Museum of Islamic Art

Our Blog Sucks!

Yea, that's right. I said it.

We haven't blogged in ages...not cool, I know.

Well dear followers, please don't leave us yet! I promise to bring this blog back to its original purpose detailing our adventures and doing so on a more frequent basis (I promise!)

If you can hang in there I promise stories of desert rallies, camel races, Kevin Spacey, exotic Thailand and more!

This weekend - I promise! By Saturday coffee time (for you).

See you then!