F1 Weekend

Another F1 weekend has come and gone here in the sandpit, the biggest weekend of the year and Thomas and Lucas came down for this edition.
Lucas landed Friday night and went literally straight from the airport to the first concert, Post Malone, together with Jasmine (who had arrived from Australia the night before). They had lots of fun.

Nathan and Thomas warmed up in a different way, by going to Craft, of course.

And on the Saturday it was time for Metallica. The main event for the boys.

F1 is not really my thing, I spent it at work instead. It was a weekend full of celebrity visits at the museum, so busy busy busy.

Pitlane Walk

We've almost lived here 10 years, and I still haven't really been to the F1 properly. I went to the Saturday Family day back in 2019, but that's about it. So this year I thought, time at least to go do the Pit Walk.
I tagged along with Linda, her sister and nephew.

So now I have done it. But no, I will not do it again.
I couldn't see the point of it at all, unless you are a die hard F1 fan. Way too much queuing and way too many people for my liking. Plus, it was a really hot day, so we suffered a bit in the queues where there was no shade.

The crews in the pits looked a bit like they were just there putting on a show for the by-passers. Making a little bit of noise here and there with a screwdriver or tyre pressure machine, revving an engine or just walking about looking important.
Some pits were more popular than others, obviously, so this is all I saw of Lewis Hamilton, ha ha, just other people taking photos and movies:

Same at Verstappen's corner:

You get a good view of the track of course, but for someone who lives here and can go and walk the track, or cycle around it at the TrainYas anytime, this was not really a drawing point for me.

Ah well, now I've done it. There you go.
Maybe next year I'll even try go see the race final..!

Going drifting

Almost a year ago I participated in a competition on Instagram, you know the ones where you "like and tag" a post - and I won a racing experience on the Yas Marina Circuit! Then came Covid and everything closed up. We've also had Yas Island shut down repeatedly for the UFC Fight Island, and of course, for the F1 race in December. So I hadn't really got around to redeeming my prize, until now!

This evening we had booked in for the experience, which turned out to be a Chevrolet Drift Passenger Ride. It was for two people, and both Linnea and I were happy to let the boys do it. Linnea and I stayed watching from the balcony.

Nice sunset over the circuit:

Many people getting ready for different kinds of driving/riding experiences:

Here's the car the boys were going to drift in:

Lucas all geared up and ready to get in:

And off he went! Lots of smoke, and very loud noises!

Then it was Nathan's turn:

They both liked the experience very much! I think we are lucky that Lucas is not old enough to do his driving license here, as he might have gotten a few new ideas..!

Corona Diary, Day 276-282

Day 276, Sunday 6 December. 2nd of Advent
Today was the first time this term we saw below 20 degrees on the school run! Winter is here!
With Nathan at work and Lucas at school, Linnea and I spent our morning studying and having rice pudding for lunch, yum!
Exercise was done in the afternoon before we had daal for dinner (yes, it's a favourite, and so fast to make!) and some TV.

Day 277, Monday 7 December
Today I did a walk about the mangrove park with Susanne after school drop off, before I had a long 2,5h training session with the LAD. Good balance of outside and inside this morning!
Tried a new Cookidoo recipe, chicken meatballs and Mexican rice with beans for dinner. Yeah nah, will not do that one again.

Day 278, Tuesday 8 December
Padel! Padel! Padel! Nathan and I played with Petra, Susanne and Tina today. Great to try our new rackets, but we had trouble getting the play to take off, as we are all new beginners.

Day 279, Wednesday 9 December
Time for Uni lecture again, this week without sitting by the pool at the same time unfortunately. Otherwise a pretty boring day. Nathan spent several hours on his bike, I did my exercise and Linnea and Lucas their school work.
Linnea finished baking with the gingerbread dough, after she had made us Chicken & bacon pasta for dinner, although Nathan went out for dinner with a friend.

Day 280, Thursday 10 December
Moooore padel! This morning I played with the SWEA ladies again. Getting better every time!

School was out early as it was the last day before the winter break. Linnea and I went to celebrate the holidays with a Festivitea at the Westin, together with Linda and her boys.
Then we went straight to Galleria Mall to sort out some Christmas shopping, had dinner at PF Changs and got home really late. Busy day!

In the meantime the boys (of course) had ordered their dinner and were planted in the sofa when we got back.

Day 281, Friday 11 December
Nathan and I got up early this morning to get going and sort some Christmas-related things out before the crowds hit the mall. Just the two of us for an early lunch, and jobs got sorted. Quite a lazy day all around (apart from the daily exercise, of course!), even had pizza for dinner.

Day 282, Saturday 12 December
I tried a new hairdresser today, on recommendation from a friend who looked absolutely fab last time she had been here. I was very pleased too, with the colour, the cut and the whole experience. But above all with the blow-dry which held the whole day, and if I wasn't sporting tomorrow, would probably look good then too.

Lucas saw some friends today, and Nathan went down to Yas Marina to sit on a friends boat and watch the qualifying of the GP. It's really weird that it's F1-weekend, but since there are no spectators this year, it's without the usual full-on circus that comes with it.

F1 weekend

This long weekend has been a really busy one here in Abu Dhabi. Not only does the kids have extra days off school since today is National Day - Happy 48th Birthday UAE - but of course we've also had the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend.
Nathan has been to the F1 several times already, but this year it was time for the rest of the family to experience it, in different ways.

Lucas went to both the Thursday and Friday concerts, saw the DJ Marshmello and rappers Future and Gucci Mane, who replaced Travis Scott. He said it was really great concerts, and I'm sure this first concert experience of his was enhanced by the fact he went with a huge group of friends.

Linnea and I got some tickets for the Saturday and went out early in the afternoon to check out the race village and all the stands:

There was an abundance of food trucks, and other stands:

Johan, Linda and Samuel came with us:

Lots of fun things to explore, like falcons in the Emirati tent:

My favourite part was the aerobatic fly-by by the Al Fursan team. Always impressive!

Hm... where did I park my Ferrari..?

We only watched the qualifyings, but still fun to soak up the atmosphere by the track. It was rather noisy even though they didn't actually race each other, only the clock. I loved the twilight feeling and how they race into the sunset. 

On the Sunday for the actual race, we had a much more comfortable, and less noisy view!

The Italians last day

Of course we didn't slow down just because it was their last day, even though I think all of us were a bit tired and tender after a full-on week.
First we went to visit the newly opened Presidential Palace, Qasr Al Watan. I wanted to take one of the guided tours this time, but unfortunately it was full so we did our own thing, which was ok too:

And in the evening we took on the F1-track, and TrainYas.

Some of us only did one lap, others went around again, a little bit faster than the first lap with all of us... Guess who did what...

I'm so glad I got to show my UAE to Carin and her family, and that they loved it too! We sure squeezed a lot of action, adventure and exploration into this week! I do believe they left with many new fantastic memories!