Fables across continents, centuries and cultures

So yesterday the Louvre Abu Dhabi shut the doors for the very last time on the Cartier, Islamic arts and Modern Design exhibition, after we have delivered many, many (many!) tours in that exhibition.
But there is no rest for the weary!

Tomorrow already the next temporary exhibition From Kalila wa Dimna to La Fontaine - Journeys through Fables is opening! So, time to reset and refocus!

Last week there was training on the exhibition by the curators from La BnF (Bibliotheque Nationale de France), and I was really happy that this time I was there for these sessions. They are very helpful of course. I was a bit dubious about 'another' exhibition covering mostly manuscripts to be honest, but, after having seen the space the other day I got excited. It is a really beautiful exhibition!

The history of fables begin with the oral tradition of stories being passed down from generation to generation. The genre can be divided into two distinct traditions. The first originated in India, in a written tradition from 2nd century in a collection called the Panchatantra.

This tradition developed further around Ibn al-Muqaffa in the Arab-Islamic world, who translated the Panchatantra (and added some other fables too) into Arabic and the text of Kalila wa Dimna in the 8th century.

In parallel, the other tradition of fables first appeared in the Greco-Roman world around 6th century BCE, attributed to the mythical figure of Aesop.
These two traditions travelled for centuries, they were translated, transformed, expanded, adapted and enjoyed considerable success; culminating with the French fabulist Jean de la Fontaine in the 17th century, who borrowed from both traditions when writing his stories.

A version of the fable of The Fox and The Stork, written by King Louis XV in his own hand. He was only 12 years old when he copied this story in both French and Latin, to learn its morals.

The exhibition is divided into three sections. In the first part you get to follow the journey of the texts over time, through numerous adaptations and translations.

In the second part it looks into the content of the fables and the moral messages they convey. The space is beautiful, I really liked the colour scheme chosen for this exhibition.

It doesn't only encompass manuscripts, but also showcases artworks to illustrate how these fables inspired artists to create ornamentation of everyday objects.

An illustration from 1927-1931 by Marc Chagall for the fable of The Two Pigeons.

The last part of the exhibition focuses on the Eastern tradition in the 21st century with a diverse selection of artworks from contemporary artists, and a reading corner for the visitors to continue to explore the different fables.

I think this will be a very popular exhibition, especially with all of the school students visiting.

This exhibition indeed is a shining example of the universal approach that has guided Louvre Abu Dhabi since the very beginning, forging links between Eastern and Western traditions. Fables draws on themes of concern to all - they truly have a universal dimension.

I'm already looking forward to delivering my first tour!

A 24h Danish stopover

We had visitors again over the weekend, but only for a day. Lars and his girlfriend Nanna planned a stopover here in Abu Dhabi on their way home to Copenhagen from Sri Lanka. It was only for 24 hours, but it is amazing how much you can see and do in that time!

They both spent a few hours on our beach in the morning and walk about our neighbourhood. Then they came with me to the museum, as I had an External Tour to do (my last Cartier, *sniff*); and then we had lunch at the Museum Café before checking out the galleries together.

We continued into the city to show them Craft, and to have dinner there. 

 

We went back home fairly early so that they could have a few hours nap before it was time for their midnight departure to the airport.
Thank you for coming!

Trinity 100

Yesterday was the last day for the Cartier, Islamic arts and Modern Design exhibition that we have had at the museum since November. It has been an extremely popular exhibition, I guess the interest for jewellery is very universal. We have delivered many, many, many tours of this particular exhibition. Personally I count over 40 tours, which is very unusual for a temporary exhibition and I have really enjoyed all of these tours. It has indeed been a rather lovely exhibition to present with interesting stories and beautiful pieces.

Since I just had a big birthday, I decided to get myself a "souvenir" and something to remind me of all of these tours. I set my sights on a classic Cartier Trinity ring. This year it has been 100 years since it was first designed in 1924; so I thought it was a suited gift to myself, considering we both are celebrating!

Happy Birthday to me!

10th Abuversary!

This weekend we also had a big milestone in our family - it was our 10th Abuversary on Sunday! TEN YEARS since the kids and I arrived to start our life in the sandpit!

I know I am repeating myself, but wow!! TIME FLIES! It's crazy!!

Lucas obviously is not living in Abu Dhabi anymore, but he was actually here this past week. So nice to have had him here, as always. He had a week without lectures at Uni, so he decided to come down for a bit. As Nathan had leave, they mostly spent the week playing padel and hanging around. I had work, and Linnea was at school of course, but we had time for some family dinners and time together in the TV-sofas.

Lucas and I also went to Dubai together to shorten a bracelet he had bought for Tove for her birthday, and pick up a piece of jewellery Pia had ordered. It was also nice that he got to see Anna & Andrew and Pip while they were here of course. A nice week to come!

I wonder where we will all be in another 10 years time??

Sparkly and green

Sunday afternoon we were invited to celebrate Peta's 40th birthday, with the theme "Sparkly and Green", considering she is born on St Patrick's Day.

Pippa, Peta and Mila, their maid, had been busy all Saturday preparing and cooking up a storm for the big party, she had invited close to 60 people. Everything had to be done the day before, as Sunday morning, on her actual birthday, they were busy up in Dubai participating in a Sprint Triathlon! (Peta coming 3rd in her age category, yay her!)

So much lovely food, especially the grazing table was absolutely amazing! That is such a great idea!

It was a fabulous afternoon (even though none of us wore neither green nor sparkly... ha ha), a fantastic hang out. Admittedly, us Brunei peeps didn't really mingle with anyone else than ourselves, but hey, it had been a while since we saw each other!

Happy happy 40th Peta!

The morning after the night before. The girls went for a walk in the morning sun and then we had a nice breakfast at the Turners house before it was time for Anna and Andrew to fly back home to Doha.

Grateful for this weekend!

Our Brunei family - the OGs

This weekend also had another cause for celebration with the big 4-0 party coming up for our friend Peta on the Sunday afternoon. This meant we had the pleasure of Anna and Andrew flying in from Doha - again (!) - for the weekend, but also of Pippa coming up from Australia to surprise her little sister!

This meant that the OG Brunei Airbus crowd, or indeed our Brunei family, was back together! How awesome?!

Like no time had passed at all!

There is something special about catching up with old friends after a long time. All weekend we have relived a lot of good memories of course, laughter has flowed effortlessly! Our friendship has certainly lasted the test of time, and it's great that life has brought us all together again, here in the Middle East!

Good to have you in Abu Dhabi girls - come back again soon!

Bye bye Brunch

It's been a really busy weekend with lots of celebrations!

On Saturday I went into the city to join a farewell brunch for one of our SwedishLadies, Viktoria. She's moving back to Sweden after three years here in the sandpit. She's been heavily involved in the SwedishLadies committee, so there was 20 of us coming to say our goodbyes.

She had chosen St Regis on the Corniche, one of the golden oldies of Abu Dhabi, a really lush brunch. 

 

We had so much lovely food!

She got flowers and this lovely souvenir from Abu Dhabi, a personalised 'Queen Camel' painting made by a fellow SwedishLady Madeleine.

Sweden in UAE

Like many museums around the world, Louvre Abu Dhabi is closed on Mondays. Every now and then, the museum still receives visitors on these days, f.e. when we have school take-overs, or special guests who, for different reasons, cannot come during normal opening hours.

Last Monday I got called in for a special tour booked in from the Swedish Embassy. I took a small delegation around the museum with the H.E. Ambassador of Sweden to the UAE and the guest of honour, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden H.E. Jan Knutsson.

None of the many previous Ambassadors have ever turned up to the museum (at least not while I have been there), so I was really happy to finally get to deliver a tour for the Embassy, in Swedish of course! Hopefully this will lead to many more for their official visitors in the future!

 

It was such a special experience as we had the whole museum to ourselves! We only had one of the Security Agents escort us, no one else was there.

I showed them all the pride of Scandinavia in the collection: the wooden throne by Norwegian Lars Kinsarvik, the wooden bowls by the Danish artist Merete Larsen, the wooden leaf by Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala and of course - the flower pot by Swedish artist Alf Wallander.

Birthday dinner by Heston Blumenthal

Linda is a big hotel nerd, some of it comes with her job, but she truly is a big fan of cool hotels - and an even bigger foodie. We both keep lists of places we want to explore, and try to go discover new places when we hang out. She always invites me for lunch for my birthday, but this year she went one step further, and invited me for dinner in Dubai! Lucky lucky me!

As Linda said, the best gifts to give are the ones you get to participate in yourself! Not every gift need to be something permanent - to create a memory together to cherish for evermore, is also a fantastic gift!
She took me to Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, a restaurant that offers a contemporary spin on historic British cuisine dating back to the 1300s.

This restaurant has one star in the Michelin guide, so the expectations were high!

The setting was very elegant, with large tables, leather detailing and dim lighting. You could look straight into the open laboratory-style kitchen, and in the middle of it all - the statement mechanical pineapple clock which opened every half an hour, 'The Dinner Escapement'.

The menu here is a facsimile of the original Knightsbridge outpost in London. British dishes from across the centuries invigorated with prime ingredients and accompanied with storytelling for each course.

We started with some truffle, and their famous signature classic 'Meat Fruit', from the 13th century. A chicken liver parfait cleverly disguised as a mandarin, where you could eat the whole "fruit"!

For main course we chose two different things that we shared, as we wanted to taste as many things as possible. Venison with Pickled Cherries and Roast Halibut with Parsley Green Sauce and Braised Chicory. We also ordered Buttered Bay Carrots and the famous Triple Cooked Chips - best chips I've had in the UAE!

We had not one, not two, nor three - but four (small!) desserts!

Of course we had to order in their famous Tipsy Cake from 1858. A spit-roast pineapple served with a buttery brioche bun soaked in vanilla. Mmm! Pineapples, historically, were unbelievably expensive and seen as the ultimate luxury, a single fruit was worth thousands of pounds.

Linda also insisted we should try their ice cream, as it came to be made at our table in their Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Trolley, from 1901. I chose the meringue and raspberry topping, but the winner seemed to be the popping candy that Linda got.

As a little birdie had informed them about our celebration, I also got a chocolate fondant that we shared:

Finally they also brought us some complementary mini tarts, which unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of.
All in all a magical evening! What an absolute top culinary experience! Part feast, part history lesson! Thank you Linda!!

Altlantis the Royal

A year ago, one of the most anticipated hotels in Dubai finally opened its doors, Atlantis the Royal, on the crescent on the palm. This is where Linda invited me for my birthday dinner, to enjoy a Michelin dinner at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, one of the 17 restaurants in this hotel.

 

 

 

But first, we wanted to discover the hotel a bit of course! We wandered around the lobby, with it's big aquariums and the largest jellyfish tank in the world; firewalls and the beautiful installation Droplets, illustrating the first drops of rain in the desert:

We then went outside, to find us a nice seat by the Skyblaze fountain, which had flames sprouting out of water and a big water show every half an hour.

 

We celebrated the evening with a cocktail from their 'Elements'-menu, I tried 'Earth' and Linda 'Water:

We had time to enjoy the water show twice, both in the sunset and in the dark. Very impressive and unlike anything else I have ever seen.

Then it was time to take the elevator up to the restaurant, an elevator surrounded by water, so unique!

Finally it was time for our indulging dinner experience, but that deserves its own post!