Helios family visit

In the beginning of February we had a visit from the Helios family from Denmark. 
Mads has been a friend of ours since our Copenhagen days, for about 25 years, and he came with his wife Barbara and their three daughters, to experience the Middle East for the first time. 
Safe to say - they loved it!

They didn't do a lot of sightseeing, as they mostly just wanted to enjoy the sun. They spent a week with us (which is like living in a resort, with the beach and the pools, and the supermarket all within walking distance); and the last few days of their trip they had booked a villa on Maya Island. 
They did a desert tour, Ferrari World and spent a day on a yacht, and Mads went to see the mosque by himself. We also of course took them to Craft, which was a super evening.

 Thank you for coming Helios family, see you next time!

About time!

It might be slightly bad timing, as we are moving slowly into the warmer months, but - I have finally returned to the padel court! After a three year (!) hiatus!

We now have two padel courts here in our compound that you can book (well, if you are fast enough once the bookings are released) for free. There is also a WhatsApp group where people look for players, so in preparation for getting back to playing with other people, Nathan, Matt and I booked and went down to hit some balls one afternoon.

It did get a bit hot... 

I managed to remember (mostly) how to do it, so I now I have thrown myself into playing in every game I could get into! So. Much. Fun!

Hopefully I'll get in many more games before the weather becomes unbearable. 

A belated birthday excursion

A day late I was off to celebrate my birthday a little bit further, I guess this year it will be a little bit more spread out!
We went to Al Qana and had sushi in the sunshine, with Tash and Hannah.

We also went to discover the newest attraction here in the capital, the Butterfly Gardens.

Two climate-controlled domes have been built next to the National Aquarium here in Al Qana, and Asian dome and an American dome with two different biomes.

Butterflies move freely through the domes, they were fluttering around and occasionally settled on us. Especially Nathan seemed to attract them!

There are more than 10,000 butterflies in these domes. So many butterflies, so many colours, so much fluttering!

This raised walkway took us up and around the dome. Good views from here, of all the butterflies, and of the animals that also lived in the domes.

A Palawan bearcat and a sloth:

A Sri Lankan giant squirrel:

A koi pond:

This Butterfly Gardens gives ample opportunity to learn all about the butterflies. Here is the emergence chamber, where butterflies begin their life cycle. Look at all these cocoons!

A nice little visit.

Picasso, the Figure

This week it was time to open the latest temporary exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a highly anticipated exhibition - Picasso, The Figure.

I was doing both the VIP Opening on Monday, and the Members Preview on Tuesday. I was excited because the last exhibition I opened was the Post-Impressionism and that was so much fun. I was also rather nervous, because - well, Picasso! But nerves are good, keeps you sharp!

This exhibition offers a journey through Picasso's work centered on the question on figure. It explores how Picasso all throughout his life continued to to reinvent representation and expression.

Using a narrative linked by the ancestral world heritage of myths, it is structured into five thematic sections; from the emergency of Cubism, through his return to classicism, via his fascination with metamorphosis to his sculptural biomorphic figures and his restless figures of his final years.

It ends with a room full of Picasso's later works, showing the Picasso canon, my favourite section.

I was doing the VIP Opening together with Vivien and Termy, the dream team for the evening!
Apparently there was a record attendance for this opening, which bodes well for future interest in tours!

On Tuesday it was the Members Preview with Termy and myself. We had dressed for the occasion, very on brand!
I had bought us these t-shirts from Uniqlo already early last year, when we knew this exhibition was coming. Kathleen also got one for her birthday, but unfortunately she is still in Belgium.

The Members Preview night meant that I did three tours back-to-back. It is actually rather good, because it helps to consolidate all the information and fine-tune the tour.

Now I am ready, bring on all the Picasso tours!

New Years Day 2026

So, we got to celebrate New Years two days in a row, both the last day of 2025 and the first day of 2026! First with pizza on New Years Eve, and then with our traditional fondue on New Years Day.

Same procedure as always! Yum yum yum!

Linnea found some Christmas crackers, that we forgot to bring out for Christmas. So she entertained us with jokes and riddles.

We had made Pavlova for dessert. If it was good? Let's just say there was no left-overs... :)

The Natural History Museum

The day before Christmas we went on a family excursion. I had waited to go visit the National History Museum, even though it opened at the end of November, because I wanted to experience it all with the family.

Already in the entrance, you are greeted by the first dinosaur skeletons! A whole heard of sauropod dinosaurs. Quite impressive!

This museum takes you on a journey, from the very beginning of the universe to the formation of earth, and to the origin and evolution of life. It is covering 13.8 billion years of history.

There were plenty of dinosaurs! Fossils of T-Rex, Eoraptors, Smilosuchus, Stegosaurus and Camarasaurus... and much more!

Much to see, much to read about, much to learn.

The era that we are living in now is the Cenozoic Era, which began 66 million years ago. Here you get to take a closer look at the Miocene Period, where they present what happened right here in Abu Dhabi 7 million years ago, and who lived here then. F.e the giant four-tusked elephant Stegotetrabelodon. Interesting!

Lucy is currently on display here too. She is one of the most famous fossils ever discovered, a 3.2 million-year old early human ancestor found in Ethiopia in 1974.

We found our way up to the mezzanine, to see the big gallery from above. Spectacular!

Mormor found some cool crystals:

And Linnea found a cute hat in the souvenir shop. Roar!

What a great addition to Saadiyat Cultural District!