myPics: The Dream of Sharjah Dunes

This week, as year ago, I was in the UAE visiting my friend, Eileen, and her family.  My lovely hosts took me and some of their friends dune bashing in the desert of Sharjah, the emirate immediately north of Dubai. It's like a roller coaster ride, but in a beat up Range Rover.

A few times our young driver stopped so we would take some pictures of the desert landscape.  While there were a caravan of Range Rovers, we were able to stop on the other side of dunes to make us feel like we were the only ones there.  The sane was a beautiful vermilion and, like other desert locales, its color shifted as the sun started to set.

I hope when you look into this photo that you feel a little lost and yet in awe, and you can almost feel the arrival of the cold evening that was falling when I took this photo.

myPics: White Mosque - Blue Sky

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is located in Abu Dhabi, and its construction was initiated by the late President of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Thought of as the father of the UAE, he has been laid to rest in a tomb located on the grounds. While the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center encourages visitors to take pictures of the grounds, photography of the tomb is not permitted.

I used this picture as the wallpaper on my iPhone for my locked screen, and the phone wonderfully cropped to accentuate the minaret in the archway. 

Finally, the mosque has many noteworthy architectural and design features.

• The carpet in the main prayer hall is the world's largest carpet.
• There are seven chandeliers which incorporate millions of Swarovski crystals, and the chandelier in the main prayer hall is the largest known chandelier inside a mosque.
• The mosque is lit at night to reflect the phases of the moon: the lights dim from a bright light blue to its darkest shade when starting at the full moon to the new moon.
• The marble tile mosaic of the courtyard with its floral design, measures about 180,000 sq. ft., making it the largest in the world, and can accommodate about 30,000 worshipers. Additionally, the white marble remains cool to the touch even during the heat of the afternoon.