Denmark-sick!

This morning on Facebook I was looking at some pictures posted by a friend of mine who has just returned to Copenhagen and suddenly I find that I am "home"sick... Well not exactly, I am Denmark sick! So here are some pictures of my homeland.

Last two times we were in Copenhagen it was in november... that's why it looks so cold and there are Christmas decorations everywhere. I really need to take Bobs in summer, cause all he knows of Denmark is cold, snow and wind - there is actually also a bit of sunshine and warmth. Copenhagen is wonderfull during summer-time.

Finally! Some planning to do

Arriving over Mauritius

I cannot tell you how much I look forward to seeing that again! I have been waiting and waiting, done some more waiting and finally I can write this post: our holidays are nearly booked: Mauritius here we come, beginning of November: off we are for a little over 2 weeks of sun (oh we have that here), okay then, the sea at 5 minutes from home, gorgeous food... Creole, Indian, Chinese... Trees, big public gardens where we can take Bibs for a walk, to feed the fish or the deers or sit on the tortoise. And of course the most important the family. My little princess is going to spend time with her 2 sets of grand-parents and that's really something I am looking forward to. My parents have decided to come as well. It is going to be a small family reunion.

don't really think that Bibs can sit on one of them!

but surely she can try to feed the deers

We are so excited about going. We haven't been to Mauritius for 2 years now and we both miss it a lot. Then of course the planning of the holidays... what are we going to do, where are we going to eat, what hotel should we treat ourselves to? The hotels in Mauritius are amazing and generally the service is really good, so we always spend a bit of time in a hotel. The Mauritian people are very nice - and I am not only saying that cause I am married to one of them!

Grand Baie, village in the North of the Island

Very old tree in the Jardin des Pamplemousse

33 days to go!

Breakfast Review I: the Four Seasons Hotel

We, by that I mean a few mums from our group, have decided to meet up once a week for a breakfast. A way to have a good time together and also an opportunity for the kiddies to get used to the idea of spending time at a table and maybe learn how to behave as well. Well, that's my theory, because Bibs is just crawling around the table, emptying my handbag and tries to open the cupboards in the restaurant. The other kiddies are sitting nicely and enjoying their breakfast!

Breakfast room

The Four Seasons Hotel is very beautiful. It is located at the 5th circle, and if you are looking for the entrance it is behind the hotel! From 5th circle take towards the 6th at the first street take right and right again. It's at the end of the road. It's a bit hidden and no signs either. The breakfast area is on the lower lobby level. The room is not that attractive: it looks very much like a hotel restaurant, if that makes sense. Not much charm. Just a big room, with lots of tables. Just as we left I noticed an outside area, which was probably closed though, it was 30 degrees outside today so lovely weather, a bit of a shame really.

The buffet however was very nice: there is the usual pancake/waffle/egg station, then fruits, cereals, meat cuts and cheese, bread selection etc.There is also an Arabic breakfast section, with falafel, fried halloumi and other goodies. The orange juice, they say it's fresh, but am not that sure, seemed a bit concentrated to me, maybe I am mistaken.

The Buffet Area

The Arabic Breakfast section





Price-wise, we paid 16JD + taxes (so more or less 21JD), which I find a bit stiff really - I don't think it was that good. The service was nice, every baby had a high chair, however I asked for the front table that goes with the high chair it never came. We did get some cookies though. That's the thing when you are with babies... you do get some extra attention.

Cookies

Visit to Canvas and the National Gallery park

The gallery's two buildings are surrounding a small sculpture park and Canvas, a restaurant/coffee shop. The coffee shop is nice, will have to go back for lunch. We just had a cup of coffee and my friend's daughter a big chocolate sunday. Well to be exact we ordered a ice coffee, but first then came with a ice tea which we sent back and then they came a ice coffee without coffee. There was ice cream, chocolate, milk and cream. We kept it that way! But it is a nice place to stop after the museum visit.

There are some paintings exposed inside and a very nice terrace outside overlooking the small park.

We then for a small walk in the park. It is water conservation project developed with governmental and local support as well as USAID. It is a sculpture park, there is a children's playground and is a very pleasant place to walk with a stroller, kids can play, young people meet on dates.

National Gallery of Fine Arts

This has been on my to-do-list for a little while, and yesterday I finally made it: to the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts.

The gallery is located in 2 different buildings, on each side of a small park and houses a permanent collection of contemporary art from Jordan, the Arab world and other developing countries, mainly Africa and Asia.

Building number 1 as it is called, the one with the terrace on the top on the picture, is definitely the most interesting out of the 2. It is much bigger and the collection, I found, easier to understand and more approachable. I thought this one was impressive: it is views of street walls in Palestine.

On the 2nd floor there is a small library, specialised in arts of course. They have a small selection is Arabic, English and French.

There is also a small cafe, unfortunately closed when we were there. And then a small terrace with an amazing view over Amman and the Blue Mosque.

I found this picture very interesting. You can see the King Abdullah Mosque, aka the Blue Mosque, recognisable with its blue dome. It was built as memorial to the late King Hussein's grandfather. It is possible to visit it, so I really want to go. Just in front there is a church, other mosques around and then of course the building sites, squattered across Amman.

In the second building there is a small souk Zara outlet. It is handcrafts type of shop which can also be found mainly in hotels in Amman (Grand Hyatt, Intercontinental) but also in other hotels across the kingdom (Dead Sea, Petra, Aqaba). They offer jewelry, ceramics, postcards, woodwork, mosaics... Unfortunately it was closed in the middle of the afternoon... The entrance is 5JD per person (we didn't pay for my friend's daughter who is 10).

We had a nice afternoon. It is a small but interesting museum. There is access to strollers, wheelchairs... A good point as it is rare in this country.

There is also a nice garden and a cafe, will talk about that in a separate post. I took also plenty of pictures of the area, because the architecture is very different to the part of Amman where we live. All to come...

After the rain, came the sandstorm

So yesterday we had the first autumn rain. Let's be honest, it didn't clean the air as it can do in Europe. When you looked at the cars afterwards they were more dirty with sand that when the rain started! But less than they were this morning after last night sandstorm. It started when it was dark and I missed the beginning. So at a moment a walked into my kitchen, and hmm, it wasn't as clean as the last time I had been there. There was just dust everywhere. The air was full of sand and it took quite some time for it to settle, even after the storm was over.

Sandstorm to hit Amman

This picture was taken from my balcony, just before the storm hit Amman. Only I didn't realise that there was a storm on the way! I will know for next time. I don't think it happens so often though. The sun was going down and the light was amazing. You can barely see the sun on the picture, just above the trees on the left. Today the weather forecast says "Widespread Dust"! And though the blue sky is back over Amman, you can see the dust in the horizon.

A little drizzle and a cup of coffee

This morning we woke up to big and very grey clouds in Amman and we got the first rain since I guess mid-may. The funny thing is that I read in the newspaper last week that as of the 21st September it starts to rain again in our little Kingdom - well for once the meteorologist were right! Would be good if they could master that... Rain, a little bit of rain and still 28 degrees. So it's nice, it cools the air but you can still sit outside and enjoy it.

With my friend N and her little boy we had decided to do a little walk this morning and then have a nice well deserved cup of coffee - and for that we went for Second Cup in Abdoun. It's quite handy cause it is close to the park where we go with our little ones, but the downside is that we need to cross a busy road; as usual in Amman, not very walk-friendly. But we didn't let us stop by that and waited patiently for all cars to have passed and crossed the road. For the little story on the way back, 2 cars just stopped the traffic so that we could cross the road, much appreciated.

So, to Second Cup. It's a nice little coffee shop - with a non-smoking section, completely separated from the smoking one, on the ground floor. I like the coffee, and their cakes look yummy too. Didn't have any though - next time. They do all kind of cold and hot drinks. I had a hazelnut mokka late, yum yum.

Specially these ones: I love Oreo - I just discovered them a couple of years ago. I know, 30-something years without Oreo, don't know how I made it! Had my revenge during my pregnancy though.

Their muffins don't look bad either!

And then if you are looking for a place to buy cacti, well there is one next door. They have some really pretty ones.

No need to be like us and walk and cross roads, there is a parking lot next door, so the access is easy. As usual, I have located it on my map.