czech love

november was a whirlwind of a month.  in this time i managed to get a new apartment, experience some of the Formula One festivities, including performances by Kanye West and Prince among others.  and over the Eid Holiday I was also able to squeeze in a trip to the Czech Republic. 

i was invited on this trip by an amazingly creative glass company called Lasvit. the main focus on this trip was to understand more about the world of glass blowing, i even got to give it a go myself  (more to come on this later)!  after my glass blowing experience in the small town of Novy Bor, we took a lovely drive through the countryside of the czech republic to a beautiful spa town called Carlsbad.  remember when i was in italy and found that lovely little restaurant the one that was "a place that dreams are made of"?  Carlsbad is another one of those! this town is famous for its hot springs and a very popular place for filming movies, including the likes of Bond with Casino Royale. we didn't spend much time here, just a late lunch and evening stroll through town, but it was enough for me to know that even though this place may have never been on my list before, it definitely is on the list now as a place to go back to!

 a walk through town

 grandhotel pupp

 buildings are built around each hot spring

both traditional and contemporary.

hot spring

next up.... prague!

vroom vroom

Yas Marina Circuit is the Formula One race track in Abu Dhabi, it stands to host it's first F1 race at the end of the season this November... you think it would be amazing to go see a race... i've got one better for you!

a drivers experience.  

the deal?

zoom around the F1 track in your choice of 4 cars including an Aston Martin GT4 (my machine of choice) for a small price of 950AED (about $260).  screaming deal, i looked into a driving experience like this in the US for my dad's 50th, they started at $800 USD.  Prepare yourself padre, they even have a modified 2-seater F1 car (a "bicycle" built for two), so mom could ride along hitting her "fake brake" the whole way!

 
now...who will teach me how to drive a manual so i can make my Aston Martin dream a reality?

interested? check it out here: Yas Marina Circuit

ferrari world

i moved "homes" this weekend, and by that i mean i moved hotels... since the apartment hunt is slow going!

here is the view from my new balcony at Park Inn, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.

ferrari world is a theme park next door to abu dhabi's F1 marina circuit!