Discovering Riyadh

 Today we had an authentic Saudi Arabian homemade breakfast.  It consisted of 2 kinds of foul, an egg dish, a bread pudding like thing with bananas, a fruit tray, olives and cheese and bologna.  Oh yes, we also had a dish with camel liver--and we both tried it.  Mark thought that it tasted like any other liver.  I have never had liver so I wouldn't know.  It was ok and I'm glad we tried it.  Everything else was delicious.  I wish I knew all the authentic names, but I can't figure them out. Othman came in as we were finishing eating and we sat around the table talking to him.  About 2:30 or 3:00 Moe took us driving around Riyadh to see the sights.

 

 

We had lunch at Elevation Burger.  It was really good!  There's one in Indianapolis so I am sure we will be looking for it.  Once again, we entered through the family entrance and went upstairs to the family dining room to eat. 

 

 

 

This building is the Ministry of Interior.  This is the building where their marriage was approved. 

 

 

 These are some tall fancy buildings in downtown Riyadh.

 

 

Another very tall fancy building.

 

We also went to the Diplomatic Quarter.  This is an area where all of the embassies of the foreign countries are grouped together.  It was very nice and had lots of landscaping and pretty buildings.  We saw the American embassy from a distance.  The road to the American embassy has been closed at the request of the United States.  I think for security purposes, they don't want any cars getting close to it.

 

After driving around we went to Othman's clinic called "The Swan",  While Katie and Moe had their teeth whitened, Othman gave us a tour around the clinic.  It was very interesting.  After Katie and Moe were done we headed back to Moe's house.  Katie went to shower, Moe went to play pool, and Mark and I just enjoyed sitting out by their pool in the gentle breeze.  We were soon joined by Reema, Jude, Katie and Moe.  We heard an unusual noise while sitting out.  Reema said that it was a lizard.  Today was cooler and very pleasant.  (By cooler I mean around 100 probably for the high)  It gets dark fairly early here.  I've never actually watched for what time it gets dark but I'd say about 7:30 or 8:00.  They don't want it to stay light later because they want it to cool off.  Therefore, they don't have daylight savings time.

 

Reema ordered Chinese food for dinner and we had a wide variety of choices. (We ate dinner about 10:30pm.)  I tried something new called shrimp balls that I really liked.  I don't remember ever seeing them in the United States.

 

 

 

This is Sarah's cat with the very fitting name of Garfield!  Sometimes you see him in surprising locations watching you.  People seem to like cats here more than dogs.  There are lots of wild skinny cats running around in the streets.

 

In Riyadh, I have noticed that most of the women cover their whole face except for their eyes.  Only a few of us aren't covering their hair.  I see more women covering their entire face here than in Jeddah.  I've noticed that some of those women who cover their entire face are also wearing black gloves.

 

Trivia for today:  About 1/4 of the country of Saudi Arabia is uninhabitable.  It is called "The Empty Quarter."  It is located in the Souteast corner of Saudi Arabia.  It is the world's largest contiguous sand desert.  It consists of only sand dunes. 

 

 

CORRECTION FROM YESTERDAY:   It takes 9 hours to drive to Riyadh from Jeddah, not the 5 hours I said yesterday.