Arrived safely in Sydney

Alhamdolillah we have arrived safely in Sydney. Bhaijan, Shujaat Bhai, Uzma Apa and Usman came to pick us up.

The trip was comfortable although we found the Etihad service a bit wanting this time.

Sumaiya had to go and get coffee for us and they served the snack when most of the passengers - except me - were sleeping.

Once Muhsina woke up Sumaiya had to demand that they serve her the snack.

After the next meal, when the stewardess came around to take drink requests the guy next to me said "actually, can I have another meal please" and he was given one.

The plane was delayed in departing by two hours but made up one hour during the journey. Once again we selected row 36 which gave me 36D and as it was the bulkhead, more legroom. There was a baby in the same row but he/she was very well behaved.

We have only the last leg of the journey to complete - Sydney to Canberra - today inshaallah.

flight delayed

We are in Abu Dhabi airport and our flight is delayed at least an hour maybe more. :-(

--
Manar Ahmad

Our time in Dubai

 We landed in Abu Dhabi and immediately caught a bus to Dubai where we were picked up by Shaju.  We arrived in our apartment at Golden Sands Apartments 10 behind Burjuman shopping centre and near Spinneys supermarket.

It was a nice large three bedroom apartment which we had booked through booking.com for about 2000 Dirhams for three nights.

The next morning we headed to Dubai Mall where we had breakfast before meeting Obaid Soomro and family and going to the Observation Deck of Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world.





 For Juma prayers Shaju took us to Al Faisal masjid and then after going to Hussain's house we went to Karachi Darbar for lunch.  After that we headed off to the Desert Safari which was an ejoyable experience.

The next morning Sumayya (the daughter of a friend of Dr Quasim in Nigeria) and her husband, Naeem, came to visit us in the apartment. Obaid saheb then came to pick us up and we went for lunch at Asif's apartment where we met his newly born son, Misbah.

Then it was off to do some shopping (well more like walking around) at Diera Mall.  We managed to spend a bit of money but didn't find that Dubai was much (if any) cheaper than Australia, especially for electronics.

After that we went to Sharjah and walked along the canal and the coast to the TGIF for dinner.  In between was a beautiful water fountain "dance".  We walked back and then Obaid saheb was kind enough to drop us back to the apartment.

Today we intend to spend some more time at Dubai Mall before catching a bus back to Abu Dhabi for our final flight back to Sydney.

Over Turkey

Over Turkey coastline and the Mediterranean whilst flying to  Abu Dhabi.

You will notice that the "horseshoe" coast in the photo matches the coast on the map.

Reached Dubai. sleepy. more info tomorrow

--
Manar Ahmad

At Paris airport

We are at the gate now about to board the flight after visiting what I think are best and cleanest airport toilets   I have ever visited. Didn't think it was decent to take a picture though.

--
Manar Ahmad

Notre Dame, Grand Mosque, Louvre, Champ Elysees and Arc de Triomph

Been a long time between blogs. We have been busy walking around Paris, despite the wet weather.

Yesterday we walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral.  On the way, we went through Rue de Rosiers - full of Jewish shops - where we picked up a kosher Shawarma.  At the Cathedral, we climbed to the top (lovely view of Paris as well as the grotesques and gargoyles on top) as well as the inside of the Cathedral. Then we visited the Grand Mosque de Paris - built in 1926 and quite beautiful - especially on the inside, with its courtyards.

Today we walked to the Louvre quite early - beat the long queues. First up we visited the Mona Lisa followed by the history of the Louvre - it commenced as a fort.  We saw a few other paintings and admired the building itself.   A more exhausting viewing will have to wait for another time.

By early afternoon, after lunch at the restaurant, we hopped on a train to the beginning of Avenue des Champs Elysees where we strolled in the rain and did some shopping (finally got the watches we wanted), viewed the Arc and then had a coffee (+ pizza + ice cream).

On our way to the Louvre we accidentally came across what seemed to be an huge underground shopping centre Forum Les Halles. We returned to it to see if we could pick up some boots for Jumanah.  Unfortunately no but as we made our way back home, we came across a very small shoe shop in Les Halles.

We stopped off at a Kebab place for some nan kebabs takeaway for dinner whilst we packed and prepared for the trip to the airport in the morning.

Our first day in Paris

Sorry to be so long between blogs. As we are living in Paris city and walking or taking short trips by taxi or metro, I don't get much chance of writing up our experiences on long train trips like I did in London.

When we first arrived at our apartment, we rested before setting out specifically to see the Eiffel Tower, something that we wanted to experience straight away. So we headed off to the Metro station. The Metro is not as "nice" as the London Underground and after figuring out how the ticketing system works (1.75 Euro per trip to anywhere, cheaper for kids and cheaper if you get a book of ten) we caught the metro from Republique to Trocedore.

As you may see the weather was not the best. In fact it varied from gale-force winds and hard rain to bright sunny periods.  At one point, just after we first sighted the tower (and it is an awesome sight which photos do not justice to), we were ready to head back.  But fortunately after a break in the rain we decided to head off towards the tower, across the river.

Along the way we stopped off at a carousel (merry-go-round) where we all had a ride (Muhsina had two) before moving on.

One of the lifts was not working so there was a long line. We got in queue and the time we waited allowed us to appreciate the structure of the tower. We bought tickets right to the top. The first lift takes you to levels 1 and 2 and then you have to change to another set of lifts to take you to the top. 

View from Level 2 is breathtaking. You appreciate the beauty of Paris from up here.  And then we go right to the top where the view is even better. At the top you can look out from behind glass and there is an indicator of direction to major cities (much like Black Mountain Tower in Canberra). Then you go up the stairs and get to see it without the glass (instead there is a wire grill).  This is better for photography as you can lean the camera out of the grill to take the best uninterupted shots.

On level 2 they have a cafeteria but the line was quite long so we headed down.  We then walked east away from the tower just in time to see (and video) the lights coming on at 9pm. It was truly beautiful.
 We then went to the side and came across a small restaurant selling seafood and chinese food so we had dinner there.  It was not cheap but was quite filling.  As we stepped out we could see the top of the tower and the "lighthouse light" projecting and rotating.  We bought some souvenirs from an Algerian man, Firas, who gave us a good discount on postcards etc.

We then caught a taxi home. Normally they don't allow more than 4 passengers but this guy did althought he did slug me an additional 3Euros for his indiscretion.  We went to sleep, ready for another day.

Eiffel Tower

Long day . . . Too tired . . . Narrative will come later. Look at pics.

Reached Paris

After a smooth but very fast train ride (apparently the train goes upto 343km/h) on the Eurostar we reach Paris (Gare du Nord) just before 11am.

Upon reaching Paris we first withdrew some Euros and the caught two taxis to the apartment. The total cost was just under €20.

Fortunately the person managing the apartment (Erika) was already there and she gave us the keys and ran us through the basics. She also was kind enough to accept the bond in our currency (rather than be stuck with €200 on our last day here).

She didn't speak much English and so we had the usual hiccups - she said first floor and we heard 5th floor so we sent Afzal with the luggage off in the lift to the fifth before realising.

The apartment is very roomy and very old with large windows and high ceilings.

Its has been very cloudy and now its raining - hoping it won't stay this way for our entire trip.

We are now resting. After prayer we will head off for lunch and explore.

Leaving London :-(

Unfortunately our wonderful experience with Sadiq, Shehnaz and family and London has come to an end.

We had booked a taxi at 5:30am this morning and it came right on time. We left Northwood within a few minutes for Kings Cross/St Pancras Station to catch the 7:31am Eurostar to Paris.

Getting through "check-in" and immigration was a breeze. There are a couple of cafes in the waiting lounge (where thy could do with some bins). Boarding typically starts 20 minutes before departure. Our platform was 7 which required a travelator going up. That was good because we got to see the arched ceiling of the station.

As I write this we are on the train awaiting departure.