Weekend in Bahrain

The kids and Allen had a few extra days off this weekend in celebration of Saudi National Day. We decided to spend the weekend in Bahrain. Bahrain is an island right off the Saudi coast. There is a 16 mile bridge that connects the two countries. It took us about an hour to get across and through customs and it was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the two countries. We were all about relaxing this weekend and enjoying a slightly less restricted culture in Bahrain. We headed straight for the mall on Saturday morning and caught a movie. We saw Turbo and it was cute. I took a picture in the movie to show the subtitles - Arabic and French:

We enjoyed lunch at PF Changs and did some shopping after the movie.

We stayed in a very nice hotel that had great amenities. Here are the kiddos with the camel right outside the hotel entrance. Emery was in love with this thing and we had to stop and look at it every time we passed.

We spent hours and hours at the gorgeous pool at the hotel. The kids could (and did) stay all day swimming and playing together.

There was a mini water park at one of the pools:

Emery especially loved the poolside food service. We ordered her a few treats when she got tired of swimming but the big kids were going strong.

We met up with some friends from our compound for the afternoon to swim together:

We had a lovely couple of days just playing at the pool and eating at yummy restaurants. It doesn't sound like much but it was perfect for us and so relaxing.  Yesterday we decided to forgo the pool because I found out that the big mosque in Bahrain is open to the public. I was so excited to go inside for the tour and because I am so interested in Islam. This is the mosque from our hotel room:

 
It is HUGE! That dome is the width of a football field. It was so so amazing to be able to see inside and learn more about the religious beliefs. When we entered the mosque, Allen, Makenna and I were given robes to wear since we were all in shorts. I was also given a scarf to cover my head. We were asked to remove our shoes. I always thought there was religious significance to not wearing shoes but it is only for cleanliness. A wonderful woman who is from Egypt but spoke flawless English gave us our tour. She was so kind and informative and answered our millions of questions.  I only had my iPhone with me so my pictures did not turn out great and I am dying to go back with my nice camera. The scope and intricacies of the architecture and art blew my mind. Here are a few of the pictures I took:

 The star window coverings were on every window and opening in the mosque - so beautiful

 This gigantic door was hand carved from wood from India and the glass lights/orbs were blown by hand in France. There were over 900 orbs in the mosque. This isn't a great picture but shows how large the door is:

We were able to watch a man sing the call to prayer (done in person for each of the 5 daily prayers) and then were able to watch the prayer from above. It was very spiritual for me, especially since the guide had explained the significance of each of the physical aspects of the prayer. After the tour Carter said, "Mom it is amazing how many similarities there are between their beliefs and ours." I was struck by the same thought many times throughout our tour.  I am so grateful we were able to spend a couple of hours taking this tour. All of the mosques in Saudi are closed to the public so this was a treat and the highlight of my weekend. I'm also so glad my kids are being exposed to so many different religions and cultures while we live here!