Day out in Doha

Woke up this morning, the sun is shining and a full day out is planned.

First of all we catch one of the driverless underground trains. They have two great seats at the front where you can see the train whooshing through the tunnel, and pretend to drive it if you are about five years old.

We went to the Khalifa football stadium, a superb place that was built for the World Cup in 2022. At the moment here there is great excitement because the FIFA Arab cup finals and runners up games are being played tomorrow. Saudi Arabia and Jordan are in the play offs and Morocco and the UAE are in the final.

We are actually visiting the shiny blue bit of the building, and in it they have an Olympic museum. I asked why they didn't have a World Cup museum instead but no one knew. Perhaps they would like the Olympics here soon.

It was an enormous museum and we appeared to be the only people in it.

(The big football photo is from a different location but I squeezed it in to avoid talking about football again later.)

Once inside the first exhibit was a mock up of a commentary box complete with cameras and an autocue.

I don't think that Gary Lineker has anything to worry about as we definitely weren't naturals at it.

Overall it was a strange museum that had lots of interactive stuff and the original Jamaican bobsleigh.

Back onto the train and up to an area known as Little Venice, but was actually a very expensive ex pat type area. It had a modern take on the Rialto bridge and little boats coasting by.

Then came quite a long walk fortified by giant ice creams before we reached the Katari Cultural Village.

This looked more like an upmarket French boulevard and led to a large plaza by the sea.

There was loads going on here including traditional music and singing, a parade of huge fluffy creatures and a beautifully painted staircase.

Walking along the street I almost bumped into a man with a falcon, who kindly handed me it to hold.

Getting weary by now we went back to the old town and souk area where we are staying. It was just getting dark and the streets were getting busy.

Then for some inexplicable reason, we lost our hotel again and wandered around for ages trying to find it. 

Finally, a photo of the security guards who traditionally ride on white horses around the souq keeping law and order.