Friday, July 18, 2008

FREEDOM!!!! We can now see the city

The fountain inside the Marina Mall. It is really pretty in person and this picture does not do it justice.
A thing with white sails and remember this as you will see it again in a green island picture.
The beach near Marina Mall.
A fountain
Michael and Ash with the beach behind them which is where she wanted to be.
Michael with the sea behind him.
Just another sign.
The walkway or Marina Mall to get to the Seaside of the mall. You would have thought you were at the airport. Really nice walkway.
Grafetti on the wall.
A house with a lot of war damage I guess. Looks like it got hit by something.
Grafetti Kuwait style. It is everywhere.

More war damage.
The city scape from Green Island looking toward the Marina Mall.
Ashleigh looking for some shells.
The above is a place called Green Island. Green island is one of the top destinations for Kuwaiti's who want to relax. The Green Island is located off the waterfront, which spans 21 kilometers of coastline from Al-Shiwaikh area to Ras Alard. The Island has an area of 785 thousand square meters; its diameter is 3140 meters and it is linked to land by a passageway 134 meters long. It was inaugurated on 22 February 1988. This artificial island was formed by extending the main land and surrounding it with natural rocks imported from Al-Fujairah Emirate; its sides were fortified with concrete cubes. Sand for its beaches was brought from afar.
My Ashleigh looking for seashells near Green Island.

This was a statue outside of the water towers and not sure what it is but it was pretty.
Driving toward the Kuwait Towers. They are a sight to behold close up. So glad that I finally got to see them upclose. The Kuwait Towers are three towers of reinforced concrete in Kuwait City. The main tower is 187 metres high and serves as a restaurant and water tower. It also has a Viewing Sphere which rises to 123 meters above sea level and completes a full round turn every 30 minutes. The second tower is 145.8 metres high and serves as a water tower. The third tower houses equipment to control the flow of electricity and illuminates the two bigger towers. The towers were designed by Sune Lindström and Malene Björn and were built by Energoprojekt, a company from Belgrade, Serbia. They opened to the public in March of 1979. The towers were damaged heavily by the Iraqis during their occupation of Kuwait from 1990 to 1991. In 1991, after the liberation of Kuwait City during the First Gulf War, Vic Clarke of Nottingham UK abseiled the Kuwait Water Towers during structural surveys. Mr. Clarke was introduced into Kuwait by Mr. Michael Stewart, of The Stewart Group International, also from Nottingham UK. There was substantial shell, and bullet damage to the exterior of the towers. The interior damage was mainly to electrical gear, mostly lift equipment. Some of the large triangular glazed panels , were also damaged by shell fire.
Getting closer to the Towers.
Another piece of artwork outside of the Towers. It had a dove on it so I think it had something to do with peace. One more thing I will have to investigate to find out about.

Michael in front of the Towers.


The Flag of Kuwait on the ends.
A view of Liberation Tower from the Kuwait Towers.
ME
ME again
This is a building that Michael finds interesting with its twist. It is really neat in person.
Remnants from the bombing during the Iraq invasion.
More damage from bombings.
Liberation Tower

The Liberation Tower : The symbol of Kuwaiti liberation, the unmistakable sign of the country's resurgence, the Liberation Tower is one of the tallest telecommunications towers in the world.

HH the Amir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, inaugurated this telecommunications tower in Kuwait City on March 10, 1996. This 372-metre structure is about 40 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower! It was named after the multinational coalition that liberated the nation from seven months of Iraqi occupation during the Gulf War. The tower has now become a symbol of resurgent Kuwait. The structure uses ceramic tiles on the facade from the base to the first mezzanine level, which is about 308 metres above the ground. Three light natural shades provide a geometric design from the base.
The tower and the telecommunications complex is divided into three

Click to view a bigger picture.
working areas : a public communications centre; the revolving observation level and restaurant at 150 metres; and the adjacent plant and equipment structure. There are 18 elevators, two of which are glass enclosed and can accommodate 21 passengers each. They are also among the fastest in the world at 6.3 metres per second. Above the revolving mezzanine, six floors of offices with a total floor space of 12,000 sq m rise up and out in a section encased in anodised aluminum, designed to withstand Kuwait's extreme temperatures.
Shots of Liberation from far away.
Standing underneath the Liberation Tower.


All the above pics were taken as I was standing beneath the tower. I was looking up toward the sky.
A few pics of our ride home.

I do hope you enjoyed the trip around Kuwait. There will be more interesting places to come. It is so nice to have a car.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

WHAT!!!! He Finally got his Kuwait DL


Big happening 2 doors down from Michael. They had a big load of dirt delivered and then they proceeded to hoist it up unto the roof for what I do not know. Michael said maybe a garden and I laughed. Lots of noise and Ash slept thru it all and her room is close to where all this was happening.
They were working on the air conditioning in the house across the street. This is a pic of the duct work I believe. So it was an interesting day to sit and watch all the goings on. I also saw an SUV drop off workers down the street and out of that car came 10 people. It kinda reminds me of how many people can you squish in a phone booth.
This was the sunset on the day my hubby got his Kuwait Drivers License.( I am doing back flips can you see me). Michael and Ash in the new car. It is a Mazda 6 and is really a nice riding car. It will be fun now that we can go and see the sights of this wonderful country. He was like a kid as he has not driven a car since March 9th, and with the way people drive over here you have to be careful. They do not believe in Yield it is go and get out of my way. They do not slow down or look they just keep coming.


Oula your neighbor gas station and we went in to fill up the new car or at least new to us. He paid 2.8 KD which figures out to $14.31 US. It costs 3.61778 a litre. Heaven only knows what it costs now for my car to get a fill up. Right now my car is at the fixing place as she started to make a loud funny noise. Jimmy A is fixing it for us so if anyone needs a car fixed he is the man to go to.

Michael driving what a wonderful sight to behold. We were on our way back to the house after eating at Mickey D's. He is just so happy at the prospect of no more Taxi's so sorry to Ryan.
The moon over Egaila.
This is the other side of our building. It sits right behind us and is actually joined to us. Michael had a fence put up on his patio in the back as their patio was attached to ours and the could just climb over and for the privacy. Their patio door was right across from ours. So they put up a steel fence(will get a pic of it) so that they could not see in to our place. No one lives in it and it looks finished so I do not know why it is not rented.
So we now have freedom to do what we please when we please. No more calling for a ride then waiting in the hot sun for the Taxi to arrive. When we are done we will just go and get into our car. YEAH