Museum

We made a trip to the Sheik Zayed National Museum in Al Bateen about a month ago while my Mom was here but I never got around to posting a blog about it. I saw pictures of it in Abu Dhabi Daily Photograph and figured it was worth checking out. It's about a 5 or 10 minute drive from my apartment. It took us three tries to actually get inside. The first was to find it and realize that it wasn't during visiting hours. The second was to realize that that the staff closed the museum for "holiday hours." The final time I was told by laborers it was closed on Fridays and Saturdays despite the sign in front saying it was open Fridays and Saturdays. I asked to have a look around for a few minutes and the guy must've figured that was easier than arguing with me. And he couldn't understand anything I was saying because he didn't speak any English.

In front, there are some camels and horses kept for some unknown reason. I'm assuming it's so kids can feed them and pet them like my kids did. There are a bunch of new-looking touristy buildings around that are empty and, I'm assuming, are supposed to be locked. Naturally, we had a look inside and let the kids play around.

Inside the actual museum are a bunch of stuffed wild animals and cars that were part of the late Sheik Zayed's personal collection. My guess is that his family didn't know what to do with it all after he died, put it all in a building, and called it a museum. It isn't promoted in any way and apart from the person who takes pictures for the above blog, no one I know has ever heard of it.

If anyone in the area is interested in killing some time here's a map with the red "A" marker showing the location. It's not anything spectacular, but odd enough to warrant a visit.