Louvre Abu Dhabi

Having arrived in the evening, I couldn’t get a proper look at my surrounding area. It was too dark. When I woke up, I looked out of the window. This was my view.

Despite having two nights in Abu Dhabi, I had only one full day to see anything. I narrowed sightseeing down to two places: the Louvre Abu Dhabi and Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

The daytime temperature is over 40°C in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Walking is ruled out.

Although there’s public transport in Abu Dhabi, it doesn’t seem that regular or convenient. I was going to go to the mosque first but the hotel staff said that it’s closed until 3pm. So I went to the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

There is an app for the Louvre. This lets you listen to the history of various exhibits in each of the galleries. I found it useful. You could also point the app at an exhibit and it would tell you more about it.

Some of the art is on loan from the Louvre in France. There are a few famous artists. There was also art from the region.

About half way round I sat down. The person next to me was a Japanese man from Tokyo. We started talking about Japan and its development over the past 100 years. He was on his way to Barcelona for a conference on fishing, an industry he works in.

Having seen few tourists in India, I was surprised to see so many tourists at the Louvre. There were people from Europe, East Asia and many people from China. Unlike me, people (especially women) were very well dressed. I thought it was a fashion show at times. The people watching was almost as interesting as the exhibits.

The building seems to have been designed for the Instagram generation. There are many photogenic places around the museum. People seemed to gravitate towards them. Perhaps they’d seen photos on social media.

The natural lighting was beautiful. Many people took advantage of this as they posed for photos.

The most popular photo spot was a platform in the water. It was like a catwalk. There was a queue of people waiting to stand on the platform. Women were posing like models, having photos taken of themselves from every angle.

I stood on a balcony watching all this. The balcony was perfectly positioned, which couldn’t have been an accident. The people queueing for photos had their companions positioned on the balcony. I spoke to a bemused man waiting for his daughter to have her turn on the platform. She’d asked him to take photos of her. He’d never heard of Instagram.

Opened in 2017, the building is undoubtedly the star of the show. It’s breathtaking. The ceiling is a piece of art in itself. The cavernous interior, open to the elements, doesn’t seem to get too hot.

I spent quite a while just looking at the building. I then stepped outside and admired its exterior and other nearby buildings.