Our first afternoon

Well, I have a calm moment after breakfast, 5 year old is playing with her new Barbie and 1 year old is crawling around exploring our hotel room...I guess I'll continue writing about Day 1.

After breakfast we returned to our room and wondered a little about what to do. We called for a driver to take us to a nearby mall. He informed us that everything was closed until 16.00. So we went down to the outdoor play area here at the hotel but it was a little too late in the day, 11.30, to be outside, the temp was already approaching 50 deg C (122 deg F). Back at our room we called down to the reception and asked if there was any kind of indoor play area here at the hotel. We were told that there was a play area at the gym. So H and the kids went down, but could not find any play area. An additional call to the reception and we were told that the malls would open at 13.00 and we could find an indoor play area there. So, another call to a driver who came and picked us up. When we told the driver where we wanted to go, he said that the malls were closed until 16.00. He suggested that we go to the Globe restaurant.

http://www.alfaisaliahhotel.com/dine5.cfm

The Al Faisaliah Tower and its Globe Restaurant are one of Riyadh's landmarks. We thought that in our newly landed, tired, middle of the day, crumpled state, the Globe Restaurant was a little bit too much. By the time we came to that conclusion we were already at the tower and the driver was speaking with the security guard (getting car access to many buildings is difficult, with road blocks and security guards controlling who gets in and when). The security guard told the driver that the mall which is connected to the Al Faisaliah Tower would open at 13.30. We decided to eat lunch at the adjoining Al Faisailiah Hotel, in the hotel lobby and then go check out the mall after.

http://www.alfaisaliahhotel.com/

When we entered the hotel lobby and neared the restaurant, we were asked if we would like to have brunch. Friday is Islam's equivalent to Sunday in the west....aka brunch day! We were also told that there was a children's room with staff to watch the children if we would like. We decided to start by checking out the children's area. To get to the children's area we walked passed the brunch area. On our way we passed a room full of deserts, cakes, pies, delicacies, chocolate fountains, waffle irons, crepe stations, fruit, etc --- I have to say, it was GORGEOUS. I was already in awe. We walked passed a cheese bar, a sushi bar, a seafood bar, an Arabian bar, a Japanese bar, a Chinese bar, an Italian bar, a pasta bar, a Moroccan bar, a cold mezze bar, a warm mezze bar, and much, more!! In the children's room there was a plethora of activities and table upon table of goodies--cakes, cookies, candies, ice cream a create your own cookie, doughnut and muffin table...it took about 6 minutes in the room for our 5 year old to say "mamma, I think you can go now". So, the parents were free to eat brunch too!!!! The only thing that seemed to be missing from the brunch was the champagne mimosas. But, I must say, we were served some kind of sparkling fruit drink that was very refreshing and the whole set up was just so elegant and extravagant that I can't say I missed not having champagne. And, to top it off, it was so completely unexpected, it made it all the more wonderful. This brunch now tops my list along with my favorite brunches at the Scottsdale Resort and Conference Center in Arizona and at the Snoqualmie Falls Lodge in Washington

http://www.thescottsdaleresort.com/

http://www.salishlodge.com/?WT.mc_id=SnoqualmieFallsWebsite.