Museum of Islamic Art

Last week, the group and I made a stop at the Museum of Islamic Art. My new school has been amazing at organizing things for us to do and buses to take us there. It has been really nice to not have the explore this city completely on my own because it is quite confusing. Although a lot of the other new teachers say that they could probably drive themselves around and make it to school, I am hopelessly lost at all times. For those who know me, that is not surprising at all. So having a bus to come take us to the grocery store, to school, and to the mall has been a life saver.
The Museum of Islamic Art was one stop I was really looking forward to since the beginning. Read More...

The museum was designed by I.M. Pei, who is also famous for designing the pyramid structure over the Louvre. Many believe that it is supposed to look like a veiled woman at the top (do you see the eyes on that top square?) overlooking Doha. It has a great collection of Middle Eastern art but what impressed me the most was the architecture and the view. It sits right on the water with views of downtown Doha in the distance.

Once again, it was a bit hazy with sand, but the inside was nice and air conditioned :)

I popped around to the different exhibits. I especially loved the bright colors that had been preserved on the ceramics glasswork, and fabrics. There was also beautiful jewelry and a lot of handwritten calligraphy and religious texts.

Does this count as a selfie?

After I had walked around for a while, a friend and I decided to grab lunch at the cafe. They have booths lining floor to ceiling windows overlooking the water and downtown. So pretty!

(excuse the dusty windows!)

The menu was completely on an iPad! 

I decided on some fresh fruit and a mocha. I was concerned about getting fruit here because I had been so spoiled in California, but it has been really good so far!

I could even see some friends exploring the museum while I ate my lunch.
I spent quite a lot of time in museums this summer, so although I was a bit museumed out, I did enjoy walking around. The museum was really wonderful and I can definitely see myself coming back to spend time here.