This was the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, the largest such hospital in the world. There were patients and their owners constantly arriving, mainly for checkups, beak jobs and pedicures (which we got to observe). The tour was very informative and well worth the trouble it took to get there. It’s actually the number-two tourist attraction in Dubai after the grand mosque!

Something interesting I learned is that they issue passports (but without a picture because they molt every year and change color) for falcons in the UAE because many owners take them out of the country for hunting. And apparently, falcons are the only animals for which you can buy seats on an airplane.

Some Wiki information on the hospital http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabi_Falcon_Hospital

After seeing the hospital and meeting some falcons, we drove to Dubai in pouring rain (I could hardly believe it!) and the weather is about the same in Dubai, which is a spectacular city in sunny weather, but not so much so under overcast skies. We’ll probably head for Dubai Mall, the largest shopping mall in the world, for lack of anything else dry to do.