On our way to see Kingdom Centre, our driver took a detour because he thought I’d like to photograph the Saudi national museum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Saudi_Arabia. Unfortunately it appeared to be closed for the religious holiday, but we got out anyway and took a few pictures on the huge square next to it. There were actually quite a few people there enjoying the late afternoon coolness. LATER NOTE: We went back to the museum this afternoon (an adventure in itself, to come later) and discovered that the tall things in the square are lights. I thought they were some kind of outdoor art ;-).

It was quite funny because I was trying to be careful in what and who I photographed when suddenly behind me I saw a woman, fully covered in a black abaya and headscarf, with only her eyes visible, holding a very large DSLR! I could kick myself for not going up to her and asking if I could take her picture (because she seemed to be shooting in my direction), but I assumed she was Saudi from her clothing (foreign women don’t dress to that extreme, especially with the all-covering black headscarf), so I didn’t. The driver said later that Saudis don’t frequent that square and that she had to be Egyptian or Pakistani. Such a pity – it would have made for a great capture! Still, the sight of her with that big camera remains an amusing memory for me, indicating that photography is alive and hopefully well in the KSA.