Dubai

Dale just finished his annual recurrent training at CAE in Dubai. The Renaissance Hotel was lovely although a bit away from all the touristy stuff, so we even had to take a taxi to the Metro (train/subway). The Metro was fantastic; it was the project of my friend Linda's son who is a civil engineer.

Dale did have a heavy course load, so between that and the crummy weather, I did not get to do a few of the things on my list. That being said, we still had a great time. The Metro was a great place to sightsee from. Dubai must be an architect's dream; there are so many unique and beautiful buildings.

The Burj Al Arab is the one that looks like a sail, while the Burj Khalifa is (at the moment) the tallest building in the world - here is a link to some photos -

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=burj+khalifa&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=pT88Tc38Ls6r8APR842cCA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CFUQsAQwBA&biw=1222&bih=668

Our first outing was to the Mall of the Emirates, which is where they have the indoor ski hill. We had lunch there and watched the skiers, tobogganers and tubers. What fun!

The next day we visited the Dubai Mall which is connected to the Burj Khalifa, and yes it is tall. I think that it is deceiving in its appearance because of being so slender and tapered. It might look taller if it was more substantial. The Dubai Mall is huge - here is a photo link and a video link -

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=&q=Dubai+Mall&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=8z08TfqaNtC08QPT9tmBCQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CEsQsAQwAw&biw=1222&bih=668

http://www.thedubaimall.com/en/section/media-centre/video-gallery?v=P2iGvHz4luw

The Aquarium and Underwater Zoo were excellent and well worth the visit - the following links are great for info and photos -

http://www.thedubaimall.com/en/entertainment/entertainment-section/dubai-aquarium-underwater-zoo.html

http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&biw=1222&bih=668&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=dubai+mall+aquarium&aq=0&aqi=g5g-m1&aql=&oq=Dubai+Mall+A

While at the Dubai Mall we wandered around inside and out until we had seen all that our feet would allow. Poor Dale then had to continue on to his simulator training while I got to soak in a nice hot bath!

Even so, he was up for a trip to the Dubai Museum the next day. It doesn't look like much when you get there, but the gallery is all underground and very well presented. The following link is great except for a couple of pictures of a futuristic white building that has nothing to do with the Museum (and you can ignore the car photo too!).

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=dubai+museum&cp=9&qe=RHViYWkgTXVz&qesig=TZwnSIFM__UZb_ytOdyYKw&pkc=AFgZ2tnCClzhHer8JMNiApUAJHVttMdBxF6T2vRtbkbViWYIGLrw3hbUkcBG8Y8i0eGZdemSN8c8Z4gH5u9awmKPYGk5nfF1nQ&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=GUM8Tb7sHIuq8APC-YnPCA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CEIQsAQwAw&biw=1222&bih=668

Our last day was such a treat - well except for the getting lost in Dubai part. We rented a car and drove out to Fujairah to visit with Julie and her family. Julie was a flight attendant with Dale until the recent arrival of Aeva, who is absolutely adorable. Julie's husband Kyriakos works in Fujairah and we got to meet him and Julie's parents as well who were out from the UK for the birth of their granddaughter. We had a wonderful Greek dinner (except for dessert which was Turkish baklava), but the best part of all was cuddling Aeva. We are the envy of the rest of the crew, as Fujairah is in the middle of nowhere and we are the first to visit. And yes, we got lost on the way back as well!

So now we are back in Cyprus for a couple of weeks until Dale goes back to work. The weather here is cool (+18C) with rain in the forecast, but so far mostly sunny - gotta love it!

Take care and bye for now.

Love,

Laurel