Gene's birthday in DUBAI

Sunday, March 29, 2009 – DUBAI! Gene’s birthday
RAIN, RAIN and more RAIN. And this time, it really rained most of the day!!!
But at 75 degrees, it wasn’t too bad.

We docked right behind the QE2 and in front of the Holland America Rotterdam. We were the first off the ship and had a very nice taxi driver, Usman, who we hired for the day. We headed over the Burj Al Arab hotel, a 7-star hotel, for a special visit. You have to have a reservation to be allowed past the gates to enter the property and then you cross over a short curvy bridge to be dropped off in the circle in front of the hotel. Cold towels are handed to you as you enter and staff (most seem to be Chinese) are all around the lobby. The wall in front of you has cascading water and the left and right walls are aquariums. The boutiques are to the left. We took the escalator to the 1st floor and entered the main lobby area.

Above you is open space with the back of the rooms facing the lobby from 27 floors above. We had a wonderful breakfast in the 1st floor Sahn Eddar restaurant with a wonderful view of the beach and the city of Dubai and the interior of the hotel!

Breakfast - - On a round table, there was a beautiful 3-tiered tray with sugars, cinnamon, chocolate and vanilla beans, the tea strainer and other goodies. We were served mango mousse and yoghurt, muesli, fresh fruit and salmon and cream cheese on a bagel (the size of your thumb!) and a similar sized turkey sandwich on a bagel. Our hot entrée was a choice between tomato and egg and lobster or scrambled eggs with asparagus. Then we had a multitude of fresh pastries and a selection of eight teas and coffees. It was all beautifully presented and while we were eating the piano playing was drifting through the hotel lobby and in the cavernous space above us in the sail area…The pianist suddenly broke out in Happy Birthday and they presented Gene with a brownie with a single candle and sauces. Beautiful! They were very nice waiters and we had fun with them and enjoyed the meal. We could see two Cunard buses of passengers arrive for formal morning tea also.

The elevator doors are “Islamic-Art Deco” and the marble floors and pillars and plush carpets are beautiful. The shops are the most upscale you can imagine, like the Chopard bracelet I saw for a mere $47,000. We took the elevator to the 27th floor and had good views of the manmade palm island, where the Atlantis hotel now sits.

We drove to Palm Island and the newly opened Atlantis (it looks just like the one in the Bahamas). Toured the aquarium and water park and shops. We drove down one of the fronds of the palm (a side street) to see the private residences, each with a private beach and swimming pool.

We drove past the Jumeirah Mosque, down Beach Road, past huge huge homes on the beach owned by the citizens of Dubai (of which there are not many) and to the gold souk (market). We wandered and wandered and looked at clothing and jewelry and small items. We got lost, which is quite easy to do in the souk and were back to the ship by 4:45 and took several photos of the QEII (docked directly in front of us) and then boarded the Queen Victoria.

Dinner was at 6 and we had a white cake with white icing for Gene’s birthday and they sang to him. The Maitre’d and waiters said they have never had two birthdays at the same table on consecutive days and our room steward said the same – he has never had passengers with consecutive birthdays in a stateroom.

Great singing by an American tenor, Christopher Riggins.