Dubai

We slept in till 8:45 am this morning - the longest sleep in for the whole holiday! Just kidding - actually it was really 6:45 am Prague time that our bodies were working on :-(


The photo above shows the view from our hotel window, through the glass. The mist/murk/haze is all over the city so it was hard to get a clear photo.

The shower had us flummexed, Jan and Steve too. It was over a bath, and we had some hysterical laughter trying to turn it on without getting wet with cold water from above or from the side, or having water all over the floor. There was no way any of us could get it warmer than a coolish body temperature. The bathroom is behind a full glass wall, and so you can see whoever has gone to the toilet or who is having a shower, from the rest of the room. Seems to be a pattern or maybe a new fashion trend, because our room in Prague was similar, but on a smaller scale. Jan said it took them a while to realise that there is actually a blind that can be pulled down over the glass wall.

Never mind, we got up and found our way to the luxurious restaurant for the buffet breakfast. Staff were waiting to greet or help us from the moment we stepped out of the lift, to where we entered the restaurant, then waiting on our table, and helping at the buffet. There is always a friendly 'good day madam/sir', 'can I help you madam/sir', 'you're welcome madam/sir'. Actually, by the end of the day it was getting too much - it's not natural. Then Jan and Steve went to enquire about a short tour of Dubai, and ended up having their own 3 hour tour in the hotel limo with a hotel driver. They enjoyed that.

In the meantime we sussed out the 24th floor swimming pool area with fabulous views, then headed down to the 1st floor where we could walk straight into the huge Mall of the Emirates.


Everything was quiet at 10 am. The place is so clean and tidy, the floors are all tiled and shiny. The stores and staff are all immaculate and eager to help. There seemed like a lot of staff just standing around in shops. Anyway, we bought some Clarks sandals for me, and a couple of other bits and pieces and just generally looked around. We found the ski slope at one end of the mall! Interesting!

We were going to eat at the food court but discovered that, being Ramadan, most of them were shut, or open only with food not visible, and any food purchased had to be taken away and eaten in private. I got a salad and David got a steak roll and we headed back to our hotel room to eat and have a break. We had noticed that there is no seating at all throughout the mall areas, nothing. It must be a deliberate strategy to stop loitering. Very tiring for us though, but great that we didn't have far to get to our room.

We tried to do the online Check in for Emirates, but yet again I had problems with this and ended up having to give them a call. They couldn't solve the problem either. So we're just going to hope that showing up 2 hours before our flight (rather than 3) works out. David and I got partially checked in, but it wouldn't let us add the Barrows. We wasted an hour trying to sort it out, to no avail.

After lunch we headed back to check out the last small section of the mall that we hadn't covered earlier. Well! We walked into one particular shop and came out about 2 hours later! Jan and Steve caught up with us there, and had the same problem getting out :-) There was so much good stuff, and it was at the most reasonable prices we had seen at the mall. Michelle, I hope the S sizes I bought you aren't too big... Very tricky to know.

Dinner time approached and we ate in the 50s style booth area next to the main restaurant because we weren't wanting to eat an expensive meal at the buffet. They did a great gluten free meal for me, of steak, veges, béarnaise sauce and fries. The service was outstanding. David had an incredible grilled toasted sandwich that he wouldn't let me take a photo of (it looked gorgeous) but he says he'll be dieting from Wednesday...

We had to have a swim in that beautiful pool so at 9 pm we all headed upstairs and David, Steve and I relaxed in the pool for half an hour, and enjoyed the marvellous views of the city, all lit up.

Then it was back to our rooms to find space in our already chocka luggage for the new purchases... An early wake up call tomorrow for our long flights home...