9/24- a representative met us at the airport and whisked us through passport control and customs. What a time saver. We reserved one of the Emirates limos to take us to our hotel. They offer that service for free if you fly in business or first class. We got to the hotel at 6:30 am and were prepared for the worst. Check in time is usually 3:00 pm and if you're lucky and a room is ready you might be able to check in around noon. With only a couple hours of sleep on an airplane, feeling exhausted and nothing even open until 9:00 am we weren't sure what we were going to do. Luck was on our side and they actually checked us right into our room. We were SO happy! We went right to sleep. After a few hours we got up, showered and set out on the town. We were pretty hungry and it was lunch time so we walked to the Dubai Mall which is right next door. It is the largest mall in the world. It's crazy how big it is and that it has all of the same stores and restaurants we have in our malls at home in addition to many others. There is a skating rink, movie theater, and aquarium also. After lunch we walked around it for awhile and thought we would never find our way out. Our room overlooks the Dubai fountains which are similar to the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas with the lights and music only bigger. We also have a view of the worlds tallest building from our room. The weather here is a lot like Phoenix except they have a little more humidity. We made plans and reservations for several things we want to do in the next couple days and then decided that was about all we had energy for today. We had dinner at the hotel, a great Argentinian steakhouse. This city is so diverse. It's very refreshing to see all of the different cultures and religions all co-mingling without any problems. It's been a long day. I'm looking forward to sleeping in a bed tonight.
9/25- after breakfast we went to the Dubai marina where we went on a 90 minute boat ride and saw the residential area around the marina which consists of probably 100 high rise condo/apartment buildings, then to the Palm which is the man made island shaped like a palm tree where there are all 5 star hotels and houses owned by celebrities including Eddie Murphy, David Beckham, and Bill Clinton among many others, then to the Burj al Arab which is the only 8 star hotel in the world. We learned a lot about Dubai and all of the things here that are the biggest, tallest, most expensive, etc in the world. We saw the King of Dubai's private yacht. Before we knew what it was Larry said, "look, there's a cruise ship". That's how big this boat was. There is so much construction going on I can't even imagine what this place is going to look like in about 5 years. By the time we finished and got back to the hotel at about noon we had to take showers again because it was so hot we were drenched. We went to the Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building, for high tea. We had a table at the window and it was crazy how high up we were. We were on the 123rd floor but the building actually has more than 160 stories. We spent about two hours there as we drank champagne and ate some wonderful food. We decided that was enough activity for the day and came back to the hotel and then ate dinner at the Thai restaurant that overlooks the fountains.
9/26- we had a leisurely morning. After breakfast we walked around the mall for a couple hours. It's too hot to walk outside so the mall was perfect for some exercise. We had lunch at the Burj al Arab. The only way to see the inside of this building if you aren't staying at the hotel is to have a reservation at one of the restaurants. The restaurant is on the top floor, #26, and looks out over the water, the Palm islands and the World islands. We got back to the hotel around 3:00 and by 4:00 decided we should try to take a nap since we have to stay up until 2:45 am when our plane takes off. Ugh! I'm already dreading it. My nap fell short and I only slept for 15 minutes. We wandered back towards the mall to find a place for dinner and shocked to see the number of people there. It was as if a huge event had just let out, there were thousands of people coming out of the mall into the plaza. Once we got in the mall we realized there were just as many people inside. It was crazy. I guess it's where everyone goes because it's so hot outside. I really have never seen so many people in one area like this. It was quite an experience. When we got back to the room we packed, took showers and then left for the airport at 11:45 pm. There was so much traffic. This is a really late town.