Dubai

Happy Diwali! Paul and I decided to escape the loud hubbub of Diwali festivities and have a long weekend in Dubai. I was not crazy about the idea of having a trip to Dubai. Dubai always seemed to me to be a pretentious city lacking in culture and history. However, the Paul-the-Engineer found it necessary to check out the marvel of creating a modern city in the middle of the desert. I have to admit upon arriving in Dubai I immediately fell in love with the city. We found it to be very similar to taking a weekend trip to New York City. We had a great time and returned to India well rested.

We stayed at the Emirates Towers in the heart of the business district. Below you will see Anna and I unwinding on our lush bed before someone heads off to the land of nod. We learned on this trip that someone named Anna really enjoys fluffy beds with lots of pillows and duvets to roll around on.

The following morning we awoke with a Starbucks in hand and the Khaleej Times. Anna decided to read the paper and learned that Tom Cruise was in Dubai shooting his next Mission Impossible film. No Tom sitings . . . but yes, we did keep an eye out for him.

Reading the paper is hard work, so Anna took a nap before we headed to The Dubai Mall for a day of shopping.

At first glance, The Dubai Mall is a copy of Somerset at home in Detroit . . . but after wandering around for a few hours I finally had to ask Paul how many stores were inside this massive building. I learned The Dubai Mall is home to over 1200 stores and a ice rink. We walked around all day and hardly made a dent in covering the square footage. Crazy as it seems they even have a Garrett's Popcorn Shop from Chicago, baby stores with every baby product imaginable, and a book store that puts Borders to shame. Needless to say, we had fun Christmas shopping for Anna. Here Anna in her BabyHawk and I are at the entrance.

For lunch, we dined at Al Hallab for some lovely Lebanese food. We had the best hommous and baba ganoush experience. We finished our meal with some lovely baklava and decided the honey must be entirely different as we usually hate the super sweet dessert and loved it here in the UAE. Anna flirted with all the waiters that were quite taken with her captivating blue eyes.

At the end of the day, we stopped by Madeleine's for a coffee on the outdoor terrace. We enjoyed a lovely cool breeze and admired the Burj Khalifa as it sparkled in the distance. Here is Anna near the world's tallest building. We attempted to go to the observation deck, but the tickets kept selling out. However, we did admire it in the distance.

The following day we went to Jumeirah to go to the Emirates pool as well as the beach. Enjoying a nice lunch in the desert sun, Anna decided she wanted to try a little taste of my lunch. Here she is enjoying some mashed peas. She was surprisingly a big fan of the green vegetable.

Now, off to the pool. Here we are swimming in the afternoon sun.

It's a bird, no, it's a plane, no, it's Anna!

Back to our hotel at after our beach sunset, Anna even got a chocolate on her pillow. ;-)

After a bath in the big bathtub, and a long day in the sun, this little bird is ready for bed . . .

The next day we went shopping some more and had a lovely dinner at another Lebanese restaurant called Al Noorfah. Paul decided to tempt fate and try kibbeh again. For those of you who do not know, kibbeh is a raw lamb mince with pine nuts and other spices. One of my favorites, I convinced him to try it about six years ago in Dearborn and he got sick from it. Since we were in the Middle East, we decided what better place to try it than here. We had it and it was lovely. Most importantly, both of us survived the night...I suppose India has strengthened our stomachs a bit.

Our last day in Dubai, we decided to wander around a bit more and found a Magnolia Bakery. I found it hilarious that though I have not been to this famous and celebrated bakery in New York, I actually got to visit it in Dubai. Attired in my Indian dress, mid-length kurta and harem pants, I ordered a very American slice of pumpkin spice cake and Paul had a pumpkin cheesecake. Just as good as home and some of the best cake we have ever had! As you can see from my giant piece below, I could not even begin to finish it though the coffee from Caribou helped wash it down. ;-)
The three Behrens' had a great holiday in Dubai! Paul is quite lucky he did not take me there 2.5 years ago when we arrived in Pune or he would have had to take me there several more times during our tenure in India. Complete relaxation we experienced while in a very modern city that felt like home. Paul and I had not realized how much we missed walking around in a heterogeneous environment until we arrived in Dubai. People of all sorts of color coming from all sorts of countries compose the landscape of this thriving desert city.