Dubai (United Arab Emirates)

Staying in this city was definitely a highlight of our trip to the Middle East. I must admit that I had never expected to see such luxury or amazing architecture! Despite the dreadful heat (and it is probably worse than ever!) we were able to explore. I tried all morning to get a reservation for dinner in the Burj-al-Arab (hotel shaped like a sailboat in the water). In the end, we went over to the Jumeira Beach Hotel and sneaked into the bar on the beach. While we sipped drinks on the beach, we could truly appreciate the magnificance of this city (and admired the Burj-al-Arab right in our view). We looked around some malls later (taxis are a must to avoid heat exhaustion). Saw signs of an indoor water park - probably fun... Found the gold souk area of the city as the sun was going down. Eric and I had dinner at one of the amazing buffet restaurants at the JW (free-flowing beer again...). Spent a nice evening wandering around the hotel and reading some of the Marriott family story (book in hotel room)...