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Showing posts from September, 2022

The Veranda

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  Another apartment showing today. This one had two balconies. The one shown above was more like a large patio on the 17th floor! Guessing it was about 15ft x 20ft in size.  Bigger than the Boothbay porch!  It overlooked a choice part of the Marina with amazing views all around. The stats:  3bdrm, 4bath, 2167sq.ft. Home office, “maid’s room” (more on that bullshit later), 2 parking places (not sure we’ll even get a car). Storage room in the garage - maybe turn that into a speakeasy?  NOTE:  It has come to my attention that some of you may be disheartened if I don’t respond to your comments. I will make an active effort to respond in the future. Two things:  (1)  I am new to this and didn’t think it I was supposed to respond (but will do more so now), (2) please try to post who you are,  There is a place in the beginning of your post that prompts you for your name. Just type it in and continue (otherwise just sign your text).   Hoping to ...

The Apartment Search Continues

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Saw several potential apartments today. This one has a lot of promise — 3bdrm, 1800sq.ft, 30th floor, massive balcony overlooking the Marina, 3 blocks from the beach. Floor to ceiling windows everywhere. Great gym and pool!

Water Aerobics

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No, we sat and watched, drinking our $15 beers, Ha Ha!  Quite a nice night though. The temps are moderating slightly. Another apartment showing today and my first Dubai haircut.  

Apartment Hunting

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  Our first day of apartment hunting. This will be for the next 2yrs. Only one showing today but a totally awesome one. A bit too small at 2beds/1100sq.ft. We are shooting for a  3bdrm in the hopes people will visit us  However, it had an incredible view of the Marina and Marina Walk (which is 7km long!). 

The Twizzler

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    Today we were near the Cayman Tower, or Infinity Tower, or as I have named it, “The Twizzler” building. It stands 75 stories and 1004ft high, comprised of hotel and condos. Each floor is 1.2 degrees off from the last, making the top floor “twisted” 90 degrees from the base. It was formerly the tallest highrise in the world, surpassed recently by something in Shanghai.  . . . . But we’re in Dubai so who cares about that other building!

Train Station

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  Not an overly exciting day but I did go to my first chiropractor appointment (and he was from Alabama - yahoo! A fellow American). Been learning the train system as well. This is a pic of the station nearest our hotel. Quite clean and efficient. It’s a very linear city along the coast so it can take a while to go from one end to the other. Everything is air conditioned - trains, stations, walkways (some of which snake around for a quarter mile or more). The architecture here is pretty cool. The photo below is of what I’ve been calling the Twizzler building. More to report on that later as I find out what I am talking about. 

Ski Dubai

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Checked out the Mall of the Emirates today (they sure do love their malls here!). This is the famous indoor ski area. I didn’t take the top photo.  The others were the best I could do without actually being on the slope. We’ll follow up on this in the weeks ahead.  The bottom photo is an ice slide, kind of like a luge. This is all under roof. Outdoor temp was 103F!  

Pool Time

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  Finally had a relaxing weekend. Spent our afternoons at the hotel pool. We had a great dinner at the home of Julie’s coworker Saturday. Great company and some awesome Turkish food!  (Below are a couple of additional views from the pool)

1/2 Mile

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  Great action packed evening out last night to celebrate Julie’s birthday.  Uber to the Dubai Mall (largest in the world). Dinner at our now favorite Lebanese restaurant Abd Al Wahab, where they sang happy birthday over a candlelit pistachio pudding. Then a twilight abra ride around the man made lake under the Burj Khalifa. The abra are small covered boats that long ago served as water taxis crossing the Dubai River. Our boat ride culminated in a front row seat, from the water, to watch the light show at the Dubai Fountain (tallest fountain in the world). Then, off to the highlight of our night - champagne at the 154th floor of the Burj Khalifa, literally 1/2 mile in the air.  The tallest building on earth, this is the highest accessible floor to the public. The last photo shown here is a view of the fountain looking down from the top of the building. The little lighted dots are the abra boats. 

Happy Birthday, Julie!

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Happy Birthday to my fellow world explorer . . . The other Traveling Jones!  More adventures await later today. Stay tuned  

Thoughts - 2wks in

This has been quite an experience.  Our air freight shipment arrived today.  Lots of extra clothing and a guitar I still can’t play. This place is not exactly what we expected - Feels like a cross between Miami and Chicago.  Electricity was introduced in 1961 - hard to wrap your head around that when this is now a major metropolitan city of the world   The good:  It’s all new.  The bad:  It’s all new (no history).  I’ve never seen urban real estate construction on this level/pace anywhere. The heat is the biggest setback - it was 107 degrees today.  Incredible architecture everywhere but you can’t be outside for very long. I’m told that all this changes in a few weeks. Really want to hike around but that may have to wait a bit.  Testing the waters with a car rental this weekend — oh yeah, FYI not everyone drives a Lamborghini!  Going for the Audi or the plebian Mustang GT (here you go, Dick Lemay, if you are reading this! Ha Ha!). M...

Laundry Day

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Well, it can’t all be exciting. Big laundry day today at the InterContinental. This little gem is both a washer and a dryer (sneaker placement for size perspective). It is capable of washing 3 pair of underwear at one time. I’m sure it’s energy efficient but maybe not so much after the 12th load!  The dryer part works a little, but we have to hang things on the balcony afterward. 105 degree heat can be your friend!  

Shisha

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Met Julie and her team tonight for a late dinner at Al Shorfa, a shisha lounge near our hotel. Shisha is like a hookah through which you smoke flavored tobacco, a water pipe with a long hose. The dry ice around our fruit dessert topped off the evening.   

Linner at Cinque

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Took an Uber over to the Palm Jumeirah (that artificial sandbar palm tree protruding off the coast). Went to The Five, a pretty high end hotel with a great Italian restaurant called Cinque (clever name!). I started with a delectable octopus app and had crab spaghetti as my entrée, all overlooking a Miami-ish pool party

The Frame

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  This afternoon, we went to “The Frame,” a 492ft structure reminiscent of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. It opened in 2018 and frames the skyline of old Dubai in one direction and new Dubai in the other.  It comes complete with a glass floor at the top observation deck. Julie’s feet are pictured here (clearly mine were not!)

Lamb Rump

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  Tonight’s dinner:  Lamb rump, Onion stuffed with ground lamb, and a Nasturtium leaf paste. The best rump I’ve ever had! Started with foie gras and minced duck leg and finished with a microscopic Whoopie pie.