Afternoon Tea and Global Village

Friday was a holy day here so everything was closed at least until 2:00 p.m., including the metro. We discussed how neat it would be to see the Burj Al Arab. This is touted as the most luxurious and only 7-star hotel in the world. It is also the tallest all-suite hotel in the world (321 metres high). It is designed in the shape of a billowing sail. The hotel is set on a man-made island in the Arabian Sea and connected to the mainland by a private curved bridge. However, joe public can't just go there to tour it or even see it. The only way tourists can view this hotel is to make a reservation in one of their ten restaurants. By the way, the seafood restaurant is completely under water! We made a phone call and checked the prices, which were phenomenal and we decided this was not for us. However, on the other hand, it would be a shame to go to Dubai on a holiday and not see Burj Al Arab. We learned that Afternoon Tea at Sahn Eddar (one of the restaurants) is the best way to introduce guests from abroad to Burj Al Arab. However, this too, is unbelieveably expensive. When I phoned to inquire about the Tea and asked the price, my thought was "what? ... for crumpet and tea? ... you've got to be kidding!" We decided to bite the bullet and just do it. When I phoned to make the reservation for 3:00 o'clock (for 3:00-5:00 sitting), I was reminded that there was a dress code which for this particular restaurant was smart casual. Men had to have a shirt with a collar, long pants (no jeans), and no sandals or runners, but closed-in shoes. Fortunately, Ralph was able to meet the criteria, imagine that! And I was also reminded on the phone that if you were a no show, your visa account would be charged so much a person and that they would only hold the reservation for 30 minutes after your sitting time. Well, this turned out to be very stressful. We got ready and headed to the metro station, forgetting that it (metro) doesn't open till 2:00 on Friday. We were cutting it really short and besides, we needed to top up our NOI cards (metro cards) which was going to take more time. Also, the people waiting to get in the doors were many and we wondered if we'd even make it onto the train. We pushed and shoved our way in and it was packed like sardines. We got off at the Mall of the Emirates, had to walk what seemed like miles in order to find our way to the front entrance of the mall where all the taxis are parked. From there we took a taxi to Burj Al Arab and we were late. In order for the taxi to proceed onto the private bridge, we had to produce the email confirming that we had a reservation in one of the restaurants. This place is absolutely unbelieveable! Honest, when I stepped out of the car I felt like I had arrived at the Oscars and was stepping onto the red carpet (ha).

We hurried to the Sahn Eddar restaurant and from that moment on, it was one awesome experience. A waiter greeted us and informed us that our Afternoon Tea was seven courses! That was a surprise. Firstly, we were served a glass of champagne. Then we were handed menus with coffees on one side and teas on the other side and we had to make a selection. The first course was an array of fancy sandwiches (cucumber, cheese, smoked salmon, egg, roast beef and lots of fancy hors d'oeuvres containing prawns, shrimp, forget at the moment, all done up in fancy pastries. The second course was smoked salmon, baked with a pastry around it and had a pureed pumpkin sauce on the side. The third course was strawberry sorbet with a fresh rose petal on the bottom of the dish (we didn't eat the rose petal, ha). The fourth course was six scones (three plain/three raisin) with clotted cream (butter?) and a selection of jams. The fifth course was fresh fruit served on a bed of whipped cream - strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and another berry that we didn't recognize. The sixth course was a selection of English fruit cake, marble cake, carrot cake, pudding tart, hazelnut fingers and lemon fingers. The seventh course was last but not least - everything from strawberries dipped in white chocolate to miniature cream puffs to cocoanut balls plus a multitude of square-like sweets. All the while a Russian ensemble was playing live music. When I said to Ralph, "I'll bet the bathrooms are beautiful.", he said "yeah, I'll bet there'll be somebody in there to wipe your bum." Ha, ha. And ... almost, ha. This whole exercise took exactly two hours, after which we spent some time taking pictures inside and outside. A young man who appeared to be part of the maintenance staff was kind enough take us down to see the seafood restaurant which is completely under water. And we took the all-glass elevator up to the top but then it is roped off on every floor as only hotel guests are allowed on the floors. For me personally, this was definitely a highlight of our trip.

We walked across the bridge and caught one of the many taxis waiting there, and went back to the Mall of the Emirates. From there we were now going to catch a bus and go to Global Village. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out the bus schedules so we took a taxi, it's far. Global Village happens every year, started Thursday and goes on for a month. It's situated far outside of the city and is like a big exposition where 70 countries from around the world have pavillions and serve their national food, and sell their national goods, and offer their national entertainment, etc. It's like a big fair really. There were thousands upon thousands of people there, and of course all the rides, etc. We visited many of the pavillions but by 10:00 p.m. we still hadn't found the Canada pavillion and we were so pooped that we decided it was time to go back to Deira. There were literally hundreds of taxis (not kidding) all lined up in a parking lot and so we took a taxi to Mall of the Emirates. However, this guy hoodwinked us. It cost more than twice as much to go back to the mall from Global Village than it did to go from the mall to Global Village. Hubby wasn't happy as he knew taxi driver was taking a long-about route (thinking probably that us old farts didn't know where we were going); however, Ralph didn't say anything, and he got no tip. We took the metro back to Union Station and were at our hotel in less than five minutes.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable day.