Feeling rather guilty so am now sitting in the club lounge blogging. Apologies but this post is probably going to be quite long as I would hate to leave anything out.
We arrived early on Friday morning. (Refer my post from a few days ago). Our room was not yet ready so we sat in the lounge for awhile. My son and his girlfriend arrived not long after and we went to have some breakfast. While eating, reception called to say they had a room available for us.
We went up to the room and it is enormous. We also have a beautiful view from our window as we are right on the end of the floor.
After a quick shower, we decided to go to the Dubai Mall for some shopping. Dubai Mall is the biggest shopping centre in the world and is situated at the foot of the tallest building of the world – The Burj Khalifa. In case you hadn’t noticed – Dubai does nothing is small doses.
The only shops on my list were the Harley Shop, The Virgin store and Victoria’ Secret of course. So as we walked in, we spotted Victoria’s Secret.
So Hubby and my son went for a walk while my future daughter in law and I went drooling in Victoria’s Secret. We ended up in the the dressing room trying loads of saucy under things on and of course I walked out a little poorer. Found the dressing room a little ostentatious – something you would find in a bordello rather than a shopping mall (not that I know what a bordello looks like of course)
We then walked over to the other side of the mall to see the Harley Shop – yeah, was not too impressed. We definitely have a better selection in South Africa. So by then it was time to think about something to eat. My son has been dying to try out the Cheesecake Factory so we found ourselves there for lunch. Was not overly impressed with the food. Found the menu selection to be far too big and so hard to choose something from. Quite honestly they would be better off selecting 20 or 30 signature dishes and sticking with it, than the huge menu they currently have. We were too full after our meal to actually have some cheesecake but I did have an awesome milkshake.
Yummy! I also love the cherries which no one else seems to like.
We then headed back to the other side of the mall again near where we parked and I had my dose of looking and drooling over gadgets. Didn’t find anything that new and exciting to buy though. Looked at the new “I’m Watch” and considered buying one for Son no 3 back home but in the end didn’t think it would be that great a gift. No one wears watches anymore and I think looking at your messages and emails on a watch is just naff. Hey, maybe it will be the greatest thing in the future, I’m just not into in at the moment.
We then headed to the bookstore (biggest one I’ve ever seen) so see if they had a new book Son no 4 wanted – they had received it but it was not on their inventory yet and as it was a Friday, there was no one to add it and they would call us in the next few days when they had added it.
We then left the mall and went to see my sons apartment over in Sports City. Apartment was lovely. They have 2 gorgeous cats who decided to friend us quiet easily (we are privileged). The ginger cat is Bonsai and the other is Gypsy. I have a few more cute pics of the cats and I know how everyone just loves pussy pics so I thought I would keep these for later and show them as a separate post.
By this time Hubby and I were getting a little tired, so my son took us for a quick trip around Sports City and then dropped us at the hotel. We opted for room service and an early night – in bed asleep by 8.
I woke with a fright at around 8am on Saturday – wow – 12 hours sleep. Can’t remember when last I slept for 12 hours. It must be years and years. About 5 minutes later my son messaged to say they were on their way to join us for breakfast.
After breakfast we decided to spend some time at the pool. It was awesome out at the pool.
It was great just doing nothing and not having to worry about work or kids or anything else. My future daughter in law and I spent hours making bitchy comments about others at the pool (yes we are typical women!). The pool also overlooks the Dubai Marina and there was huge yacht parked in front of us – it was just gorgeous – wonder what it will take to be invited aboard that!
The one thing I wanted to do on this trip was to go skydiving – in tandem as I have not done this before (Another personal challenge of mine). Unfortunately we did not pre-book so we were not able to make it happen on this trip. Skydive Dubai is right next to the hotel so we also sat at the pool watching loads of parachutes in the sky. There are about 10 in the sky in this pic – not sure if you can see any of them though as the pic was taken with my phone.
We then went for lunch with Hubby’s brother and family. It is always nice to see family and catch up on life. They have lived in Dubai for around 21 years now. Their daughter has grown up into a beautiful young lady and has just started college in Dubai.
We then received a call from the bookstore to say the book was now on their inventory and they had kept one aside for us – Son no 4 will be pleased. So we went back to the Dubai Mall to buy the book. Spent another hour or 2 there browsing and having coffee.
By then Hubby and I had had enough for the day and we headed back to the hotel. Room service again and Hubby had an early night while I read and communicated with the big outside world.
Again had an amazing nights sleep. Woke up at around 7am. We went for breakfast in the club lounge as we did not have guests with. Just as we finished breakfast, my son called to say he had arrived in reception. We went upstairs and I donned my going out face and we went to the Mall of the Emirates. One of my favorite shopping centres in Dubai.
Browsed the Virgin store and a few others. Decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory to actually have some cheesecake this time. It was okay – not the best I’ve had. After some more shopping, we went for a quick lunch at Chilli’s and then back to the room for an afternoon nap (It’s bad when you get old and have to have an afternoon nap as you are planning a night out!).
Tonight we are having Chinese at the fast food court at the Ibn Battuta mall and then going to see a film.
Not sure yet what we are doing tomorrow.
Hope I didn’t bore you all to death. More to come tomorrow.
