Dubai

First off, mad props to United for upgrading the seats in their 767s. My flight between Washington and London was the most kick-ass flight ever. Each seat in business class not only fully reclined into a relatively comfortable bed, but everyone had their own personal entertainment center with about 30 movies to choose from, several TV shows, video games, and a juke box program. I'm a nerd, so I watched a documentary on Darfur. Then I ate. Then I watched an episode of 30-Rock. Then I slept (for 4 whole hours!!). Then I listened to a little music. The Emirates Air flight between London and Dubai was nice in terms of service and also had little entertainment centers (I chose to watch "Juno"), but the seats weren't the awesome lie-flat kind. That was somewhat mitigated in my mind by the adorable hats the flight attendants wore. I love adorable hats. Years ago, my desire to join the Navy was somewhat influenced by the cute hats I could have worn. During the descent into Dubai, out the window I could see "The World" and Palm Jumeriah Island, which is the smallest of what will eventually be three "palms". I didn't take any pictures, since it was dusk and really hazy.

Construction in Dubai is going on like crazy. I've never seen so many cranes in one place in my life! You'd drive down the freeway, and there were literally dozens of skyscrapers, all next to each other, under construction. One hopes that the contractors' quality control is keeping up with the pace! The Burj Dubai is currently under construction but is already the world's tallest structure.

I was really intrigued by the way Emiratis dress. Normally, I think the concept of requiring women to cover themselves as backwards and misogynistic, but I realized in Dubai that Emirati men are every bit as covered up. More, really. The black robes Emirati women wore were in many cases fairly fitted through the arms. They actually appeared to be lighter in weight than what the men wore, which were basically floor-length heavy white men's dress shirts. Both sexes had their heads covered at all times. Some women had rhinestones on their robes, and there was certainly no rule against nail polish or makeup. Honestly, the women looked pretty elegant and mysterious. Of course, we did see some women in the full-face niqabs, but we also saw girls dressed like good old eastern European hootchies too. Dubai was kinda "Arab Lite".

Unfortunately, we were only in Dubai for 3 days, so didn't do much touristy stuff at all. The night after we arrived, three of us went to dinner at a Moroccan restaurant near the Burj al Arab (where I took this picture). One lady and I had originally planned to go to a bar that night, but jet lag had caught up with us, so we only did dinner. Incidently, we didn't eat any Emirati food while there. It's apparently not very good, and you really don't find "Emirati food" restaurants. The second night in town, someone from work had us over for dinner. The third night, one other lady and I took a cab to a mall where we heard we could get custom jewelry with our names written in Arabic. I made the cab driver's day by accidentally tipping him 100% of the fare. Actually, I gave him more than 100% of the 50 Dirham fare, because I handed him 102 Dirhams. For some reason I thought I had handed him a 50 note. I'm not sure where 40 of my IQ points went at that moment, but there you go. I did get the necklace, though. Actually, I ordered it, and someone at our office there is going to mail it to me when it comes in. Hopefully it will say "Stephanie" and not "Ho-bag", because really I wouldn't know the difference. We took another cab ride back to the hotel, and I had enough time to order room service, shower, pack, and then it was off to the airport for my 1:00AM flight. So, I guess I would have liked a few more days in my luxurious hotel suite, but that's the problem with work trips--you're there to do work.

The next morning I arrived in Paris for my rest stop. I was proud of myself for speaking only in French the whole time. Even when I became somewhat lost trying to get back to my hotel (the street wasn't on my tourist map), I asked for and received directions in French. I didn't feel like doing a whole lot, but I had a nice little lunch/chocolat chaud at Angelina (Where I asked the waitress for "the advertisement", instead of the bill...oops. That's what I get for trying to be fancy and say "I am ready for the bill" instead of "I would like the bill"). I bought a book (L'Espionne, about Virginia Hall), had a nice little walk through the Jardins Tuileries, and then had an even nicer nap back at my hotel. Later I had a Kir at a little pub, did a little browsing through Printemps, then had dinner at a fancy (and friendly) restaurant near my hotel. The wait staff were really nice about giving me the chance to practice my French. One waitress asked if I was Canadian. Which I guess means my French is now good enough that I pass for Canadian! Which is good, since technically I am.