It's my birthday and I can go to the beach, ride an abra, and dine in the tallest building in the world if I want to

Well this post is a bit late, but mainly because our internet is awful!  So here is how I spent my birthday abroad:

Birthday Breakfast

First Ben made a delicious breakfast of a variety of cheeses, fruits, and freshly baked bread.  We had brie, goat, feta, and cream cheese.  We also had strawberries, raspberries, grapes, and apple slices.  Since we can't get Champagne (but we did pick up raspberry vodka from the airport duty free) we ended up making breakfast screwdrivers instead of mimosas.  It was delicious!

Enjoying the weather and the view at Umm Sequim Beach

We then headed to Umm Sequim beach.  The weather was perfect!  It was sunny and just a little below 80*.  We also had a great view of Burj Al Arab.  The water was most certainly too cold to get in, but was beautiful to gaze at.

The Arabian restaurant on Dubai Creek

Arabian food

Fruit and ice cream. yum!

We then went to Dubai Creek for lunch.  We went to an Arabian restaurant and order some eggplant dip, bread, and kebabs.  It was very good.  It was nice to sit outside and watch the boats go by on the creek.

Abras on the Dubai Creek

One of many golden window displays

While buying a silk scarf, the guy somehow got Ben into this for a picture!

After that, we road on an abra, which was a crazy experience.  It was chaotic to the point of boats running into each other because they were either in a hurry or trying to be the next in line to seat customers.  We hung out at the gold souk for a while, tried on a couple things but did not buy anything yet.  We also visited a nice silk store.

We are standing close to the very bottom of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world

The Foie Gras

Next we needed to head to the apartment to freshen up and get ready for dinner.  We had reservations at the At.mosphere Lounge in Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.  We drank and ate on the 122nd floor!! They had very interesting cocktails and appetizers.  I had a balsamic strawberry martini and a honey apple with basil martini.  Odd, but tasty.  For an appetizer we decided to be adventurous and get the foie gras.  It was interesting... but I probably won't be ordering that dish again. anywhere.

The fountain from 122 floors up in the sky

Watching the fountain at ground level this time

The next amazing part of my birthday was watching the fountain outside of Burj Khalifa!  We got to watch it from the 122nd floor and then again on the ground right next to it.  It was so beautiful!

second dinner

We went to have drinks and light fare at a restaurant in a building that you can't even get to unless you have a reservation or live there.  We ordered artistic drinks and food.  But yet, we were still hungry afterward.  So what did we do?  We went to the food court at the Mall of the Emirates, which is connected to Burj Khalifa, and we got a BBQ pizza and fries.  Even funnier- our table/order number was 25! 


It was a fabulous birthday though I missed everyone back in the states!