Random Babble: Dubai

Ok, since I've been harassed by blog stalkers, I'm adding another installment of Dubai. :) I was going to do Day 3 and 4, but Day 3 was such a debacle, it warrants its own post.

Day 3 was something Kristin and I were originally excited about, despite it being a group tour. We were headed to Abu D habi, the capital of the Emirates. Well, our excitement turned to annoyance as we ended up on the worst tour imaginable. To give you an idea:

The tour company was over 30 minutes late to pick our group up from the hotel.
Some genius from the MBA class missed their tour bus by about 5 minutes, and somehow it was decided before Kristin and I got downstairs that our tour would sacrifice our tour time to help him catch up with his class. (Note to you, sad student: if you're in an MBA program, get with it and get your butt downstairs ontime. Clearly nobody else thinks you're all that and a bag of chips or they wouldn't have left without your sorry butt.)
After the tour company finally arrived, we then had a major detour to go and pick up some not so friendly Italian tourists. (However, later in the tour, these Italian tourists were friends of mine, Kristin's and Al's. Probably because we didn't annoy the crap out of them like other tour attendees.)
The trip to Abu Dhabi was 2 hours in a minibus. With air conditioning that didn't work for crap. That rocked. Especially when listening to one of the tour attendees drone on and on about things like his Rogaine and every random fact he'd ever read and sorely misinterpreted.
Our first stop was on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, at a random park-like place with a fountain with dolphin statues. The drivers were very excited about this and thought we all should be as well. Um, no.
We then drove on to the Emirates Palace, which was incorrectly billed as an actual palace. Nope, it's a hotel. And, we couldn't even get on the grounds because the groundskeeper thought we had too many people. So we took pics outside the fence. This would make sense if it were, oh, A REAL PALACE, but it's a HOTEL, and he was letting car after car in.
I think after that, or before it, can't remember, we did stop at a nice park on the side of the road and took pictures in front of the water with Lulu Island in the background. It was gorgeous.
Next, we drove on to see the Presidential Palace, the actual residence of a ruler. Well, couldn't see anything there but the gate and you're not allowed to take pictures of any government buildings in Dubai. However, this was not clear to us, and Kristin managed to snap a picture right as the guards were waving their arms and shouting not to take pictures. Nice timing. :)
With that viewing also thwarted, we headed off to the Heritage Village. This held promise, because at least it seemed as though we'd see something historical. As we pulled up, the tour guides told us we had 15 minutes to view the entire center before we headed off on our next stop. Sweet. We saw some very scary old ladies making some crafts in one area (seriously, it was like something out of Macbeth) and used the restroom. Awesome.
Then, we headed on to another exciting location: the mall. Yep, the mall. This is where we were expected to eat lunch. Not some nice local restaurant, but the food court at the mall. By now the Italians were fed up and were throwing a fit and calling the tour company. Resisting Sbarro and Burger King, we found a little Indian place that at least made for somewhat of an ethnic lunch.
After the excitement of the mall, it was time to head back to Dubai, but not before our brilliant tour guides took us to the docks to see if we wanted to buy any plastic goods such as laundry baskets and trash cans. All set, thanks. However, the tour guides were smart enough to stop at a mosque they were building just outside of Abu Dhabi. It is the 3rd largest in the world, and the largest in the Emirates. It was gorgeous. We were only allowed outside (see a theme here?), but that was amazing enough.

That evening, we headed to the Mall of the Emirates to have dinner and see the indoor skiing. We had dinner at a Lebanese restaurant overlooking the ski slope, which ended up being a pretty good meal.

Here are a few pics:

At the park with the Dolphins