Yesterday at 7:30 am my sister-in-law and her hubby finally arrived after a 7 hour delay. It was a great to see them, it's been 4 months since we last saw them and it's always a real pleasure to have guests over. We woke early and drove to the airport to wait for them. I always love waiting at the airport for people, it aways reminds me of the opening and closing scenes from 'Love Actually' where there are loads of people waiting in the airport for their loved ones and 'All you need is Love' is playing. Everyone is happy and hugging each other as they arrive through the terminal. I love people arriving but I hate to see them go :(
They were a bit tired as they came through the terminal pushing their trolley full of suit cases and carrying the obligatory bags of booze from the duty free. It had been a long night and had not had much sleep, but everyone was happy to see each other and there where hugs all around. When we got home we spent about a few hours sitting on the balcony catching up. They loved the warmth of the morning sun and I was actually enjoying catching some rays for a change.
More belated birthday cards and presents were given to me sent from my best friend of all time with a lovely Pandora link, a scroll with the words best friends written on it. There was a card and gift my step-daughter which for personal reasons was very touching and meant a lot to me, the other two were from my good friends and ex colleagues. It's always nice to have cards from the UK, after 5 years it's great to think we are not forgotten.
I expected them to sleep for a while but they were having none of it. A few hours later we were on our way to the Taste of Dubai in Media City. It was a really nice day, we met our other friends and collected our VIP tickets. It felt like ages since the weather had been really good, no sand storm, just a nice warm breeze (by the end of the day I even had a little bit of a tan).
We walked around the grounds enjoying the sights and smells of the culinary delights coming from some of the finest restaurants in Dubai. Stopping to look at the menus and taking ages to decide which sample to try first. As we were strolling along enjoying the buzz of the event we stopped to talk to a gentleman on one of the stalls.
His company is called Tawilati which is a great website where users can search for their favourite cuisine and book tables on line in restaurants in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The two people was spoke to where very nice and informative showing us how to use the site on his Ipad. Here is a pic of the two men we spoke to.
The most exciting part of the day (for me anyway) was when my sister-in-law and myself had our photograph taken with Gary Rhodes. I felt like a little kid asking if we could have a photograph with him, but he was very kind and said yes, nice guy. I wanted to tell him how much I love his restaurant Rhodes Mezzanine, at the Grosvenor House, it's our favourite most romantic restaurant in Dubai. The rest of the afternoon we ate and drink, listened to the music and enjoyed the sun. When it got dark we moved onto the Sofitel Hotel on the Walk were we enjoyed shisha and a quiet relaxing drink overlooking the infinity pool.
The final leg of the day found us at the Du World Music Festival watching Gabrielle and George Benson. It was a good event and we enjoyed it, but we lack of sleep (especially my poor in-laws) we were all really tired. The atmosphere wasn't as electric as last week during the Duran Duran gig (or maybe that's because we were all in half human/half zombie states by then). However, after coming on stage 30 mins later, Gabrielle was on form and we enjoyed the string of songs she blasted out for about 45 minutes.
When George Benson came on stage (what seemed like hours later) we listened to about the first few songs (all of which I was pleasantly surprised I knew) 'Turn your love around', 'Give me the night', 'Love x Love', 'Nothings gonna change my love for you' and 'Never give up on a good thing'. But eventually we gave up, we'd had enough, we were tired and wanted to go home. So we left the gig before the end. Walked past Dubai Mall, continuing to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere as people of all nationalities sat around the lake, chatting, eating and taking photographs of the surroundings (especially the spectacular Burj Khalifa). Overall, although it was a long, long day, it was also very pleasant and one to remember.
They were a bit tired as they came through the terminal pushing their trolley full of suit cases and carrying the obligatory bags of booze from the duty free. It had been a long night and had not had much sleep, but everyone was happy to see each other and there where hugs all around. When we got home we spent about a few hours sitting on the balcony catching up. They loved the warmth of the morning sun and I was actually enjoying catching some rays for a change.
More belated birthday cards and presents were given to me sent from my best friend of all time with a lovely Pandora link, a scroll with the words best friends written on it. There was a card and gift my step-daughter which for personal reasons was very touching and meant a lot to me, the other two were from my good friends and ex colleagues. It's always nice to have cards from the UK, after 5 years it's great to think we are not forgotten.
I expected them to sleep for a while but they were having none of it. A few hours later we were on our way to the Taste of Dubai in Media City. It was a really nice day, we met our other friends and collected our VIP tickets. It felt like ages since the weather had been really good, no sand storm, just a nice warm breeze (by the end of the day I even had a little bit of a tan).
We walked around the grounds enjoying the sights and smells of the culinary delights coming from some of the finest restaurants in Dubai. Stopping to look at the menus and taking ages to decide which sample to try first. As we were strolling along enjoying the buzz of the event we stopped to talk to a gentleman on one of the stalls.
The most exciting part of the day (for me anyway) was when my sister-in-law and myself had our photograph taken with Gary Rhodes. I felt like a little kid asking if we could have a photograph with him, but he was very kind and said yes, nice guy. I wanted to tell him how much I love his restaurant Rhodes Mezzanine, at the Grosvenor House, it's our favourite most romantic restaurant in Dubai. The rest of the afternoon we ate and drink, listened to the music and enjoyed the sun. When it got dark we moved onto the Sofitel Hotel on the Walk were we enjoyed shisha and a quiet relaxing drink overlooking the infinity pool. The final leg of the day found us at the Du World Music Festival watching Gabrielle and George Benson. It was a good event and we enjoyed it, but we lack of sleep (especially my poor in-laws) we were all really tired. The atmosphere wasn't as electric as last week during the Duran Duran gig (or maybe that's because we were all in half human/half zombie states by then). However, after coming on stage 30 mins later, Gabrielle was on form and we enjoyed the string of songs she blasted out for about 45 minutes.
When George Benson came on stage (what seemed like hours later) we listened to about the first few songs (all of which I was pleasantly surprised I knew) 'Turn your love around', 'Give me the night', 'Love x Love', 'Nothings gonna change my love for you' and 'Never give up on a good thing'. But eventually we gave up, we'd had enough, we were tired and wanted to go home. So we left the gig before the end. Walked past Dubai Mall, continuing to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere as people of all nationalities sat around the lake, chatting, eating and taking photographs of the surroundings (especially the spectacular Burj Khalifa). Overall, although it was a long, long day, it was also very pleasant and one to remember.
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