Dubai, United Arab Emirates, April 3, 2023

Today we have set ourselves only two goals: The area around the 'Burj Khalifa' with the Dubai Mall and 'The Frame'. For this, we took the shuttle bus from the ship to the Emirates Mall (yes, there is no shortage of malls in Singapore, Abu Dhabi or Dubai either). We only wanted to go there because it was the easiest way to get to a metro station. In addition to a bus network, Dubai has two long metro lines, a monorail, and a tram. We could simply buy a multi-ride ticket and go to Burj Khalifa.

The Burj Khalifa is currently the tallest building in the world at around 830m. Adjacent to it is the Dubai Mall, which is even more upscale than the Emirates Mall and has a waterfall, a ski slope, an aquarium, etc. The aquarium is of course one of the largest, longest, and highest. Since money is no object, everything is immaculate and perfect. After the visit, we looked for a nice café as usual and enjoyed good coffee and sweets. By now we have heard that another couple has bought skis and gone skiing.

We only looked at the Burj Khalifa from the outside. We have already been to some tall buildings and the observation deck at the Petronas Towers was similarly high, and in Dubai, we also went to the Burj Al Arab and The Frame.

The Frame was our next destination. A few metro stations away, followed by a short walk, we reached The Frame. The building looks like a picture frame and is located in a beautiful park. It is a funny object, without any actual function. However, it is very beautiful in terms of proportions and design. A glass elevator runs up the crossbars in both frame legs. Both from the windows and from the glass floor, there is an excellent view of Dubai. Maria studied the building intensively from the ground.

Afterwards, we returned because we had a celebration for the 100th anniversary of the Cunard World Cruise at the Atlantis Palm Hotel (on a palm island) in the evening. We had to skip the visit to the Museum of The Future because the earliest available visit was in three weeks.

After the very nice celebration, we returned to the ship and at some point after midnight, we set sail. Now there are two sea days (through pirate area) to Salalah in Oman. Salalah is located near the border with Yemen and we have booked a long tour to historical sites and natural objects there over the internet.