Hello from downtown Dubai. We had originally planned to go to Abu Dhabi for a few days, but logistics didn’t work out, so instead we went to an airbnb to the downtown area near to the Burj Park and the Burj Kahlifa, the tallest building in the world. This structure reminded me of The Bean in Chicago.
(I am still catching up with posts - we are currently in the States)
The really cool view from our airbnb was the Burj Khalifi. Every night a display is created from a network of fiber optics that signal the LEDs to display a pattern of colors with millions of lights to create billions of combinations. We enjoyed the show from our balcony every night.
Another example of the light show.
The Burj Kahlifa is Skyscraper in the United Arab Emirates in Dubai. It is the world’s tallest structure. My grandson, Ben, enjoys math and converting measurements, so I will say that the height is 829.8 m and let him do the conversion. We had planned to go up and view the Burj Kahlifa, but the price was quite hight, $140 each to get to the lowest high level. I had a great debate with the Barb in my head comparing the cost (equal to at least 2 nights in a hotel with the fact that it IS the tallest structure in the world. The cheap Barb won so we did not go up, but we walked around and checked out the lobby.
We enjoyed exploring the area around the Burj Khalifa known as Burj Park. The area is surrounded by beautiful clear pools. This section was designed with giant lily pads.
The old town Dubai is surrounded by a new old town which has expensive apartments designed to look similar to old town. Old town has old gold and spice souks (markets).
We saw many Arab men with several women. I am speculating that these were multiple wives.
During our visit they had military equipment on display in the courtyard. You could get your picture taken, but we opted out.
This sculpture is a three finger gesture which outlines three letters: W for wing, V for victory, and L for love. Dubai royalty uses the statue to remind that “quality is not merely an end, it is a way of life” which is inscribed on the base. Two other quotes were “in the race for excellence there is no finish line”, and “be modest in victory and resolute in defeat”.
This dandelion structure was made of stainless steel and is softly lighted at night capturing the reflections of 10,000 dandelion seeds.
The structures in downtown Dubai are impressive. This was our airbnb and was very reasonably priced. We liked walking by the man-made canal lined with unique and majestic skyscrapers.
Just one of the examples of unique architecture surrounding the Dubai canal. This building is actually tilted.
Dubai is apparently strongly continuing its growth. Everywhere we traveled in Dubai, we viewed construction. You can see in this picture the construction behind Jack. We were gone when we heard about the floods, but from what we observed of the city maintenance in Dubai, we would assume that it was rapidly repaired. The infrastructure throughout is very good and kept very clean.
The square by Burj Khalifa is a busy place with good food and shopping. People also get together to watch the light show. Good night from Dubai.
That's 2722, 2717, 2716 feet...