Imagine our delight to see the iconic hotel with its unmistakable spinnaker sail in full billow from our hotel windows when we first arrived.
Imagine our double delight to be invited on a tour of the exclusive property, a seven star hotel (albeit self-proclaimed), built on its own tiny island, that can only be accessed by a causeway, with a confirmed reservation.
Were we running with the fancy crowd or what!
The truth...? I confess that we had no reservation for this $2,000 to $28,000 a night hotel, but a gracious someone with connections offered to take us on a tour. Oh happy day!
"Have your family dress smartly", was a suggestion from our host, said not once but twice to Wayne.
I relayed the instructions, "Give your good shoes a wipe, boys, and make sure your dress pants aren't too wrinkled."
"Ummm, Mom...we only packed runners and beach sandals...and jeans".
Ooohhh the pain!
"Ok, let me think...no time to shop for spiffy clothes...so how about if you walk closely behind me, I'll hold my long skirt out wide in front of us and maybe no one will notice", as we stepped headlong into a remix of the British comedy television show, "Keeping Up Appearances".
And what was the gracious host wearing? Jeans and a polo shirt!
At ease, boys, at ease...
The Burj Al Arab is a very, very tall structure at 321 metres, holding its own among the tallest in the world by any reckoning. It caused the Guiness World Record people to have to make yet another trip to Dubai when it was completed as the world's tallest hotel.
Now it is the third tallest, joined since by another Dubai hotel that takes first place and another in North Korea but it still holds the record for the world's tallest atrium at 180 metres or 600 feet. That's a lot of atrium.
Look up!
Look way, way up at teflon coated fabric.
Somewhere up there on the outside is a cantilevered helipad. If you don't want to use the helipad, you can take one of the dozen Silver Cloud Rolls Royce limos to and from the airport.
Each suite is two stories high. Our friend and his wife stayed one night in a $4,000 suite. They each had a butler in topcoat and tails, and gloves.
Some people say the interior decor is outrageous. It's certainly very colourful for eyes that are lately comfortable with understated...but with turquoise being named the colour of the year for 2010 by Pantone, I think it'll fare fine for the near future.
Love the four story fountain. The scale is so misleading in the photo, that I'll bet you can't even see the two story aquarium in the left corner below. There's a matching two story aquarium on the other side.
There sure is a lot of gold leaf and gold plating though...
No matter what colour Pantone delares the colour of the year next year, it'll be here!
