Day two in Dubai - Morning Report...

Today was THE BIG DAY but with the wedding ceremony not until 5.00pm this evening we had the morning at leisure and so we emerged from our slumbers and took breakfast in our appartment which is about four times the size of our little house in Droushia.  Mum had decided she would go down to the pool and enjoy a swim and a bit of early morning sunshine.  Dad was catching up on world events happy that I had been able to find BBC World News on the TV system and I wanted to go for a bit of a walk to see what was on our doorstep so that I could do something with Mum and Dad tomorrow if they wanted to see a bit more of Dubai.

I took a walk from level B1 which took me out onto the Marina level and walked in the opposite direction to the way I had walked yesterday - I wanted to try and find the beach - Jumeirah beach to be exact.  There are miles of perfectly manicured walkways which take you all along the edge of the marina where, for as far as the eye can see, you are surrounded by magnificent skyscrapers all standing shoulder to shoulder.  The boats in the marina were incredible and I was amazed to stop at a local Carrefour to see a group of nutters taking a 'spinning' class out on the balcony.

There is every kind of eatery imaginable - from the American diner trailor above to ethnic Middle Eastern shisha dens.  I was passed by runners, cyclists, skateboarders, people in golf buggies and others like me who were just walking.  At regular intervals there is someone waiting to help you  should you need it - everything is clean to the point of being sterile.

After about an hour of walking where the view was the same but different I asked one of the helpers how to get to the beach and he pointed me in the right direction.  After about another 20 minutes I came to the beach - where they are in the process of building what will be the World's largest big wheel.  Initially I thought it was some sort of specialist crane.  For as far as I could see there were little curtained gazebos affording shade and comfort on the beach - it was packed and it was hot.  When we were here before all you could see were cranes and all these years later the view is still one dominated by them.

With time running out I made my way back stopping in the Marina Mall to take a little look round and to purchase a Wedding card which I had forgotten!  The Mall was beautiful and it had sales on but I had given Mum most of the money I had because she was going to have her hair done for the wedding and based on the costs of things so far that might have been a small mortgage!

A report on the actual Wedding will follow tomorrow...