More!

Fun! Fun! Fun! Christmas fun! This is a picture of our Dubai Christmas tree and all of the presents that came with it!

It's a palm tree decorated with pictures of the sheikhs and the UAE colors. The tree topper is a camel muzzle which is used to keep camels from spitting on everyone and everything. After we opened presents, we went to breakfast at the Intercontinental where they had a life sized gingerbread house!

According to the sign it took over 200 kilograms of eggs to make. There were more facts about it but I've forgotten them and the sign with that information is obscured by the white fence in the photo. Oops.

Today we went sightseeing for a little bit. We headed down to the beach, which was full of tourists, she said with a haughty tone. It's hard to be disdainful though when I am a tourist myself. Apparently, in the summer, it is so hot that the beach is empty. Winter is beach time here!

There was also a great view of the Burj Al Arab. It the iconic image of Dubai, and it's supposed to resemble a boat's sails. From what I've been told, when you view the Burj Al Arab from the sea, a helipad intersects with the vertical edge of the building, or the sail's mast, and gives the illusion of a cross. Some were not too happy about that for obvious reasons. But it's only from a certain angle and most people don't view the building from that direction so it wasn't that big of a deal. Not a big enough deal to tear it down and start again anyway.