Cake for Breakfast, Camels for Lunch

Guess how old I am.

My birthday started with an early morning taxi ride across town to pick up our car, which we had left at The Club after Trivia Night the evening before.  We were running low on gas, and the gas stations here aren’t as frequent or easy to get to as they are in the US. Plus, it’s just safer to take a taxi after you have spent a few hours at The Club. So after I got gas I swung by and picked up Lucy.

When Lucy and I arrived at Café Arabia for the bi-monthly AWN coffee they were having a special on latte and a piece of cake, so why not? If you can’t have cake for breakfast on your birthday, when can you? Thanks for the treat, Lucy!

Everything at the Palace is fabulous,
from the famous gold leaf dome ...

... to the rare antiques for sale

What to do to celebrate for the rest of the day? “Let’s go to the Palace,” Lucy said. I’d wanted to go back to the Emirates Palace Hotel ever since the USMC Birthday Ball, and Lucy hadn’t been there yet. I was a little worried about them objecting to my jeans, but decided to risk it. Never mind; there were tourists walking up the entrance steps ahead of us in shorts and tank tops! Everywhere we went, staff opened doors for us and said “Good afternoon, madams.”




After admiring the incredible opulence for a while, we headed upstairs to the café and bar area, where we discovered that we could have cocktails and share a mezze plate; perfection. Again, the generous Ludy treated, for my birthday. Do I feel spoiled?

We had seen a “No Photos” sign when we entered the café area, so we asked if we could take a photo of ourselves. “No, no, it’s OK.”

No photos allowed? No, no.  It's OK.

it doesn't get any better than this ...

After lunch we continued exploring, heading out the back of the hotel and ending up out on the beach. We turned left toward the marina, stopping to take photos. I noticed a camel poop, and tracks. Hmmm. We decided to head over to take a look at one of the pools.

... or does it?

As we were making our way there we noticed an open tent in front of the marina, with two camels. As we were wondering if we could go and take photos, the two men in the tent were beckoning to us, jumping up, and grabbing the tea tray. As they poured tea, we chatted, although neither pair could understand much of what the others said. I asked if I could take photos of the camels.

“You ride. Free!”

What??!! Lucy and I looked at each other and she started to say, “Do . . . you . . .”

“Are you kidding? Yayahhh!”

So there we were, riding camels on the beach at the Emirates Palace Hotel on my birthday.