We arrived at the hotel in Dubai around 11:30 pm on Tuesday, April 17. Because it was so late, no restaurants were open for dinner, so we ordered room service! We hardly ever order room service, so when we do, we thoroughly enjoy it! It was a great start to the trip.
Our room service cart! Such a nice treat!
We woke up on Wednesday around noon and were out exploring by 2:00. Our first destination was the Spice Souk and the Gold Souk. Unfortunately both were pretty disappointing but we were glad to have the experience. The Spice Souk was practically empty and the Gold Souk was full of people selling knock-off bags and watches. We didn't waste too much time there before heading up to the Mall of the Emirates for some lunch. Last year when we were in Dubai, we ate at a burger joint called Shake Shack and it was the best burger Kevin and I ever had! We had our hearts set on that burger for a year and we were so happy to eat it again! We shopped a little at the mall and then went to the Dubai Mall for some more shopping and entertainment. After 6pm, the fountain at the Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa (the world's tallest building) puts on a water show, much like the one at the Bellagio in Vegas, so we enjoyed the show before finding a nearby restaurant where Kevin could smoke the hookah. We watched 3 more water shows from the restaurant, before beginning our journey back to the hotel. It was a fun filled day!
Great entrance, lousy interior. There was no one inside!
The entrance to the Gold Souk.
This was my attempt at being artsy. Turned out pretty well!
The experience would have been so much better if we were not bombarded by people selling knock-off bags and watches!
SHAKE SHACK!
Best burger ever!
This is the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world!
This building is just massive!
There are Muslim's dressed like this all over, but you are not supposed to take pictures of them. I figured this was second best.
This is not my video, but this is the presentation we saw. The fountain is beautiful!
The Burj Khalifa all lit up after the fountain show.
Sitting at the bar near the fountain.
This aquarium is located inside the Dubai Mall.
On Thursday morning we went to the ship and worked until about 12:30. We went back to the hotel and took a nap before heading back into town. Thursday night in Dubai is like our Friday - the start of the weekend - and the people were out! We went to the Souk Madinat Jumeirah which is full of shops and restaurants. We spent some time here last year, but didn't get to experience the nightlife. We found a nice outdoor restaurant over looking the Burj al Arab and enjoyed some drinks and hookah. The evening concluded with a late night stop at Shake Shack in which we got to celebrate their one year anniversary with them!! The food was great as always and we got some free merchandise too! We got back to the hotel around midnight and fell asleep pretty shortly after that.
This is the wall that we spent 3 weeks re-texturing last year. Still looks great!
The Dubai Skyline. The Burj Khalifa is on the far right. You can see how it towers over all the other buildings!
Entering the Souk.
Overlooking the Burj al Arab from the souk.
The Burj al Arab from a different angle.
We found a stall in the souk that hand made these sand bottles. It was fascinating to watch and a great memento from our trip. Our last name is one one side in English and the other side in Arabic. Here are a couple videos I took of the "sculpting" process:
Incredible!
How do you learn how to do this? So talented!
Kevin and his hookah!
Just the two of us! It was so nice to sit outside and take in the night life! The architecture was great too!
This was our view from where we were sitting. Not too shabby!
The Burj al Arab all lit up. This picture turned out really well!
Back at Shake Shack. So awesome that we got to celebrate their opening last year and their 1 year anniversary this year!
On Friday we flew back to the states! We had a quick overnight trip in New Jersey before heading back home to Colorado on Saturday night.
The view of Lady Liberty from the ship in New Jersey.
On Saturday, April 14, Kevin and I began another journey. We flew from Colorado Springs to San Juan and arrived in San Juan around 11pm Saturday evening. Our flight was delayed leaving Colorado Springs and we just barely made our connection in Dallas, but we made it none-the-less and we were upgraded to first class! After we arrived at the hotel, we changed into some nicer clothes and went down to the lobby for drinks and snacks. We crashed around midnight.
At the Bar enjoying some drinks and snacks.
Our delicious snacks! Bread and cheese and Empanadas!
The bar was awesome!
The colors over the bar kept changing. This is my attempt at being artsy.
I love this outfit!!
On Sunday, we went to the ship. We were on and off the ship and back to the hotel around 1pm. We took a short nap and went down to the lobby around 4:30 to meet our friend Cameron. Cameron was a sports supervisor on the ships for a while and now lives in Puerto Rico so we have met up with him the last couple of times we have visited. Cameron wasn't able to meet us until later so we went back up to the room to shower and change and then went back to the lobby for drinks. We waited for Cameron for another hour or so and he emailed to say he would be a while longer so Kevin and I went out on a date! We were all dressed up and there was a Brazilian Steakhouse attached to the hotel so we decided to check it out. Kevin had been to a Brazilian Steakhouse before but I had not, and boy was it a treat! There is a fixed price that includes a salad bar and then all the meat you can eat. The awesome part about the meat, is that it is brought directly to your table on a skewer and served up right there. There are all different kinds of meats and you can choose whichever you want. We sampled the filet mignon, the flank steak, Parmesan crusted chicken, lamb, sausage, and the house special beef which was to die for! It was all so incredible, and we learned that there is a branch of the restaurant in Denver, so you can bet we will be going again. After dinner, we finally met up with Cameron and his friend Matt and had a few drinks in the lobby before calling it a night!
At the Brazilian Steakhouse. This photo would have been great if the knife wasn't right in front of Kevin's face, but it shows you how juicy the meat was! Delicious!
This gives you an idea of the experience. There were probably 6-10 men with different meats on a skewer like this. They would come to your table if your card showed green. So much fun!
Such a nice date night!
After dinner we each put $1 in a machine in the casino. I lost my dollar, but Kevin won $3.75!
I made sure to get a picture of Cameron this time! So awesome to spend time with friends in far away cities!
On Monday morning we began our 32+ hour trip to Dubai. We flew from San Juan to Atlanta, Atlanta to Amsterdam, and Amsterdam to Dubai. It was a very long day and we were so happy to finally get to our destination!
On Thursday, March 29, mom and I flew to New York City for our annual spring break Broadway trip!! We left Colorado Springs at 6:30am and flew to Atlanta. We had an hour layover in Atlanta and then flew to New York. While waiting on the runway in Atlanta we were informed that one of the passengers was feeling ill and that we were going to have to go back to the gate so the passenger could go to the hospital. An hour or so later we were finally on our way! We landed in New York around 3:45pm and were checked-in to the hotel around 5. We quickly unpacked and changed clothes before heading to the Neil Simon Theatre to get tickets for Jesus Christ Superstar. We were able to get discounted student tickets in the first and third rows (my cousin who now lives in Astoria was going to meet us for the show, so we had 2 seats in the third row and one in the first)! After we got out tickets, we went to Ray's Pizza and had a quick dinner before heading back for the 7pm curtain. My cousin Jackie met us at the theatre for her first ever Broadway show!! It was such a neat experience for us to be with her for this special occasion!! I sat in the first row for the first act and then sat with Jackie in the third row for the second act. The show was incredible as always!! I didn't know much about the show going in to it, but was very pleasantly surprised! The guy who played Jesus was absolutely amazing! His vocal range was higher than mine!! Of course, as always we went to the stage door after the show and got photos and autographs. There weren't many other people there, so we got VIP treatment from the actors!! Such a great time! After the show mom and Jackie went to the hotel to get Jackie a jacket and I walked around Times Square to star stalk, but didn't have much luck. Instead, I went to the restaurant where some friends of mine from high school work. I was able to talk to one of them, but the other was not working. We made plans to get together on Saturday morning, and then I went back to meet up with mom and Jackie. We went out for Thai food for dinner and called it a night around midnight. It was a great start to the trip!
The first of four shows!
Josh Young, who played Judas. He has now been nominated for a Tony for Best Featured Actor in a musical!
JESUS! Well, actually Paul Nolan. AMAZING!
A sculpture on top of a truck in the middle of Times Square. Loved this!
My beautiful cousin, Jackie.
We woke up around 8:30am on Friday morning and left the hotel around 10am. We went to the box offices for Evita and Newsies and purchased tickets for Friday and Saturday evenings performances. Then we took the subway down to Union Square and shopped at one of the best bookstores I have ever been in! It is called Strand and their slogan is “18 miles of books.” I went to this bookshop last year as well, but this year mom came with me! After we did two bags full of damage, we took a taxi to the Tenement Museum and got tickets for a 3:45pm tour. While we waited for the tour to start, we went and ate lunch at Katz's deli, another place we went last year, but it is way too good not to go back. This is the restaurant that is featured in the famous scene in "When Harry Met Sally" and the sandwiches are just as good as Meg Ryan makes it out to be!! We went back to the museum around 3:15 and shopped in the gift shop before our tour started. The tour we chose focused on sweatshop workers and what life was like back in the late 1800's and early 1900's for immigrants. The museum has taken an old apartment building from back during that time and recreated a few of the apartments to give visitors a feeling of how immigrants used to live. It was a fascinating history lesson! We were finished at the museum around 5:15 and took a taxi back to the hotel, so we didn't have to carry all our stuff on the subway.
I usually hate when people perform on the subway and then beg for money, but these guys were good! Sorry the quality of the video is not the best!
Probably one of the BEST bookshops I have ever been in, and I have been in quite a few!
Pretty self-explanatory!
Inside Katz's Deli....Definitely one of the best corned beef sandwiches ever. And the pickles are to die for!
The Tenement Museum.
The sign leading into the tenement building. Pretty awesome how the building was so well preserved.
We rested for an hour or so and then got ready for our second show of the trip, Evita! I was really excited to see this show because of the time Kevin and I have spent in Argentina recently. I also love the music and the show stars Ricky Martin as Che! How can you go wrong with Ricky Martin? I was pleasantly surprised with Ricky Martin, but a bit disappointed with Elena Roger who played Evita. She is an actress from Argentina who has played the role of Evita in London for the last couple years. There was a lot of hype about her, but she didn't quite live up to the hype. Maybe she was having an off night, but she didn't quite do it for me. Oh well, the show was still great and Ricky Martin was wonderful! We went to the stage door after the show and it was nuts!! Fortunately, I got a decent spot right by Ricky Martin's car! While we were waiting for Ricky Martin to come out the stage door, Marc Anthony came out! He was at the show that night and went backstage to see Ricky Martin, and we saw him as he was leaving. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of him!! He was very well guarded and protected by security. When Ricky Martin came out he only signed about 20 autographs and I got one of them!! I also got a great picture! It was awesome!! We decided to try to star stalk at other stage doors again, and this time we were incredibly successful! We went to Porgy and Bess first and got to see Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis, the stars of the show! Mom saw this show back in January and I planned to see the matinee the following day, but she didn't get to see the stars because of rain and I knew I wouldn't get to see them because they wouldn't come out between a matinee and an evening performance, so we were very pleasantly surprised to see them on Friday night!! They were both so incredibly genuine! Right next to the Porgy and Bess stage door was the stage door for Nice Work If You Can Get It, a new musical based on Gershwin songs, staring Matthew Broderick. So we waited there for him and got a picture with him too!! It was a great night! It started raining so we went to Junior's to get some cheesecake before heading back to the hotel. It was about 12:30am when we got back to the hotel, but it was such a good day!!
Second show of Four!
Our poster and Signed Playbill.
The whole covered hall was plastered with these giant posters. It was pretty awesome!
Ricky Martin! Just coming out the stage door!
He looks so adoringly at me :)
Mom and Norm Lewis from Porgy and Bess. He is nominated for a Tony for Best Performance as an Actor in a Leading Role, and he sure earned that nomination! He was incredible!
Mom and Audra McDonald! She is also nominated for a Tony for Best Performance as an Actress in a Leading Role. Also very much earned and deserved!
Matthew Broderick!! Hopefully we will get to see this show if/when we go back this summer!
On Saturday morning we left the hotel around 10am again and met some friends for breakfast. We met Chelsea and Ryan at Murray's Bagel's and had a delicious breakfast! The line was out the door the whole time we were there! We went back to Times Square around 12:30 to get tickets for the matinee shows. I wanted to see Porgy and Bess and since mom had already seen that, we decided to split up for one show. I got my student ticket for Porgy and Bess and then we went over to get mom's ticket for Nice Work If You Can Get It. When we got to the box office they only had rear mezzanine seats available, so mom decided to see a different show. She went to see The End of the Rainbow instead. This is a musical about the life of Judy Garland. I don't think it would have been a show that I would have enjoyed, but mom sure liked it. I loved Porgy and Bess!! The story was great and the actors were incredible!! Audra McDonald was phenomenal! It's no wonder she has 4 Tony awards! I skipped out on the stage door experience this time because I knew the big stars wouldn't come out and we saw them on Friday night anyway. Mom and I met up at the hotel and Jackie met us there as well (she came with us to see Newsies). We went to the Newsies lotto to try to get my friend Ryan a ticket, but we didn't win. We got him a regularly priced ticket instead and then went to dinner at the brewery he works at. We met him at the theatre with seconds to spare before the curtain went up. The show was absolutely amazing!! The singing and dancing was unreal! This was by far my favorite show this trip, and what a great experience to see it with Ryan!! If you liked the movie, you will LOVE the show!! We went to the stage door after the show and it was just a crazy as the Evita stage door!! It reminded me of the How to Succeed stage door last year, with Daniel Radcliffe...lots of screaming girls, although these girls were a little older. The majority of them were born in the 80's and grew up with the Newsies movie. I didn't have a great spot, but I was able to get all the autographs I wanted anyway! It certainly was an experience! After the show we went back to Junior’s with Chelsea and Sarah (friends from high school), Ryan's roommate Joseph (Ryan went home early), and Chelsea's friend Nick. We got back to the hotel around 1:30am!! It was another great day!
Chelsea, Ryan, and I.
Mom and Ryan...Birthday Buddies!
Show 3 of four
Crazy stage door experience! But I got 'er done!
Jeremy Jordan! He played Jack in Newsies and was incredible! Not bad to look at either! He is also nominated for a Tony for Best Leading actor in a Musical.
Last show of the trip! From left to right: Nick, Chelsea, Me, Mom, Jackie, and Joseph. The show was a meeting point before we went over to Junior's.
On Sunday we flew home :(. We were so sad to leave, but are looking forward to going back this summer after the Tony awards! It was s shorter trip that usual, but we had an incredible time!! I love this time I get to spend with my mom and hope that one day I can have the same experiences with my child!!
As we were walking out of our hotel room to go to the airport, the fire alarm went off! The elevators stopped working and we had to walk down 15 flights of steps. It was quite a task for mom, but she was such a trooper! Of course as soon as we made it to the lobby the elevators were back up and running. It was quite the adventure!
