On the way to Dubai, UAE ...
On 19. April, after two sea days, we arrived in Dubai, UAE ...
On the way to Dubai we had our farewell dinner (invitation by the purser) on Friday night ...
... after dinner nearly the whole crew presented a wonderful show, where all the hidden talents of the crew members were on display ... here - at the end - the choir of all crew ...
Saturday, 16:00 hrs, we took off in SUV's for a dune dinner safari to watch the sundown in the desert and enjoy an arabic dinner there ... here we're leaving the harbour ... every car filled with groups of four ... we shared our car with Anna and Michael ... at least for some time ...
... on the 45 minute trip to the desert, we saw interesting signs along the road ... so if you have the need for a prayer ...
... finally we arrived in the desert and one of the first actions was to let air out of the tyres to increase traction in the sand ... btw our driver was Pakistani and after this stop we had the car for us, because Anna panicked and joined a car that took a less "interesting" route through the desert ... but for us it was fantastic fun!
Here the first photo of two camels in the desert ;-))) ... it was just impressive (first time for both of us) and - amazingly - very sandy ...
Then the offroad part began ... very bumpy and lots of fun ... it's great, what you can do with a four-wheel-drive in the desert ... happily for us we hadn't eaten too much before ...
... another picture for you to imagine, how it was ...
We had another rest for drinks and here we are in front of "our" dune buggy ;-) ... btw the only black one of all ... black sheep of the tour!
Shortly after that we had the first major encounter with four-leg-drives ... ... a picture of old and new means of transport ...
At the place where we watched the sunset, they rolled out carpets in the sand and welcomed us with Moet & Chandon champagne (!) ...
... here an overview of the cars and the people ... our black SUV is in the middle at the top ...
... here the two of us in the "centre of action" ...
... as the sun goes down ...
... the moon comes up on the other side ... ... it was an absolutely amazing spectacle to witness this in the middle of a desert ... we are very thankful to be able to experience this ...
As we arrived at our place, where we had dinner, we first jumped on a camel (poor thing) and had a hard, bumpy ride ...
... and here another picture of Cynthia caressing Thomas ... always this canoodeling ...
They built up nearly a virtual restaurant in the middle of nowhere ... we were just stunned ... here our table ...
... and an overview of the place ... just bear in mind, it was dark, full moon shining and the stars above ... and then a freshly made buffet with everything the arabic kitchen offers ... This was definitely another highlight of this extraordinary honeymoon!
after we came back, we had to have a shower (lots of sand everywhere) and - on our last night onboard - we went to the Sansibar for a couple of final farewell cocktails ... long island ice tea for Cynthia and Singapore sling for Thomas!
On our last day, Sunday, we left the ship and had a 3,5 hour city tour in Dubai ... which is basically a huge construction site ...
... we saw the highest building in the world, currently under construction (actual height 620m) ... the name you can look up in the internet ;-)
... and of course we saw the only seven-star hotel in the world the "look-it-up-in-the-internet-too-name" ... here the beach beside ...
We also saw one of the biggest mosques in Dubai ... the more traditional buildings ...
... and some old walls, here a fort ...
At Cynthia's suggestion we decided to include the next two pictures ... ... so if you ever wondered why most of the pictures are taken by Thomas, like the one on the right ...
... now you see why !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!After this tour we drove to the airport and flew back to Frankfurt ... on this flight this website was finished ...
Although a wonderful, exceptional honeymoon is over, these memories will forever stay in our hearts!
We hope, that you enjoyed sharing these moments with us and we can assure you, that we will bore you with all 700 pictures on your next visit!!!!