"I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day." -Vincent Van Gogh

Post by: Beth

Raja had told me fairly early on before we left for this trip that he'd picked a special restaurant for us to eat at for our anniversary. I usually can't help doing secret research or requesitng hints about "surprises," but being REALLY excited about Dubai, I went along with it and didn't ask any questions or try to figure it out. I knew the date, the time to be ready, and that's it.



So Saturday night we climb into the taxi and Raja tells the driver where to go -- He's specifically picked an area AROUND the restaurant as the destination, rather than giving the actual restaurant name. I'm still oblivious and we happily ride along, about 20 minutes, to our destination. We are let out at a huge hotel called "Madinat Al Qsar" and its gorgeous. The bottom floor of the hotel is made up of high-end Arabian home decor stores, which houses amazing (and amazingly expensive!!) decor products. We wind through the bottom, peeking in stores and looking all around. Finally we get to a door that leads to a path outside, with a stream running along the pathway. A golf cart is waiting for us, and we get in and zoom along the pathway about 5 more minutes, until we're let off at the end of a huge pier. I can't quite make out what's at the end of the pier, but just slightly to the right of whatever building is at the end, "floats" the Burj Al Arab. I've seen plenty of pictures of this 7-star hotel that's designed in the form of a sailboat, but they just can't compare to seeing it in person. I'm REALLY excited by this point, as there's only one way we can go at this point, and that pier is going to be right in line with the Burj Al Arab.


We walk down the pier, and I see the sign of the restaurant: "Pierchic." We're taken to our table, which sits right along the side of the man-made island, and waves roll right up to the under-side of the restaurant, where our table is. I discover from the menu that it's mainly a seafood restaurant, and there are lots of things I can't pronounce, and some of them I'm not even sure what they are. With a little help, I make my decision and we order our salads and dinners. The food is amazing, and the scenery around us is gorgeous. I don't think I've ever been in a "prettier" spot in my life.


The night was wonderful and I didn't want to leave at the end, but I was really happy that I didn't spoil the surprise by asking questions and begging for hints. I think the next time a "surprise" is in the works, I'll remember this and be content to let it play out as the surprise it should be. :)

Below: The pier we were walking down to get to the restaurant. The hotel you see here is the one we walked through to get to the golf cart, then drove through to get to the pier.

Below: We just sat down to dinner. You can't see very well behind us because the setting isn't set properly yet, but the Burj Al Arab is just behind me, in the upper left corner of the photo.
Below: Behind Raja, you can see another shot of the hotel we walked through to get to the pier. Below: water under the restaurant Below: Burj Al Arab... the lighting changes from purple to teal to pink, etc. Actually really pretty in person.

Below: Another view from our table. I just happily turned and snapped photos all thorugh dinner.. It was impossible not to!
I'm aware I have 70 photos of this hotel, but it's just too pretty!
And you guessed it.. more surprise cake! This was a mousse cake -- really light and fluffy! Diet was officially in "off" mode during this trip, in case you hadn't noticed. ;)

Above & Below: We stopped and took some pictures on the way back through the hotel grounds after dinner. You can't really see it in this photo (again), since the setting for night portraits and setting for buildings are different, but the Burj Al Arab is back there behind each of us in these photos.