We planned a full-day tour to see as many of the sights in Dubai as we could, and, by the end of the day, we had been all over the city.

The tour started with a pick-up at 9:00 in a mini-van with two other tourists already there. We stopped to pick up another couple, then headed to the meeting point to find our mini-bus that would be our transportation for the day.

Once the entire group of eleven tourists was assembled, we left for a trip to the Palm Jumeirah Islands and a photo stop at the Atlantis Hotel overlooking the Persian Gulf. Next, we went to the Dubai Mall, which is the largest mall in the world with 1,600 stores. There we visited the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo. While Philip and I were in the aquarium gaping at the sharks, I heard a distinctive "Hello" behind me and turned around to see Mike, the person who had been our next door neighbor on the cruise. I knew they were staying in Dubai for a few more days, too, but I did not expect to run into them again. We visited for a few minutes, but then needed to move on so we could stay on time with our tour. When we left the aquarium, there he was again, and Marilynn walked up a few minutes later. They were meeting up with each other outside the aquarium at the very same time we were supposed to be there in the same place to meet up with our tour group. Small world.

After seeing the aquarium and Mike and Marilynn, we walked with the tour group back through the mall to find the entrance to the Burj Khalifa. It is the tallest building in the world at 828 meters. We took the elevator to the 124th floor observation deck for the amazing 360-degree views. From there we took the stairs up one more level to another observation area on the 125th floor. The highest occupied floor in the building is the 160th, and there is another observation area on the 148th floor. We decided the lower observation deck was high enough for us.

After seeing the view At the Top, we rode to the Burj Al Arab hotel for afternoon tea in the Sahn Eddar Restaurant. It was quite amazing! Not seeing the suites, it is hard to imagine what makes it a 7-star hotel. It was luxurious, but no more so than many other top-notch hotels. The tea service was seven courses of savory and sweet treats with tea or coffee of our choice. It started with sparkling date juice which I found quite refreshing after walking all day.

By the end of the tea time, we were ready to return to our hotel and get ready to go home. The flight leaves tonight at 12:40 a.m. It is going to be a long trip home. We took a taxi to the airport which was just about ten minutes away from the hotel. One of the very helpful employees of the hotel arranged a flat fee with the taxi driver so we could get just the right amount of dirhams to pay him without having too many left over. We ended up with a ten dirham note, but didn't find anything at the airport that we wanted to spend it on.