2011 - Part 1

Yes surprise!!!  a post on our blog...well one of the New Years resolutions for 2012 is to be slightly more frequent with updates of our riveting lives in the dunes.

The year in review would be appropriate for this time of year...we began 2011 very active and camping was our new hobby ...if you can call a one off event a hobby that is...and as usual the short-lived hobby had nothing to do with lack of outfits or equipment.. Walking into the ice cold water blindly following boy scout Mark ...it's about 20 degrees colder than you think it is brrrr

Both Sam and I are trying to put on a brave face for the camera hoping the trip would be over soon

Even the dogs find it "chili" in February

This was also the year we jumped on the property purchasing band wagon in the UAE - and very happy with the purchase and waking up to beautiful views every day...also we are hoping 2012 will be the year where every little "kink" in the place will be ironed out by our numerous Indian experts - not sure if we should be concerned that they all seem to be experts no matter what is wrong... 

And luck would have it that not only did we get a good deal on the apartment but we also happened to get a fabulous set of neighbors with a great boat making Sam and I official "fishing b!tches"

Very happy with our new location in the world visitors started coming in the spring and James was first - also first to auction off one of his two wives for 4 racing camels - much to the delight of the local Camel herders. 

And yes this encounter momentarily made us vegetarians

Next we were blessed with the presence and good looks of Gavin and Peter who came through Abu Dhabi on their way back from a long and exciting holiday in Paris

and they are officially the "founding fathers" of our blog...wish we had the same level of diligence in updating ours though

We left Gavin & Peter with the zoo at home and went to Denmark where Mor Hanne rented a summer house for the family to celebrate her 65th Birthday

and summer it was in deed...Sam made full use of Morten's winter jacket on that trip

but we all still managed to have fun ...as they say in Denmark "there is no bad weather there is only bad clothing".....

to be continued...

Roman Holiday - Early risers

Unlike Audrey Hepburn we didn't sleep much in Rome and especially the first day we felt it was necessary to get out into the streets as soon as it was daylight ...why snooze on a holiday... that probably also explains the big bags under my eyes..

Thankfully our hotel was just around the corner from the Spanish Steps and the only real advantage of being up at 5.30AM is that really no-one else in their right mind are so we experienced the Spanish Steps with  NO-ONE on them!!! 

The view from the top of the steps was really amazing too - and I am glad I took a picture as I don't think my eyes were really working properly at that time of the morning

I knew we should have brushed up on latin - but it makes for a good tourist shot ..Chris you will recognize the Clepto t-shirt

And we had to start the collection of classic tourist shots - if for no other reason than to prove to people we were tourists and not home grown Italians - our language skills had many of them fooled though

Whilst there were great advantages of being up early and avoiding the crowds - we also ran into a few disadvantages ...but then again that just gave us even more reason to go and do more tourist shots

of course I had to toss a coin over my right shoulder into the Trevi Fountain - because already from the first morning we knew we definitely wanted to come back to Rome at some point and apparently the coin toss ensures that very thing..and also hundreds of thousands of Euro coins for the Rome city cleaners...

Hard enough to get Sam to pose and NO chance to get her to throw a coin....

same spot 3 hours later....

my my were we glad we are early risers..phew

Qasr Al Sarab - The Trilogy III

Final day in the desert and we had to tick the "camel riding" box 

Sam went for the "Out of Africa" look that would have made Karen Blixen proud, and of course she was fitting right in with the locals

well some of the locals ..our personal camel herder with his very pretty and colorful camel outfits

it's just like riding the Rodeo

as elegant as ever - "white knuckle" camel riding 

we tried to play it cool ....but thank God the ride was over 

maybe I should start training now for that 155 mile run across the Sahara..not sure what the fuss is all about?

Qasr Al Sarab - The Trilogy II

thankfully the "dungeons and dragons" board game vision was quickly replaced by quiet bliss by our private pool which came in handy as the temperature reached 48 degrees

After having shed the guilt of being in a pool in the middle of the desert (thankfully Sam knows all the building codes and know they have very strict recycling requirements...phew) we started enjoying the views

and funnily enough whether we looked north, east, south or west  all we saw was sand, sand...and more sand

it could be mistaken from a photo from the middle of Australia

all we needed now was a roof top party 

however not a party in sight so we read

and we read some more

and we watched sunsets

thank God for cocktail hour we hit the french restaurant for the hazy sunset and cranberry vanilla cosmos (yes we still drink those 1993 concoctions) 

its still a little "dungeon and dragon"-like from afar

and what else were we going to do after a night of drinking in the middle of the desert...runway modeling of course!!

after that performance let's just say it's a good thing I have a real daytime job...to be continued...

Qasr al Sarab - the trilogy I

Sam had organized a birthday weekend treat for us at Qasr Al Sarab - A resort by Anantara in the "Empty Quarter Desert" - one of the most arid places on earth. The road there was very loooong, straight and uneventful

Thankfully we were able to rely on Sam's pea sized bladder and no road side toilets for a bit of entertainment ...

unfortunately the pictures of the acrobatics she went through for "relief" have been censored but Sam was grateful for the dunes and hiding behind "foxy" (yes we named our car!!)

no matter how many stories I told it was hard to distract Sam from an endless journey without any other shops than the very scary "white Sand restaurant"

and there were lots of sand - most of it red (not sure why they called that restaurant "white sand" and we didn't dare to find out)

at the gate to the resort with just another 8 kilometers of "dune bashing" to go..thank god for a great navigation system

We finally arrived at what we had feared would be similar to a large "dungeons and dragons" board game.....to be continued...

Boating escapades

Neighbor Chris took his fishing bitches for a trip to the open waters  - we only made it just past the coast guard before having to turn around due to very large swells that threatened to make the early morning a messy one ...and on the way back we managed to have the coast guard speedboat catch our trawling lures for a bit of action packed fishing rod rescue mission...we finally settled on a deserted beach to try our luck with the rods

Chris tried his luck with the golden lures whilst Sam was watching out for Dolphins

It just wasn't our morning - not even a tiny barracuda wanted to bite

I managed to take a swim and get soaked whilst the fishing experts were working their magic...thankful for the speedy trip home and the 45 degrees to dry off!

Contemplating what to produce for dinner now that we are returning empty handed from the fishing trip

A quick little something we whipped up instead of grilled Barracuda...spinach and goats cheese soufflé with sauteed beans and veal fillet with black sesame creme brulee for dessert ...a combination recommended for dinner parties at a home near you!

Home to 48 degrees

The dogs were hot and bothered and ready for a swim  

and thankfully we have a great little deserted beach just 5 minutes away

Fighting for attention

Phew it's REALLY hot out there - I'm ready to go home now

The other two opted to stay in the air-conditioning at home

"yeah whatever..."

At least one of our animals was happy to see us!