Streets

I love the streets here. They wind and zip and go in all different directions making absolutely no sense at all. Its refreshing. And you'll turn and there will be some gothic building at the end of one street and then at the end of another you have some gaudy modern building that is currently under construction. These are just a couple of examples...

St. Pauls Cathedral

On Saturday I went to St. Paul's Cathedral, this massive behemoth of a building dedicated to Paul the disciple. This might be my favorite building I have visited since I've been here in London. It is absolutely beautiful and it is HUGE. When the Great London Fire of 1666 destroyed the previous Gothic-style cathedral, Sir Christopher Wren (who's tomb is in the cathedral) rebuilt the more modern Baroque building that stands there today. What is really interesting is that during the Blitz of London in WWII the cathedral basically was standing on its own among burning fires where bombs had destroyed much of the surrounding buildings. There was little damage to the building during the Blitz, a miracle as many of the other buildings around the cathedral were completely destroyed.

The layout of the building is that of a giant cross. There is an enormous dome that sits over the center of the building, and a neat little fact is that the interior of the dome does not match the external design. Basically, there are two internal domes, but it was thought that the building wouldn't be as impressive from the outside if these two domes could be viewed at their actual size. As a result, the dome that is seen from the outside actually encompasses both the large and smaller domes so that the building looks much more impressive and grand. Inside, the bigger of the two domes is called the "Whispering Gallery" - so called because apparently you can sit on one side of the dome and whisper to a companion who is sitting on the other side who can hear words precisely. I tried this, and while it was hard to distinguish between all the 8 year-olds around me trying to whisper, I could sometimes hear some people talking on the other side. The Whispering Gallery is like 257 steps up from the ground floor, all in a spiral staircase. Another 150 steps or so will take you to the Stone Gallery, an outdoor walkway that offers a pretty decent view of London. This is where the outdoor pics were taken. Then another 100 steps or so takes up up to the Golden Gallery, which, unfortunately, was closed down as they're building a new staircase. This is probably a good move as it could be quite dangerous were there to be a fire - the upper staircase is only about 3-4 feet wide.

You're not supposed to take pictures of the inside of the cathedral, however I snuck one or two in because the ceiling artwork is so impressive. Its soooooo high off the ground that it makes it even more impressive that the work was able to be completed!!!

Things I Love - Take 3

This video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-kjM1asH-8&eurl=http://thetuneout.com/

I totally stole this from my pledge brother Evan's blog, however, I can't help myself. I love that she pardoned the turkey and then did an interview in front of the guy that does the slaughtering. And the fact that the turkeys are held upside down and then are jammed into a funnel (for what purpose, I don't know) while kicking for dear life just adds that little something to the interview... :-)

Also, this:

http://www.iscaliforniaonfire.com/

God its Cold Outside!

I'm in London! Yay! :-)

Aside from it being bloody cold outside, it really is a beautiful city. Today I started out by going to Westminster Abbey - this was maybe one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I love the history -its so cool because the history is the foundation of this country and in lots of ways, the foundation of the US. Seeing the tomb of Queen Elizabeth I and King Henry VII was especially interesting - they're buried at the Abbey with Geoffrey Chaucer, Frederick Handel, Charles Dickens, and a score of other people who have changed the way we view the world. Thats kinda cool. One of the most impressive things is the Coronation Chair, the chair that every king and queen that have been crowned at Westminster Abbey since like 1000 have sat in to get their crowns. Thats really cool - unfortunately they didn't allow photography inside the Abbey, but the chair looks like its been beaten up over the years. Definitely an icon of English history!

This is SOOO cool... Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament















Westminster Abbey


















Trafalgar Square


After my trip to Westminster Abbey, I walked past the Prime Minister's house (just the street - the house is actually sectioned off, but you can walk right by the street) on my way to Trafalgar Square. This was really cool - many streets converge on this giant square and apparently its the biggest or most popular square in London. I walked into the National Gallery and saw a Da Vinci work, then went into the National Portrait Gallery which, in my opinion, was much more interesting. After this, I walked around in Covent Garden and Leceister Square, shopped a bit, before hopping on the Tube (Mind the Gap) to go to the London Tower. Unfortunately, I missed the deadline to have the guided tour of the London Tower, so I just did a self-tour of the place. I may go back sometime this weekend to do the guided tour as I hear its quite good.

















Tower of London...












Mind the Gap...






Its quite a change coming from Dubai to London - from a new city in the global sense to one of the oldest. What a change!

These Little Guys...

These little guys were placed in my hotel room by the turn down service every day. A couple of the times, when I didn't have the Do Not Disturb sign on my door, housekeeping actually stormed into my room as if I weren't in there. Glad I wasn't laying on the beadspread naked!!!! :-)

Bab Al Shams

Well I'm safely in London at my new friend Greg's apartment. I will have to say that my faith in British Airways has been much improved because my flight this morning was much more enjoyable. I watched Wanted, slept through most of Wall-E, and saw the first 45 minutes of Hancock - I slept for a couple hours here and there - I am so glad that I didn't listen to my mom and that I brought my own pillow. It made my trip so much more enjoyable! :-) However, if you ever go to Dubai, don't follow any of the car rental return signs because they do NOT point in the right direction. Almost as if they didn't want your to ever leave Dubai, we circled around the airport once before we actually found the correct entrance into the car return place. OMFG - thank God there's only like five people flying out of Dubai international - otherwise we wouldn't have made the flight!


So last night we went to the desert to go to a restaurant that is, of course, connected with the same chain of restaurants that owned the same resort where we were staying - Bab al Shams. We went for a drink on the rooftop of the hotel/spa to watch the sun set over the desert and then we went over to the outdoor restaurant to have dinner, hold a falcon, and ride camels. The restaurant was enormous - it was buffet style and had anything you could ever want (try not to think Las Vegas hotel buffet, more UR Cooks grille sans you doing the cooking). It was fabou - I had some roasted chicken with paprika, beef tenderloin, miscellaneous vegetables, and Baskin Robbins ice cream (BR is huge in Dubai apparently - its everywhere.)


Carleen and I on a camel. The things I do for work... lol













My first time engaging in falconry. They put little hoods on the falcons so they aren't actually able to see anything. I guess that keeps them from nipping at your eyeballs/flingers.... Carleen also held a falcon...


















So this might be a strange picture... The camels are quite a bit taller than the average horse. As such, you have to mount them while they are crouched down on the ground. Then, once you're on and completely unawares, they spring up, much like a roller coaster. Naturally, what goes up, must come down, and this is an action shot of the camel sinking down onto his knees to let Audrey and I off of his back. Its like when a chair is pulled out from underneath you... about that surprising. It was great tho! I have FINALLY ridden a camel! :-) My journey is complete!

Last Night!

Well, its my last night here in Dubai! All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go. I'm sitting here inside my door... haha.

Its been a great experience coming to the Middle East - it has definitely expanded my understanding of this part of the world (at least, as much as the artificial nature of Dubai can expand understanding of the Middle East... its not exactly a great example of the rest of the region I don't think). I'm sad to leave but I'm ready to go. In the last 8 days we have gotten a lot done: We

1.) Went on a tour of Old Dubai and shopped at the spice and textile markets;
2.) Went and had drinks at the Burj al Arab
3.) Went into the desert, rode a camel, and watched a flaming man dance like a spinning top
4.) Ate dinner at the new Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah
5.) Drank plenty of wine with our new friends here in Dubai
6.) Stayed in one of the top hotel resorts in the city, and had an excellent view of the city and the sea
7.) Swam in the Arabian Gulf
8.) Saw the Mall of the Emirates and SkiDubai
9.) Oh, and we loaded in, produced, executed, and loaded-out a show for 550 people.

All in all, I'd say my experience in Dubai has been pretty fulfilling... What do you think?

Thoughts

So the culture here is so much different. Its such an interesting change from the United States - it makes me happy that I live in a country where (at least for the most part) rights are granted to everyone free of charge and people can do pretty much whatever they want within reason. Its really interesting/scary here because of a couple reasons:

1.) Women in this culture (actually - I think Dubai probably has a more liberal view on the role of women than most arab/muslim cultures) aren't really expected to interact in a serious setting with the men - this would apply to all traditional muslim women, but not necessarily to the non-muslim women... Its very strange to me. The women are almost treated as lesser or 2nd class beings because of their sex. We had some greeters/hostesses at the doors tonight for the party who would direct guests to the check-in tables for the event. Most of the muslim men would blow right past the women and not even acknowledge them. We even had to make sure that our host, a local celebrity, knew that a woman would be presenting him with the awards to give to the laureates so that he wouldn't be surprised. Very strange indeed.

2.) Gays "don't exist" in this culture. It is forbidden. Its actually quite relaxed as compared to Iran or Saudi Arabia - here you'll only get jail time for engaging in homosexual activities, whereas in those countries you could get the death penalty. Its not that it doesn't exist - its just that it "doesn't exist." No high-ranking person will recognize that it exists. Definitely different than in the US.

3.) Alcohol consumption can only happen in a bar that is connected to a hotel, because these are the only bars that are able to actually get a liquor license. Drinking and driving is COMPLETELY forbidden - if you get caught, even after 1 beer, you're sent to jail with one phone call for 4 months. They don't really have liquor stores, and you have to have an individual liquor license to buy alcohol for individual consumption.

Its not even that its so much "big brother" as it is just a government that doesn't want that stuff to be a part of its culture. Its a very traditional muslim culture and those laws show up in the local norms of society. I wouldn't want to live here permanently. I probably wouldn't even want to come back for at least 20 years or so - just to maybe see what its like in 20 years would be the only reason I'd want to return. Not that its a bad place - I've very much enjoyed my time and experience here and I think I'm a more well-rounded and more educated person because of it, however I don't think I'd be able to enjoy having to go out of my way to get a drink...

EVENT DAY! - PART DEUX

So today was event day! I woke up this am around 8:00 and went for a swim in the ARABIAN GULF (because I hadn't yet...) - Google it. :-) After that, I was at the venue at 10:00am and didn't leave really until 10:30pm. Long day! It was a lot of fun tho because we finally saw the realization of what we've been working on since February. Carleen said that the event went flawlessly. I'm happy for that! - it means we're doing something right! :-)

Tomorrow is the signature forum for the laureates and then a trip to the desert to ride a CAMEL and then drinks afterwards at the Burj al Arab with our hotel person, Johanna (who is awesome btw).

Only one more full day in Dubai and then I'm off to London! :-)

chris

Pierchic

Last night we organized (well, we set the tables and arranged the seating chart) for a private dinner for Rolex executives, the Laureates for the Awards for Enterprise (the peeps who were being honored) and special guests. Some pics are below, but it was at this restaurant called Pierchic, a seafood restaurant that occupies the end of a pier (aptly named PIERchic). Its a beautiful structure and of course offers this amazing view of Al Qasr, another hotel on the Madinat Jumeirah resort. We didn't stay for dinner, but the pictures say enough...





























Yesterday we also organized the press conference for the Laureates. Kinda boring (actually I didn't even go for the event - just for load-in). But the room set up might be kinda interesting... or not.

EVENT DAY!

Its finally here! After almost an entire year of preparations, we have finally come to event day. I don't have time to post any pictures right now of where we are with set up, but the room looks really beautiful and its going to be very impressive.

I really don't have a ton of time right now but I wanted to let everyone know that I will be posting some more posts later on tonight - yesterday was a really long day, complete with waking up at 4:30am to check to make sure someone was completed correctly and to find out that it wasnt... so I was exhausted last night and went right to bed after dinner. But never fear my dearies, I'll post something fresh and juicy soon....

chris

Load In - Day 2

More pics from Load-In!

The drape is now hung and the video screens are up. Tomorrow we start cue-to-cue run thru's and then tomorrow afternoon (late) is the first tech rehearsal!

Old Dubai

Today we got to take a tour thru Old Dubai. This is the "original" part of Dubai that has existed since the 1950s. It was really interesting because the actual city of Dubai really has only seen big increases in commerce and expansion since 1950 - before that, it wasn't much more than a bunch of sand around a "creek," aptly named Dubai Creek. Today, it is obviously much more interesting than it was 50 or 60 years ago, however, some of the original architecture still exists (as it should - it's only been fifty years or so. The house I grew up in was built in this same time period!). Most of the original architecture (at least what we saw today) has been completely re-done so that the original coral stone used to build the buildings is covered by modern coverings - as such, there aren't many remnants of original buildings left behind to view.

We took a tour through the Dubai museum, went across the river on an Abra - a big wooden boat-taxi. The drivers of these boats aren't exactly careful coming in and out of the docking slips - we banged our way out of the slip and into a couple of boats before we were freely driving on the river. Quite entertaining... We also went to the Textile Market and the Spice Market. It was after seeing these markets that I really felt, for the first time since I've been here, that I'm in another country. It was really cool to see these places and I've put some pics on here of them.

A little tidbit of information for you: The Burj Dubai (the tallest/grandest building in the world) is not yet finished. One of the reasons why it is not finished is because it is being held up by the construction of another building somewhere in the world that is competing for the Burj Dubai's title of "World's Tallest Building." They are holding off construction of the Burj Dubai until that building is finished so that they can then make the Burj Dubai taller. Its already at 720 meters, with a possibility of expansion up to like 880 meters or something. A little bit of Napoleon syndrome maybe???


Bags of Spices at the Spice Markets - Saffron is a really big spice here.












Boats on the Dubai Creek












Me on the Abra













The Textile Market












Some Architectural Pictures - notice the wind-pipes at the top. These served as air-conditioners for the housing. We actually got to go into a house at the Dubai Museum and stand under the wind-pipes. They really do work! It was almost chilly!

Work Has Started!

We have started our load in for our event! Right now the giant drape is hung and the carpet and other elements go in tomorrow. Whoo hoo!!!

Atlantis and Ski Dubai

Last night we went to dinner at the Atlantis Hotel: http://www.atlantisthepalm.com

Have you ever seen pictures of this hotel? http://www.atlantis.com

You might recognize a similarity between the two hotels - they're owned by the same company. The Atlantis Dubai is situated on the reef portion of the Palm Jumeirah - basically, you drive down the "trunk" of the tree until the end and then you go under the ocean to reach the reef. Atlantis is at the very tip of the Palm. Its actually kinda cool the way that it is built. We went to this restaurant called Ossiana and I had a grouper fish for the first time in my life. I don't eat a lot of seafood so it was a new experience for me. It was pretty good I must say! I think it has something to do with the fact that they kill the fish on site and then cook it there so it's like uuber fresh.














In the lobby of the Atlantis (above) they have a giant Chuhuly work in the foyer. Yes, its the same guy who did this for the Oklahoma City Museum of Art: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Dale_Chihuly.jpg

Kinda cool, huh? The rest of the hotel is very cheesy and gaudy but I thought the piece of art was kinda cool.






Then, today we went (back) to the Mall of the Emirates because yesterday we didn't get to see Ski Dubai. This is so freaking crazy. Like SOOOO freaking crazy...



The temperature gauge was reading -4 degrees celsius=24.8 degrees Fahrenheit (I don't even want to think about how much electricity and power it takes to keep that GIANT building that cold, especially during the high heat of summer). I didn't have any warm clothing so I wasn't about to go in there to freeze to death, however if I get some free time before nextThursday I'm going to go back and do the slope(s).

 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!