Journey - Part 1&2

Finally a moment to write a post about the travels. Seville, Spain was fun. Saw a couple sites (pics coming as soon as I can find my camera cable!), but mostly walked the streets of the old town trying to find my way around and discovering amazing alleyways, roman ruins, and arab baths. I feel if I had just another couple days I could make sense of the maze of streets. Imagine the games you could play in that city! It would be so much fun because it is so no- grid.

Traveling in Spain with Renfe, the train service is easy, fast, efficient -- the best way to get city to city in Spain. Malaga, a coastal city where we caught our plane was more industrial and had a smaller old town, but with the most amazing fort town with roman ruins layered on phonecian, then layered again with moorish and christian. I could have spent hours making my way around the place.

Finally we arrived in Dubai, UAE where it took hours to rent a car and sort out the details. Driving in Dubai is both easy and maddening. It's a grid system with just a few main roads, but between the round-abouts, construction, and minimal signage, it is really easy to get lost. The locals are very helpful in giving directions, but the sense of what is near what is not so precise. Everything is opposite something else, whether or not that is where you are going. Do I care that the Regent hotel is opposite the shopping mall when were I want to get is somewhere else.

Dubai is Las Vegas on steriods, yes. I think though, Dubai is more like Second Life (SL), whatever you can imagine can be built. They are terraforming all the time here -- creating new islands in the ocean by dredging up the sea floor. Except in Dubai, you see the workers carting the dirt around on their heads, whereas in SL that part of building is conveniently hidden. You have the same sense of vast swaths of buildings without people. A little strange, these are my first impressions.

There are many Dubai's -- we went to Dubai for the wealthy last night -- the Atlantis hotel at the tip of the Palms (the terraformed island in the middle of the ocean lined with houses and hotels). It's a shopping mall meets aquarium meets New York style restaurants. Then there is the other Dubai, where about 40-50% of the people live -- less glitzy, less clean.

Off today to see older part of UAE -- Ajman (neighboring emirate), Deira (old Dubai), and will probably visit some souks (open markets). Will post pics hopefully soon.