So the rest of Cityscape was very interesting. What a whirlwind of a week. Everyday I started at 8AM and ended each day at the exhibition at about 8PM. Below is a picture of the booth with the entire DeSimone crew here in Abu Dhabi.

From left to right: Me, Ahmed, Mark, Kyle, Vince, and Gorka.

We had an excellent showing at Cityscape. Vince, Mark, and Ahmed spent many hours walking around visiting many Architects and Developers. In general, the entire show did not do well, as many people did come to Cityscape. However, for us, that was good as some of the top people in these companies were accessible and willing to speak to us. Gorka and I also walked around meeting various architects and product suppliers. Some exhibitors had small booths like us, other companies built elaborate displays with city models, building models, and some of the booths were built with meeting rooms on a second floor. Vince went back to Miami on Thursday morning, and Kyle went back to New York on Friday Morning. I enjoyed the time spent with Vince (always entertaining, and a great learning experience.) Gorka and I spent some time out on the town showing Kyle around. Kyle is the Marketing Director, and her take on the company was interesting. I enjoyed meeting Kyle.

Sorouh is a large developer. Their display was nicely done and very detailed.

After the long week, we decided to live it up a little, and visit Dubai. Dubai is only about one hour north along the U.A.E. coast. We decided to go to a water park on the Palm Jumeirah at the Atlantis hotel.
The Atlantis Hotel is at the crescent of the Palm. We met some other people Gorka and I know from Abu Dhabi. We actually had quite the crew. Carl and Chris from Malta, Cristoff from Poland, Patricia from Spain, and Margaret from the US, as well as Gorka and I. The water park was amazing fun. One slide actually had jets which pushed you up the slide (very weird) and another had you do, practically, a freefall for 28 meters. Almost all of the slides ended at the never-ending river, which in places, produced large waves with the power to knock you off your tube. Check out the below video of me on the 28 meter "Leap of Faith" slide.

Atlantis Hotel, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai

Hey Josh, you would have had fun on this play structure! I wish you had been here!

I did miss my kiddos a lot while at the park. They would have had so much fun. I will be taking them to the water park this summer when I get home.

It was surreal to be standing on the Palm (some have called it the 8th wonder of the world). From the top of one of the slides, I could see some of the prongs of the Palm. Much of the land on the palm is developed with Villas (or big two story houses) most with beach front property. The water was beautiful and full of little fish. What an amazing place.

We checked into an amazing Hotel with a very comfortable room at the Grosvenor House Hotel. Gorka and I split the cost. Close by was a Spanish restaurant at the Al Qasr hotel, which means "the castle" in Arabic. We met the entire group from the water park and had sangria, tapas, and paella while overlooking the famous Burj Al Arab Tower.

Lobby of the Grosvenor House Hotel

The Burj Al Arab from a club where we had drinks and Shisha after dinner. In the forground is the Al Qasr Hotel.

Burj Al Arab

After dinner we went to a club and I had to try Shisha. Look closeley, that is an apple at the top of the apparatus, but the flavor was grape. I think you are smoking fruit flavored tabacco, and it is a tradition in the area. Sometimes it is shared in a group or couple, and sometimes you smoke your own. An interesting experience, but I didn't particularly enjoy it.

So I think that is all for this blog. I did one other thing, but it's no big deal. Scroll down if you are really interested.....

hmmm..... so you want to know. Well, like I said it's no big deal. Well, it's kinda big....like the worlds tallest building big!!!!! Check out my pictures standing next to the Burj Dubai. The feeling standing next to it was amazing. On one hand it makes me proud to be a tall building designer, on the other hand, I think, wow...who do we think we are? There is no way buildings should be this tall. Unreal!