We traveled halfway around the world and back, non-stop, in the luxurious accommodations and impeccable service of United Airlines Business Class (the on-board map shows us flying between Baghdad and Tehran - not a good place for an emergency landing!)...
We visited a country that the last time I was there for a brief war, in 1991, was a barren desert, with only a handful of buildings higher than a few stories, and now has hundreds of the world’s most impressive skyscrapers, malls and attractions, including the highest building in the world, at 2,500 feet (below).
The conference was the World Leaders Syposium: The Middle East in the 21st Century. We met lots of interesting people, including the former Chairman and CEO of Dayton-Hudson Corporation and, over a glass of wine, lamented together about what Macy’s has done to that once great, iconic store...
We Visited the sky-room bar of one of the world’s only seven-star hotels, where rooms start at $10,000 per night and Fedderer plays tennis 1,000 feet above the water, and looked down on the surreal Palm Islands projects that are spreading man-made cities in the shape of palm trees into the Arabian Gulf...
We heard fascinating, no-holds-barred lectures on history, politics and international relations from former secretaries of defense and state, ambassadors, special emmisaries, legendary journalists and former service chiefs...
We walked an Arabic gold souq, took a water taxi on the Dubai Creek and had a traditional Arab meal complete with 4 courses of lamb and peppermint juice...
We met the woman who brought Gucci distribution to America, and wants us to visit her in Florence, one of her three homes around the world...
We walked the endless Persian carpets and marble floors of the world’s newest and grandest mosque, the Sheikh Zayed Mosque of Abu Dhabi, where our Yemeni guide described the 99 names of Allah (and the fact that camels are arrogant because only they know Allah’s 100th name) and the practical reasons Islamic men and women can’t pray together...
We had a fabulous meal at another of the very few seven-star hotels, the Abu Dhabi Palace Hotel, where a Croatian super model played a grand piano in the lobby, the floors are marble polished so perfectly they are like mirrors, and a huge taj-like entrance stands only for visits by the royal family of the UAE (United Arab Emirates). Pictured here is another of the seven star hotels, the Burj Al Arab, across from our hotel (the Jumeriah Beach). The hotel's exterior changed colors spectacularly at night...
We toured the exhibition for the UAE’s Sadiyat Island with its planner, who described how the multi-billion dollar project will transform the country into an arts leader in the Middle East by bringing a new Guggenheim museum as the centerpiece of a brand new, eco-friendly city on the sea...And last, but not least, we heard a former diplomat and hostage, with grace, vast historical perspective and humor, perfectly frame the strategic reasons that the U.S. and Iran must have a dialogue and repair its relationship to help ensure our national security in the 21st century...
Now there’s a trip...!
