Häagen-Dazs Cafe Dubai International Airport Terminal 3, United Arab Emirates

We had a layover of around 3 hours in Dubai International Airport before our flight to Kuala Lumpur. Feeling a bit peckish we originally wanted to go to Jack's, assuming we were departing from the A Gates at Terminal 3. Since we were leaving from the B Gates we had to change our plans.

We spotted a Häagen-Dazs Cafe and decided to go there, as we love their ice cream and related products they sell.

There is a large menu board behind the counter. After deciding what to have, I placed our order with a member of staff. It was self-service.

We had a bottle of Fiji water, a hot chocolate, two salted caramel crunch and a cheese cake.

It was delicious and refreshing.

The cost was ca. 160 AED, approximately 39.70 Euro or 43.60 USD.

Should we feel peckish and depart from the B Gates at Dubai International Airport, Terminal 3, we will definitely stop by again.

©2015   

Flutes @ Dublin Airport, Terminal 2 Airside, Ireland

Before our flight to Dubai we had lunch at Flutes, one of our favorite outlets in Dublin Airport Terminal 2 located airside.

During previous visits we had breakfast. Today we enjoyed their lunch offerings.

Patrons can choose their own table or sit at the bar. Orders are only taken at the bar and payment is accepted after the meal.

The waitress is going to deliver the drinks and food to the table.

We had two Illy cappuccinos, two orange juice and two salads in a Martini glass. He had the Irish Caprese, because it didn’t contain Mozzarella, but Irish Boilie goat’s cheese, cherry tomatoes and green leaves. My salad was Tuscan with Parma ham, Parmesan shavings and green salad. It was very tasty indeed and filling. While it is quite novel and fun to eat from a Martini glass it could be also messy, like the glass falling over when trying to spear a tomato or salad leaf on the fork.

Staff was friendly and efficient.

We paid 36.30 Euro (ca. 40.20 USD).

Since we like Flutes and their upscale fare, we will return.

©2015  

Flight with Emirates Dublin - Dubai - Kuala Lumpur and return in Economy Class

Our holiday in July 2015 took us to Malaysia and Singapore.

We booked our flights with Emirates to Kuala Lumpur via Dubai in economy class.

A few days before our departure we received an email containing the inflight menu and what was on offer at ICE, the entertainment system.
Check in in Dublin at Terminal 2 was done efficient and with a smile. Originally we had chosen all our seats online at the time of booking our flights, but for some reason on the leg between Dubai International Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport it was changed. 
Since seat selections are complimentary we used this service on each leg, but we still sat  together and it was just a row or so behind the original selection we didn’t mind. Our luggage was checked through to Kuala Lumpur. We also liked that the baggage claim tag was stuck onto a separate card than the boarding passes or one of our passports.
On the return flight our seat choice was honored.

On this occasion we had purchased Fast Track security access from DAA for 5.99 Euro (ca. 6.65 USD) per person, online. It also included a voucher for free coffee. Without fast track the waiting time was approximately 15 minutes. We were through security with no waiting at all and took maybe two minutes or less.

We had lunch at Flutes, one of our favorite outlets airside in Terminal 2. A review is going to follow.

Afterwards we browsed the shops a bit and went to our gate when it was time to board.

All flights were on a Boeing 777-300 ER. The seats were comfortable and in a 3-4-3 configuration. Only on one leg nobody sat beside us in the aisle seats. All flights were booked out or near capacity and had families with small children, who were overall well behaved, on board.

The food was as always good and there were two main courses to choose from. It was either a fish and meat option or beef and chicken. On one leg the chicken was in hot demand. Some guests might have been scared by the idea of eating an unfamiliar perch, a fresh water fish. It was what we would have chosen in the first place, so it didn’t matter to us. We liked it. Of course the desserts and ice cream were the highlight. The meals reflected where we started from and the destination, for example there were curries and braised beef, a lentil salad and other dishes.
Vegetarian and other special dietary needs meals have to be pre-ordered.
Non-alcoholic beverages were served regularly. There were also tea and coffee, wine and liquor available after meals, plus there was the option to enjoy a snipe of Champagne for USD 15.

ICE, Emirates in-flight entertainment system had a wide selection, but on some older Boeings we had problems with the touch screens (They weren’t very intuitive or suddenly stopped in the middle of a documentary or film and it took some effort to get it working again.)
When it was functioning, we watched documentaries, a classic, foreign movies and played “Who wants to be a Millionaire?”.

Toilets were spotless clean. Only once I saw crew discarding left over juices and some of it splashed on the walls, leaving a sticky mess and a sweet smell in the toilet.

The crew was overall attentive and friendly.
The flight attendants on our leg between Kuala Lumpur and Dubai were a bit stressed out and tired, because their journey began in Australia.

There were turbulences over India, because of the monsoon season and the seat belt sign was on while passing through.

We had planned in a generous layover of around three hours each time we had to connect in Dubai to have enough time for a meal and to avoid generally stress. There’s nothing worse than running through a large airport to catch your flight.
Arriving in Dubai from Dublin we had a remote stand and had to take a shuttle to bring as to the B Gates. It was a fairly long ride, around 25 minutes.

We had ice cream at Haagen Dazs and on the return lunch at Carluccio’s, located at the A Gates.  Reviews for those are going to follow.

One important thing about Kuala Lumpur International Airport: There are two security checks, one directly at the gate, so it is not possible to bring water bottles on board.

Of course we will fly with Emirates again. It is one of our favorite airlines. We like breaking up a long-haul flight to the Far East in Dubai. The service is great and reliable, the food good and the entertainment system should cater to most tastes.

©2015 

Oddham Finbar Nose

Jamison Powell was looking forward to the Thanks Giving Dinner his son gave every year. He enjoyed the company of younger people. The upcoming dinner was going to be interesting, because his son Stanford had changed his management team and there were a lot of new faces.

Stanford introduced Jamison to one of the new managers. He caught the name and thought it was very strange. "Why would your parents name you Oddham Finbar Nose? I don't get it!" Mr. Nose looked strange at him. Jamison's gaze wandered to Mr. Nose's wife. For some reason her shoulders quivered as if she tried to hide a laugh. Jamison didn't understand it. Mr. Nose replied: I was named after my grandfather and father." “Were you teased as a child?” “Merciless, but I didn’t rise to their teasing, so they gave up. I think I have heard all possible variations of my name from baked to fried ham.” “I believe parents should be responsible and give only more common names.” Jamison said. Stanford could have said something about nicknames too. His had been Ivy League, because he had been named after the university and since it was quite prestigious, class mates saw it fitting. It hadn’t been too bad, though, and some still called Stanford Ivy League.

Oddham agreed completely with Jamison. He had a one and a half year old daughter, who was named Casey. Jamison was satisfied. He thought Casey wouldn’t have problems later on and wanted to see a photograph of her. Oddham obliged.

Oddham, Frieda and Jamison had a good time during dinner.

Later Jamison talked with Stanford about Oddham. Jamison found out that the CSO wasn’t named Oddham Finbar Nose. His real name was Coldham Fintan Noose. Jamison wondered why Fin, as Stanford insisted his CSO wanted to be called, hadn’t corrected him. It explained the looks and Frieda’s suppressed laughter, though. Jamison hoped Fin didn’t believe he had called him by a different name on purpose. Sometimes it was difficult for Jamison to follow a conversation, because he was hard of hearing due to his age. He brought it up with Stanford, who promised to have a chat with Fin.

Fin had already worked out Jamison was hard of hearing and to save him embarrassment he hadn’t corrected Stanford’s father. Stanford was glad Fin had been diplomatic and let his father know there weren’t any hard feelings.

©2015

Classic Restaurant @ The Mercedes Benz Museum Stuttgart, Germany

When we planned our visit to the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart (Please see also review.) we thought we would be hungry and made a reservation at Classic. The restaurant is housed in the same building as the musuem on the lowest level and is connected via walkway to the Mercedes Benz showroom.

Originally we thought we could leave the exhibition and have lunch, but realized this wasn't possible, so we decided to have our lunch when we had finished with the museum.

We apologized for our late arrival, but it wasn't a problem. It seems we weren't the first to underestimate the size of the exhibition.

The menu was available online, so we had checked it already and knew what was on offer and had budgeted our lunch already.

The design was like the building, it is contemporary with a lot of glass and steel. Classic is located partly in an atrium and has also an outdoor seating area.

We were brought to our table. It was not directly under the glass cupola and floor to ceiling window. We were glad, because we thought thanks to the hot weather and intense sunshine it would be too hot there, but it was very memorable and relaxing instead.

The restaurant had a few guests sitting by the window, a family with adult sons, and couples.

Classic serves international and regional cuisine.

Our waitress was very friendly and efficient.

We ordered a large bottle of still water, one glass of Laurent-Perrier Champagne and a Hugo, Wiener Schnitzel, Maultaschen (Swabian Ravioli) and Ofenschlupfer, a Swabian dessert with raisins.

The atmosphere was very good, the food and drink delicious and high quality.

We paid 59 Euro (ca. 65.25 USD).

Of course we would return. It's in fact so good, it's worth going there even without visiting the Mercedes Benz Museum.

©2015    

Mercedes Benz Museum Stuttgart, Germany

Over the years since opening of this museum we heard a lot about it and read reports from others who visited it already, so as my fiancee has an interest in cars and car design - especially luxury ones, it was a highlight to go to the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart for real during our April 2015 travels.

We took the tram S1 from the Stuttgart Main Train station towards Kirchheim an der Teck, getting off at Neckar Park station, where we followed the signs to the museum.

The walk took around ten minutes.

The building looks stunning and can be easily perceived as small. It's just opposite Daimler's headquarters. It was designed by UN Studio and shaped like a cloverleaf. The center has been removed to have a triangle shaped atrium, which reminds of the infamous Wankel engine.

The exhibition space's architect was HG Mars.

We had bought our tickets online, so we could simply proceed to the entrance of the exhibition.

A ticket allows for one entry a day.

An elevator whisks you up to the highest floor to the beginning of the exhibition.

The first thing we saw was a horse sculpture, the most common type of transport at the early stages of the car, beside the train.

It started with the background of Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz. Interesting enough they never met in person during their lifetime. The companies were merged in the 1920ies to insure survival.

A highlight was seeing some of the first cars ever built.

The exhibition led down and when we reached the end we arrived at the ground floor.

Sometimes there are also special exhibitions.

The sections were chronologically sorted and car models represented each decade. The museum didn't focus alone on their own history and cars. It showed also what was going on in the world at the time, including the moon landing.

There was a future section, describing what cars could look like, a VIP section (Cars driven by famous people, including the Pope mobile, Lady Diana's Mercedes, the actor Hardy Kruger's SUV and so on.), a racing section and one that showed utility cars. I loved especially the Argentinian public transport bus. It was colorful.

Some vehicles were also a surprise like a snow plough and ambulance.

We must be getting older, because we could remember a few models driving on the road twenty to thirty years ago, that were now displayed at the museum.

There were over 160 models and after over five hours I couldn't see Mercedes anymore. He couldn't have enough on the other side.

In the basement we found the gift shop and Classic, the restaurant. A review of Classic is going to follow. Originally we had a reservation for 13.00 hours, but realized the exhibition was too large to make it on time, but this wasn't a problem at all as we found out.

There was a car dealership directly connected to the museum.

We enjoyed our visit and would return again, plus we look forward to visit the Porsche Museum too in our future.

©2015