Apartment 2002, Golf Tower 2

After a few days of hot, fruitless searching in various suburbs across Dubai with an assortment of real estate agents Margaux and I were trumped by Thomas. He came back from work via an apartment viewing and proceeded to describe a brilliant place he'd just viewed. Upon his description certain elements began to sound surprisingly familiar, and when he suggested I go and see it, I replied, "I don't need to - you've just described Hannah's place, which I love!"

And so we happily moved in to Golf Tower 2, just a few floors above our new friends.

It's in an area close to the Dubai Marina, with views across a swanky golf course (hence the building name) and the sea on the horizon. It's full of light, which is particularly awesome if you have curtains... we got as far as hanging some up in Margaux's room, but haven't quite managed to do so with ours. I sleep with an eye mask on, in case you were wondering...

It's a bit hard to tell from these photos, but the main photo and the top two photos on the right form a bit of a panorama from the living area looking out. The sea is on the horizon, but you have a to squint a bit - or just trust me. Then there's the swimming pool that services Towers 1, 2, and the villas, but we swim there every day and usually meet the same crowd... We have a lovely routine of Thomas taking Margaux down when he gets home from work... he seems to meet a lot of people out at that time with their respective toddlers, giving the kids a final opportunity to expend their leftover energy and hopefully sleep through the night!

And the final photo is of a lake basically at the bottom of the Towers, which is bordered by a path that leads to the local community village. There you can find a supermarket, pharmacy, a couple of cafes, 2 beauty parlours, a bookshop, a couple of restaurants, and an optician. Perfect!

I've just realised that the bottom photos also form a bit of a panorama... you can see the little fountain in the top right hand corner of the left photo, located in the bottom left hand corner of the right photo... if that makes sense.

Anyway, that's the view.

This collage encompasses moving in over a few days... I don't know why Margaux was wearing the skeleton of a lampshade as a hat, but it was hilarious.

So there it is! Our lovely home.

As for the outside... Well, if it's before about 09:00 then I can take Margaux out for a swim or a play, but after that it gets too hot. We have had a routine of Thomas taking Maggie down for a swim when he returns from work, which we've all enjoyed. Most of our friends in this building have come from encounters by the pool or in the lift; it's been wonderful to have a number of other friends with young kids who come from such a multitude of backgrounds... we all understand without needing to express it the pluses and minuses of moving away from home, ostensibly as a trailing spouse, with at least one kid under your wing. That's quite special.

This collage shows the lovely walk around the lake to the shops near our apartment, plus the three swimming pools and the outdoor area:

Here's a little video of Maggie on the outdoor play equipment: The self-entertainer (outside) - taken before she stacked it down the brick steps and ended up with a lump the size of an egg on her forehead. Poor thing.