My Sunday Photo - Week 57 January 2016

When you live in Dubai, it's impossible not to notice the Burj Khalifa, the World's Tallest Building. Hubby says I have enough photographs without taking any more, but how could I resist this one.

From January 1st till February1st every year in Dubai is the DSF or Dubai Shopping Festival, with upto 70% off almost everything. There are some pretty good sales throughout the year, but the DSF is a big tourist attraction in it's own right, with an estimated 3 million visitors every year.

So with all those visitors here for the shopping it only seems fair that they get to see the best of Dubai.

The Burj Khalifa is currently covered in 70,000 LED's to set a world record for the biggest LED show ever. It covers 32,467 sq metres, which is equivalent to four and a half football pitches.

I've decided not to set myself any challenges or tasks this week as this was the only one I managed to achieve was to visit the Burj Khalifa to see this display. I never got round to the ironing or visiting the beach last week. My only challenge is to get some sleep during the week and not spend the weekend in bed, nursing a heavy cold.

Week 4 - One Daily Positive and Project 366

All of a sudden it was Wednesday, it was only one day till the weekend and one more night till hubby returned from Turkey and the only thing I'd achieved this week was to still be alive. I was also convinced there was another week in January, as it's passed by in a blur.

I'm so tired since returning to work, despite getting around 7 hours of undisturbed sleep every night and no other commitments apart from walking the dog. I've been eating healthily, salad and fruit during the day and a meal every evening, either home cooked or stopping off somewhere on my way back from work. I wrote a list for My Sunday Photo of things I wanted to do, but just didn't achieve, as I've still been battling with a heavy cold all week and ended up in bed by 6pm on Thursday.

I also forgot to post day 24 and 25, I found them in the saved folder. I really need to get myself better organised, I can't carry on like this, it's driving me mad.

Sunday
Day 24 #onedailypositive #project366 there goes hubby for the week to Turkey with work. I hate being on my own but at least now I'm working and it's only the evenings and I have plenty of things to occupy my time.

Monday
Day 25 #onedailypositive #project366 I almost had a melt down at work today, I felt overloaded with things to do. I'm managing the teaching, planning, students, classroom, behaviour, paperwork and other staff rather well, individually, but when everything demands my attention within a short space of time, I'm finding it tough. It's only my 4th week back in work in 5 years, so I guess I should go easy on myself. I lost my car key, which someone handed into security which I'm grateful for, I had a sleep, recovered and finished all the laminating. New day tomorrow.

Tuesday
Day 26 #onedailypositive #project366 I took Bob out for a walk searching for inspiration for my daily photo and realised that if I turn right out the gate and crossed the road I could see the @burjalarab 3.5 miles away usually I turn left and see the @burjkhalifa 5.5 miles away. This week's Animal Tales post answers the question 'Does a bear shit in the woods?'

Wednesday
Day 27 #onedailypositive #project366 I set myself a 10.30pm bedtime. I got home from work at 4.30pm wrote letters and filled paperwork for the UK, went to the post office, shopped, had dinner out, did next weeks planning, walked the dog, had a bath, went to bed on time. However it's 11pm now, hubby arrives home at 4am from Turkey and I have work tomorrow, so putting book down, finish tea, clean teeth and sleep.

Thursday
Day 28 #onedailypositive #project366 I was so tired at the end of the week I had to use old photos for the 2 photo prompts and like this post, it's a day late. The 3 other pics I took were of the car temp at 22c at 6.30am and it's supposed to be winter and the morning shot of the sky outside my front door. The cat and dog are now spending sun-thurs on their own since I returned to work and they're not too impressed. At the moment we leave Bob outside while the weather is cooler and the cat decides daily if she wants to be in or out. The positive is that the cat is choosing to spend more time with us rather than just being there. She did make us laugh when she demanded stroking and promptly deciding hubby should stop by hissing and clawing at him. This week's HDYGG post was from last summers trip to Canada and The Gardens of Casa Loma, Toronto.

Friday
Day 29 #onedailypositive #project366 despite feeling really ill since yesterday evening I'm really glad I made the effort to get to @thedubaimall to see the World Record 70,000 LED display on the @burjkhalifa

Saturday
Day 30 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎project366‬ I woke at 5am coughing and spluttering and a blocked nose, we ran out of gas for the stove and had to use the camp stove, attempted to return the car hire but the car wouldn't start, tried several times to get up and do something but was unable to get out of bed for too long. On a positive, Peter cleaned the house and cooked dinner, which removed a lot of stress and helped me to rest.

Casa Loma, Toronto, Canada with City Pass

I spent 3 weeks in Canada last year, in Hamilton and had only 3 days in Toronto before flying home to Dubai, with so much to see and do I opted to purchase the Toronto City Pass, which gave me entry to 5 locations around the city, sadly the Zoo was too far out of the City in the limited time I had to visit, but I did manage to get to visit Casa Loma once I'd navigated the transport system from near the airport, where I was staying, by bus and train, I found Casa Loma easily, the directions in the City Pass were very helpful. Although it did involve a medium length walk up hill from the subway.

Casa Loma is North America's only full sized castle and a premier historical site in Toronto. Designed by architect E J Lennow in 1911 by Sir Henry Pellatt. It is an Edwardian Castle that took 300 men, 3 years to build. It covers 200,000 square feet and cost $3,500,000 to build and sits in 5 acres of land.

On arrival at Casa Loma you are directed down the stairs to collect an audio guide and a map, passing a cafe and well stocked gift shop, where you start the tour. Everything was well sign posted and there was lots of information available in several languages.

The tunnel that leads to the garage, stables and potting shed.

Dining room where many a function has taken place both then and now and there was a wedding photo shoot taking place the day I visited.

Originally designed as an indoor, heated pool, but never finished due to the Pellatt's financial difficulties.

The staircases were numerous, these are the ones leading to the servants quarters.

The Pellatt's had separate bedrooms.

The plumbing for the bathrooms looked quite modern.

Third floor full of military memorabilia.

Inside the tower.

I love a good mezzanine and this one was huge, can't help think about the heating bills though.

An exact replica of the Queen's Coronation Chair that sits in Westminster Abbey, carved by the choirboys in the 18th century.

You can see the Gardens of Casa Loma in a separate post with HDYGG? How does your garden grow?

The Gardens of Casa Loma, Toronto, Canada with City Pass and HDYGG?

In July 2015 I spent 3 days in Toronto, Canada on my own. I bought a Toronto City Pass to see the 5 major attractions Toronto has to offer, sadly the Zoo was too far out of the City in the limited time I had to visit, but I did manage to get to visit Casa Loma once I'd navigated the transport system from near the airport, where I was staying, by bus and train, I found Casa Loma easily, the directions in the City Pass were very helpful. Although it did involve a medium length walk up hill from the subway, but as you can see it was a beautiful walk. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of greenery in Toronto.

The house is truly spectacular and you can read more about the history of it here.

The views of Toronto were stunning and you can see how green it all is.

The gardens were visible from all the windows over 3 floors.

You can see the CN Tower from the gardens.

It is summer in June and the flowers were in full bloom.

This archway led back into the house to the conservatory, which was spectacular. 

After a long walk through tunnels in the basement and passing through stables and garages I discovered the potting shed.

You can see how far away the house is from the potting shed.

I had the most amazing time in Toronto, which was part of a visit to see my very dear Penfriend Catherine or AlwaysARedhead on Social Media. I'd love to visit Canada again and see more of the beautiful countryside, but sadly it was a once in a life time trip. You can read more about the castle itself over here.

Next weeks post is Camping in the Wild in Algonquin and once I've finished all the posts I'll be linking them all up.