Over the weekend, Meg and I ventured to the Emirates Palace Hotel for lunch. Costing over $3 billion to construct (reportedly the most expensive hotel ever), the Palace Hotel is pretty impressive and home to some great restaurants, a private beach and the world’s first gold vending machine.

Yes – you read that correctly – a vending machine that dispenses gold. The machine gives you a selection of about 12 different options. Each one is like a little pendant and branded with a country. For example there was a piece that had the Swiss flag, one that had a picture of the Emirates Palace, etc. The cheapest you could buy was a gram for a few hundred dollars…all the way up to several ounces (i.e. thousands of dollars). And the best part – it was cash only!!

The food at Mezzaluna (Italian) was superb and helped fill a dietary void we had for several weeks. Speaking of food, we found it interesting that the Hotel uses over 5kg of edible gold per year in some of its desserts. Also interesting – before the guard at the front gate would let our cab onto the property, he inspected our dress. There is a strict policy of conservative dress on the grounds. After we were waved through, Meg and I quietly pumped our fists in victory! Score one for the Yanks!