The Second Biggest, Tallest and Best!

Indoor ski lift.

It was late morning when we got on the Metro and rode to the second largest mall in Dubai, the Mall of the Emirates. This is considered a swanky shopping destination of over 500 retail stores, a big kids play area, Magic Planet and dozens of eating establishments. But the big draw is the indoor ski area! With real snow!! It has 6000 tons of snow, ski lifts and t-bar lifts, toboggan runs, tubing, and of course skiing. The bad part is that we were going to have to pay just to go take a picture so we settled for looking through the windows. For a moment it felt like Christmas!!

We grabbed a cab to go over to Madinat Jumeirah next door to Burj Al Arab. Madinat is a modern hotel complex with two hotels on either side of a shopping and dining Mecca along a maze of waterways and walk ways on the beach. It has beautiful Arabian architectural styles. We explored as best we could since we are not guests of either hotel but the main reason we came here is to get a close-up picture of Burj Al Arab or the Arabian Tower, an iconic symbol for modern Dubai. To go inside the building we would have to have a reservation for tea ($80 each) or for cocktails ($76 each) or for dinner (reservations needed months ago). It is 1053 feet tall and is considered the tallest all-suite hotel. It is considered a 7 star hotel. Probably one of the most expensive buildings ever constructed but the cost has never been revealed.

A cab back to our hotel and naps - we are running out of steam!