Tuesday was our last full day in Dubai. We had a couple of things planned, but the goal for the last couple of days of the trip were to relax, enjoy the sunshine and prepare for the long trip home.
As this was to be a relaxing day, we slept in, and had a bit of a later start. We walked over to the local Tim Horton's (they are everywhere here!) and got our usual breakfast. From there we walked over to the tram station, which took us up to the Metro station. We thought we'd try and use public transportation for getting around today. It ended up working out really well, and I think we'll use it to get to the airport tomorrow when it's time to head for home.
The only big thing we had planned today was to go to the viewing platform on the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world! Justine had bought us two fast track tickets for the viewing deck on the 124th floor, through a Groupon. What an awesome purchase that ended up being! The access to the Burj Khalifa is from the Dubai Mall, which was about 25 minutes from our hotel on the Metro. There was a pretty big line, but we got to skip it with our tickets. Pretty sweet.
The elevator up to the 124th floor is unreal - 60 km/h, taking us to the top in less than a minute. It almost doesn't feel like you're moving. Once up, we wandered around the 124th and 125th floors, checking out the views. The weather had cleared a bit from the previous part of the trip, and we could see over to where out hotel was for the first few days, as well as out into the ocean to the man-made "The World" islands. You could also see over to the Burj al Arab, and you could just make out the skyline of the Marina district. It was pretty amazing.
We probably spent an hour up top in total, before heading back down to the Mall. We spent some time outside, taking pictures of the amazing structure, then went into the little souq they have attached to the Mall, to see if we could find some gifts for people. After that, it was back to the Metro. We headed back towards the hotel, but stopped a few stops short at the Mall of the Emirates to check out the indoor ski hill.
Inside the Mall of the Emirates
I had stopped here last time I was in Dubai and checked it out - it's pretty cool. Ski Dubai is literally an indoor ski hill attached to the mall. -4 C the whole time, with chair lifts and toboggan runs and the whole bit. We were tempted to do it, but at ~$80 for two hours, the price was too steep. After checking it out, we headed back to the Metro, and back to the hotel.
We didn't actually ski, but we did stop to check it out.
The one thing we haven't done a lot of, was spend time at the beach. So we headed down there to have an hour or so in the waves before the sun set. We grabbed towels from the pool area, then headed across the street to the very nice public beach. The hotel gives youth this great bag with towels and a beach mat, so we quickly set-up and jumped in the water. The temperature was about the same as in Abu Dhabi - not as warm as I expected - but there was a bit more wave action which is fun.
We splashed, floated and swan for about an hour, then watched a very nice sunset. At that point it was starting to get a bit cold, so we headed back in to get ready for dinner. Tonight was our last night in Dubai, and as this trip was really about celebrating Justine's birthday, I had booked us a table at Villa Beach at the Jumeirah Beach Resort, at the foot of the Burj al Arab.
This was another case of trying to replicate an amazing experience I had had while I was here the last time. I Had this great dinner on the beach, and afterwards I was able to go up to the bar at the Burj al Arab for a drink. Once again, things didn't really work out as planned. I had the taxi pull up to the Burj al Arab, and we were turned away as the access to Villa Beach was through the Jumeirah Beach Resort. A little odd, as that was not how I had accessed the restaurant last time.
After redirecting, we walked out to the restaurant on the beach. While beautiful, and right on the water and overlooking the Burj al Arab, it just didn't seem right, or the same as what I remembered. We asked the waiter about it, and found out that the beach where the old restaurant had been had eroded away, and the had to move the restaurant! That explains why the experience getting to VIlla Beach was different!
Despite the slight change in scenery, we had an amazing dinner. The views were outstanding, the weather was perfect, and despite the huge bill we had a great evening. Sadly, you know need to book access to the bar at the Burj al Arab (with a minimum spend of 350D per person...), so we weren't able to do that this time either. Things change, usually not for the better.
Still, we had an amazing night, and a fitting wrap up to an amazing trip!