Royal Voyage 2015 Day 18: Throwing it Our Way
Did I mention how fun yesterday was? We spent most of this morning looking at pictures from yesterday's Desert Safari. We didn't even get out of bed until close to 10AM and barely made it downstairs in time to hit the 11AM shuttle to take us to the Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa the tallest building in the world.
We had only two things on the agenda when we planned to go to the Dubai Mall. First was to find a Starbucks (because we had been craving it) and secondly go up the Burj Khalifa with our 5:30pm tickets. We took our shuttle bus to the mall and got there a little less then an hour later. We walked in and were immediately struck with the shear magnitude of this mall. Its enormous, the biggest (in terms of total size) in the world. We walked in and found a Starbucks immediately but got a little over zealous with the mall and decided to keep walking.
Throughout our day we passed an ice skating rink, an aquarium, a zoo, and a SEGA amusement park. You name it this place has it. They have every clothing, furniture, and accessory store you can think of and many you've probably never heard of. It's quite the place. We actually stumbled into the Reel Cinemas in the mall and bought tickets to see the 1:30pm showing of The Martian. Why not live like Joel and Jenn normally would, but in Dubai?
We did end up getting Starbucks for those worried and I even bought the Dubai Starbucks cup. At this point I now have a Starbucks cup from Paris, Barcelona, and Dubai. It's a new tradition I started at the end of last year's trip. Jenn got her hot chocolate (first this trip) and I had a cappuccino. What can I say I got addicted to them on the cruise. We walked around some more, Jenn bought a new bikini at H&M, and we saw our movie. We did split some popcorn at the movies as well.
After the incredible movie The Martian got done we still had an hour to kill. And for anyone that knows Jenn on vacation, that can be dangerous. We happened to walk by a Pottery Barn and Jenn started to peruse. After a couple minutes she saw a sign for 30% off throws (the things you "throw over" couches) and got super excited. Then she saw the price and converted it to US Dollars and got even more excited. Needless to say she got two throws for like 75% off what they would have in the US. How we are fitting these into our already jam packed suitcases is another question entirely. Needless to say getting that deal might have been the happiest I've ever seen Jenn. We probably did four or five, high fives as we exited the shop. I guess they were marked incorrectly in the store so after we left we saw them grab all of the throws and put new tags on them.
After our triumph at Pottery Barn it was time to go up the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. Before I even get to that though. Besides being the tallest building in the world its also gorgeous. What I've loved about Dubai so far is that it has such a beautiful aesthetic. The skylines aren't littered with tall rectangles, most of the buildings have some really cool and different architecture, and the Burj Khalifa is exactly that. We made our way a little before 5:30 up the Burj Khalifa. The line to get up to the top took around a half hour (the place was busy) but once we got to the top it was pretty spectacular. We saw the entirety of Dubai lit up just as the sun was setting and the lights of all the high-rises began to twinkle. But like any big building once you get past the fact your really high in the air and have taken your pictures there isn't much else to do. We walked around a bit more, took some more pictures and then took the worlds fastest elevator back down to ground level.
Once we had made it out of the Burj Khalifa and back into the mall it was time for dinner. Right before going up the Burj Khalifa we made reservations at a Peruivian restaurant called Wafi Gourmet. What we liked about this place was that it had seats outside that could take in the fountain shows. We sat down at around 7PM and started with hummus and some spicy sausage. This might have been the best hummus I've ever had it was great. Combine that with freshly baked pita bread (right out of the oven) and it was a great way to start the meal. Jenn got the shrimp for her entree and I had spicy lamb. Both where fantastic. It was a really great meal.
At this point it was close to 8:30 we had seen two different fountain shows which are very similar to The Bellagio in Las Vegas and it was time to call it a night. We walked through the mall to the taxi line and took a taxi back to our beautiful hotel. It might not have been traversing the deserts of Dubai but it was great walking around the worlds biggest mall, catching an amazing movie, getting a great deal, going to the top of the tallest building in the world, having an amazing meal, and finishing the night by cuddling and falling to sleep with Dubai as our backdrop. Not a bad day at all.
