We had a slow start to the day and didn't leave the flat until 1100. Aaron very kindly offered to drive us to the Palm at Jumeirah to have a look at the feat of engineering. The islands, in the shape of a palm tree surrounded by a crescent are entirely artificial. They have be constructed by dredging sand and creating a series of man-made islands. At the furthest point from the coast is the Jumeirah Palms hotel. Other parts of the tree shape have luxury apartments and houses on them. There are several luxury hotels on the outer crescent too.
Quite frankly, we can admire it as a feat of engineering, but found little else to attract us. Much of the Palm is taken up with huge construction sites and it all looks very scruffy. Tourists in the hotels must largely be stranded there as there is little else to do on the Palm. It's a monorail journey back to the mainland followed by a tram ride to the metro system. Definitely not our sort of place.
We continued on to a small nearby Marina where we had a very pleasant lunch sitting right by the water. We had a wander up the jetty to admire some of the luxury motor yachts moored there. From here, we headed to the Mall of the Emirates.
The main reason for our mall visit was to do the grocery shopping at a large branch of Carrefour. Having parked, we just happened to pass an ice cream outlet so felt obliged to test their wares. Having collected our ice creams we walked across the mall to Dubai Ski. Here there is a ski slope complete with ski lifts and toboggan runs. As we stood there looking through the glass whilst wearing shorts and tshirts, it was rather odd seeing people wrapped up in parkas, hats and gloves and the thermometer showing -4C. As we watched, some penguins were lead out into an icy pond area so people could interact with them. Only in Dubai!
Now it's time for a beer on the balcony! The penguins made me feel cold.
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