The Burj Al Arab and Other Sights


Had an amazing lunch today at Shimmers beach bar and restaurant, overlooking the Burj Al Arab (Arabic for “Tower of the Arabs”), Dubai’s only self-proclaimed 7-star hotel.  It was one of the earlier developments of modern Dubai, completed in 1999 at a cost of $1 Billion (seriously!?).  Among one of the tallest hotels in the world, it is 1053ft (321M) tall with 52 floors.  It is designed to resemble the sail of a ship and, due to its architectural serendipity, 39% of its space is non-occupiable.  It also boasts a helipad that is never used, accessible to its penthouse suites. In 2017, they repurposed it, creating a tennis court, bringing in André Agassi and Roger Federer for an exhibition match at a height of 689ft (210M).  There are a total of 202 suites (no individual rooms) that start at $1200/night and top out at over $13,000/night for the penthouse suite.





Onward for a quick stop at the Mall of the Emirates and a glimpse of Ski Dubai, a 3-story indoor ski slope defying a torrid desert climate that often tops 110F. 


Next stop . . . Dubai Global Village. The EPCOT like expo of countries. 

Crazy!  They’ll make anything out of sand here!


On the other hand, we see a Turkish coffee vendor selling shit that will keep you up all night . . . 


 
Finished our evening at one of our fave French restaurants Etelier M.  My meal tonight was lobster linguine made with “Maine lobster” — does that look like a Maine lobster?  Tasty, yes. Maine lobster, no. I think this thing was closer to the shrimp family and never saw North American waters. Sad . . . :(


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