Ski Dubai and The Marina

This mall houses Ski Dubai and an awesome Carrefour store. Carrefour is like a super Wal-mart.

Ski Dubai ski slope jutting out from the Mall. 

This was something that I hadn't seen in the U.S. at the time. Now they're a more common place and are referred to as  Hover boards. The Smart Balance Wheel Scooter is a cross between a skateboard and a Segway. The employee made it look easy gliding around the store effortlessly. However, a customer tried it and almost took out the entire store.

The famous Ski Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates.

The restaurant that borders Ski Dubai is fashioned as a ski lodge. The ski lodge overlooks the ski slopes and winter fun park.

  

Winter fun park

Another view of the winter fun park area

 

Ski Dubai was a lot of fun. The temperature on the slopes was a cool 29 degrees Fahrenheit which was a nice relief from the 100 degree temperatures in the desert.

View from the chairlift. Black diamond trail on the left and Intermediate and beginner slope on the right.

   

 

After hanging up our skis, we ventured back into the mall to check out the Carrefour store. It's hard to convey the sheer size of the store, but the mall map gives some scale to the store's foot print on this level of the mall.

Carrefour. The aisles seem endless.

This picture was taken in the other direction. Pictures can't do justice to the large size of this store.

This is one of the small appliance aisles of the store. On weekends, the number of sales associates available to help you is staggering. In some departments, they outnumber the customers. Fortunately, they aren't overbearing. They're available to help, but they're not pushing product unlike the souqs.

I don't know if this size flat screen is available in mainstream U.S. electronic stores yet, but there were 85 inch flat screens in Carrefour.

An entire aisle of eggs. How many different types of eggs could there be? We couldn't get the entire selection in our picture.

Snap, Crackle and Pop have a Swedish vibe going on in Dubai.

A different look to an old favorite.

The adolescent boy in me found this cereal name to be hilarious.

The next stop was the Marina. The Marina was just incredible. It's essentially a city within the city.

Selfie in the Marina

A tower with a twist. I love the distinctive twist of the Cayan tower on the left.

We took this tour Dubai cruise from the Marina.

Panoramic of the Marina skyline from the water.

This is the drop zone for those fearless enough to skydive Dubai.

  

Aboard the cruise

My iPhone tapped out on the cruise in the withering desert heat. Maybe I do need to spring for that 24k gold model. 

Cool Pier 7 rotunda restaurant overlooking the Marina. Every table has a view.

A look at the Marina walk from the tour boat.

A water taxi

Beach along the Marina with the city skyscrapers as a backdrop

Most food deliveries are handled by motorcyclist like this one.  The container strapped to the back of the motorcycle contains the food and keeps it hot or cold. In the foreground of the skyline, you can see the futuristic looking metro station.

I am married to an educator so the requisite school bus pic