After less than 6 weeks on the ground (and most of those weeks filled with Christmas fun), I admittedly felt a bit guilty about embarking on yet another vacation.

But, life’s too short to be guilty.

And so, it was nearly midnight on my - ahem - 29th birthday (Jan 7th) when our very pleasant, 6-hour flight began descending into Dubai, offering a spectacular view of the newly-opened Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world. And, a short while later, Sophie carried on her very special Dubai arrival tradition by providing mommy with another spectacularly fragrant diaper immediately upon our arrival in the baggage claim area. (Thanks, sweetie. It’s nice to have special traditions.)

We had fled Germany just in time to avoid headlines like ” Europe Buried Under 14,000 Feet of Snow”, and “All European Flights Cancelled For The Rest Of The Winter “… all read from the comfort of our poolside loungechair in sunny Dubai. I lazily wondered to myself, ” maybe we’ll never get back. Maybe we’ll just have to stay here and go shopping every day, in each of Dubai’s 150 malls, forever”. It didn’t help matters that Sophie suddenly started calling our Dubai apartment-hotel “our other home. Sophie’s other home. Mommy’s other home. Daddy’s other home.”

Truly, there is something about Dubai that I find very special. Yes, yes, the overexuberant development and atricious labor rights leave something very great to be desired…. and yes, Soenke always says it’s a “city built on money”. But, it’s also an international crossroads, a place where nearly every person you meet is from somewhere different than you… sharing usually only a common language (English) and a desire to carve out a better life for themselves and their family. It’s fascinating. It’s like being dropped into a big global experiment. I will observe with interest Dubai’s future… and my observations will surely entail more trips to gather data.

But yes, eventually, we DID get back to Europe.. we’re still snowed in, and we won’t be seeing the likes of 75F anytime soon!

Happily, i have this great photologue to keep me warm:

———-

Our visit to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel:

Lunch at the Waterfront Cafe, overlooking the Burj Al Arab:

A particularly nice shot of the Burj:

Sophie likes the local wildlife:

———–
An Evening At The Dubai Mall

Before meeting the gang at the Mall, I indulged myself at the luxe Cleopatra’s Spa, over at Wafi Center:

While I enjoyed my hot stone massage, the rest of the group took in the Dubai Aquarium:

I love browsing side by side with Emirati families…

Quite a Christmas tree!

I got cash here… great signage!

Scenes from the Rainforest Cafe:

A first glimpse of the tallest building in the world:

Sophie loves her daddy:

———-
Photos from our visit to the World’s Tallest Building, the Burj Khalifa:

In the elevator, lots of anticipation…

View straight down from the observation deck:

View of the manmade islands, collectively designed to be a map of the world:

Happy family at the top:

Sophie admires the view:

The Einfeldts like being up high:

World’s worst job (window cleaner at the top of this tower!):

———–
This and that

A sunset roundabout in the Umm Al-Quwainn emirate (or maybe that was Ajman…) - we drove about an hour out to a great kids’ waterpark, and passed through a few emirates en-route.

Back at the Mall of the Emirates, Sophie quickly found the bounce house!

——
A Visit to Historic Dubai Creek:

I organized a creek cruise with this nice man and his boat:

The family loved it!

Great views from our creek ride:

No traditional Arab dinner is complete without a french-fry-eating fish:

I looked for this handle-cover in the souks, with no luck:

Sophie finds some entertainment in the souk..

We locate a cooking pot suited for a Very Big Family. Thought it would make a smashing early Christmas gift for my brother (5 kids) , but not sure how to get it in our luggage:

————-
Date Night

One night we had a hot date together. We took ourselves to the Bahri Bar at the Mina A Salaam, and enjoyed some mezze with a great view over the Burj:

——

Roadtrip to Abu Dhabi!
Enjoyed some sunshine at the beach, right in the middle of town!

As a final closing photo, I liked the contrast of the old Arab boat (at the Heritage Village) with the modern Abu Dhabi skyline beyond: