Dubai Days 10 & 11- Final days!

Our last day was more or less about relaxing and having fun. And Ryan's favorite thing to do, more than anything else, as he enthusiastically informed us on this trip, was to go ice skating. So off we went, headed back to the Dubai Mall so he could live the dream. :-)

Another beautiful view of the freeway fauna as we zipped by on the metro... 

The amazing detail of the sand art (at a shop in the mall) was unbelievable. It's good to know I'm not artistic in at least two countries and not just one.

On our first trip to the Dubai Mall, we totally missed the downstairs 'Souq' section (which would have been a loss to have missed it completely). Like Ibn Battuta, it was gorgeous. Since we had time to kill until the boy's skate session, we walked around the area oohing and aahing.

This restaurant in the souq section was significant only because the waiters in the background were all wearing red fez hats, which I thought was adorable.

Soon enough, it was time to skate! Ryan had such a great time that we knew we had to add to the California agenda, since he doesn't get many opportunities to skate.

My little guy gets a little steadier on his feet throughout each session. I can't say he's improved much overall, since we don't get to skate very often in a year...but I'm happy he does not appear to have inherited any of my genes that might influence the ability to stand upright on two thin blades.

While the boys skated, I snuck back over to Pinkberry and inhaled a second cup of my favorite tart treat. And I figured since I got to enjoy a treat, I should get my boys something too...so Ryan got a pretty sprinkled donut and Rich got a warm frappucino once they were finished with their session.

Since we were leaving very early the next morning (we had a 4:30am wake up call for a 5am taxi pick up), we decided to head back to our favorite 'chill' spot in BurDubai to get a few last minute souvenirs and some treats for Ry. On our long walk out of the mall, we spotted a few more cool buildings and our final glimpse of the soaring Burj.

We paid a visit to what I thought was the Sheikh Saeed al Maktoum House (oops), but now believe was another museum in a renovated traditional style home along the creek (near the Al Ghubaiba metro). I loved the bright colors of the furniture, and feel like there was an Indian influence in the decor there.  

From there we went on our third and final walk along the creek back to our favorite Iranian store to buy Ryan some snacks for the long flight home.

Rich then surprised me by returning to the souqs and going back to a store we'd visited that had dishes I loved. He'd tried to negotiate a plate for me with the owner (Hamid) a few days earlier, and even though they'd failed to seal the deal, they had a good time during the process and parted amicably.

Some of the beautiful wares in Hamid's shop

This...was hilarious. The two men holding onto the page were both from Afghanistan (the second one from the left was Hamid) and we all had a great time joking with them. 

Like any human being, I enjoy finding memorabilia when I travel. But I try to avoid buying anything unless I'm really passionate about it. On this trip, I was really into the dishes...and was able to score a reasonably priced plate and bowl (the bowl was from the first day of our trip when we bought Ryan his outfit). My souvenirs tend to be either edible or usable these days, as I've learned over the years that my tastes are fickle and I get tired of things that don't have an actual function. Both represent the region more than Dubai per se, but I just love that they're both so vibrant and hand painted.

Even the airport is pretty!

The next day our flight left rather early, but it was another nearly 17 hours of fly time. This time, however, we flew up and over the planet...and got to see the snowy North Pole (though no Santa sighting).

We landed in California in the later afternoon, and even though we were all pretty sleep deprived from a not so restful flight (it was mostly daytime in Dubai while we flew, so it was harder to fall asleep), we were wide awake from about 3:30am. :-( This wasn't ideal, of course, but I think there is an 11-hour time difference between Dubai and California...so it was a tough adjustment on all of our bodies. But again, we had our own rows and were as comfy as could be...and were doubly grateful to have avoided the pain of a long flight at the end of a spectacular trip.