Saturday, August 05, 2006

Mom's Vegas B-Day Fest ~ continued ~


This is the famous canal inside the Venetian. It is so beautifully designed - the gondoliers all have opera-grade singing voices, and they do sing. The singing, together with the design of the place combine for a wonderful ambiance. However, I suspect that the boats were mostly self propelled.


Now this big room was a-mazing. I just kind of stumbled into it as I was trying to find the rest of the group. There I was, suddenly entering an open Venetian plaza. I was told by a co-worker that it is patterned after St Mark's Square in Venice.

Here is a "human sculpture." In the previous picture, he is blocked from view by the bridge in the foreground. I did not instantly realize that it was a live person, but I did so quickly enough to avoid embarrasing myself by going up and touching the dude. Every so often he moves ever so slightly - I would imagine he would need to for circulation and to minimize any discomfort. People left tips in a pile at his feet. Many people came over to watch him, some sitting and some standing. Some would snap photos, others would pose with him - which wasn't a no-no, but whenever anyone would get up and walk away, I always imagined them to be thinking "I'm sitting here, watching a guy not move." We ended up getting ice-cream, and afterwards we looked around the shops a bit more before heading back to Bally's. After napping (I took one, anyway) we all got spruced up for the signature event of the weekend....


I started hearing talk that a Beatles themed Cirque show was in the works as early as last year. By the time Judy and Becky were starting to make firm plans for the trip I had heard lots more about it - mainly that the fellow in charge of producing all the great remixes of the Beatles songs to be used was none other than Sir George Martin himself. So I suggested it to them, and since Mom had always wanted to see a Cirque show, and since we all enjoy their music, they went for it. Showtime was at 7:30pm saturday evening.


Here are some of the young folks getting ready to scan tickets (no more tearing).
The guys were wearing "Sgt. Peppery" type military getups, and the girls had on what I assume were "Lovely Rita Meter-Maid" costumes.

Mom and I are standing in front of the mirror Beatles cutouts. The gift shop is to our left and it had lots of great memorabilia - t-shirts (though the ones from the show were $40 or so), postcards, lunchboxes, calendars, commemorative plates, etc. The cashiers and helpers were all wearing these Beatle-y colored blouses. One cool thing was that with each purchase they'd throw in two or three pin-on buttons with the show logo on them.


Our own "Fab-Four."


The show itself was absolutely fantastic, fab, gear, and whatever other superlatives you can come up with. We were completely gobsmacked. The show is so energetic and creative that it borders on sensory overload. Afterwards as we were waiting to exit we could do little more than look at eachother - shaking our heads and grinning. The above shot btw is of the same show logo as the previous shot, but straight on. It was taken post show, and a fun game to play when looking at it is to count the bald spots.


Here is the ceiling of the Caesar's Forum Shops. I wish we'd had a little more time to look around. It, like the Venetian, shows incredible attention to detail. If you go, check out the moving statues by the fountain.

Jenn and Mom at the Bellagio sunday brunch. We sampled many things there - there are just too many different choices to ever have lots of one. My personal favorites were the polenta, the tenderloin medallions, the pesto mashed-potatoes, and the mini-lemon meringue pie. I may have to do a day-trip just to go there and try some new stuff.


This is the Bellagio observatory. The current exhibit is US historical sites (Mt Rushmore, the Capitol Building, Golden-Gate Bridge, etc) in miniature. And I don't seem to have included any pictures of them. Maybe later.


The above shot is of the glass flowers which adorn the Bellagio lobby ceiling. If you watch Ocean's Eleven, Carl Reiner walks right under them when he checks in as Lyman Zerga. And the below shot is in the Bellagio observatory. HAPPY BIRD-DAY (as little Emma would say it) MOM!


Las Vegas. It really is quite an invention. Somebody thought of a way to create one of the world's top tourist attractions out of a really bleak and desolate piece of desert. A place that people would flock to in order to get rid of as much money as possible, as fast as possible. There are some fantastic things to see there, lavish hotels, good food. The people in charge really know their business. There is beauty there and it is real, but it's also there for a reason. It's all there to shout, "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" Go a mere block off the strip in either direction and you'll see the other side of Vegas. I suppose that's unfair. After all, most towns have sides. But they rarely change so abruptly from one to the other. It was a fun trip though - no question.
I'd have to say that in my opinion, Las Vegas is best summed up by the following description of a breakfast item in our room service menu:

2 comments:

Laura said...

What if the human sculptures have to sneeze? Or cough? I guess they can't work when they have a cold.

Zachary Taylor said...

I don't know. Good question. It would sure break the spell, wouldn't it?