Lost Vegas is No Joke!
Weeks of planning had us enjoying Sunday brunch in the Paris Hotel Eiffel Tower Restaurant. Our next stop was to be the Museum of Illusion. To make an already long story longer… Somehow, I didn’t remember to specify “Tito’s” when ordering my complimentary drink while playing slots…So my dietary restriction was compromised. Next… in the series of unfortunate events, happened when we returned to hotel room. My back has been bad for a few days, so I packed myself some Ibuprofen 800’s. When I got back to the room, I took one…. or what I thought was one. In reality, it was a Tramadol that I got in December when I hurt my back. I didn’t take them because they didn’t agree with me… the bottle looks exactly the same. The combination of gluten/nightshade and the wrong medication had me sicker than sick… so we missed the first two events of the day (brunch at the Paris and Illusion Museum). I finally forced myself to rally in the evening…
Still a little shaky… I managed to drag myself out for a trip to the Bellagio! Lori had not seen this hotel so we arrived early and checked out the famous Mirano glass. Amazing!
Lori found tickets to the Cirque du Soleil O. We took an Uber to the Bellagio. We arrived in the area a little early hoping to play some poker machines and grab a bite to eat. Starting out at the Paris hotel (where we were supposed to be staying), Lori found a spot to settle in while I went in search of a meal… unfortunately, the restaurants I attempted to visit were not too keen on seating a solo. Weird. Instead, we headed to the Bellagio and had popcorn for dinner :-)
With popcorn and soda in hand, Lori was a good sport allowing me to take a photo in front of the giant “O”! On the other side of the “O” was a photographer charging $35 for a “professional” photo. He kind of gave us a dirty look but it’s okay. A quick photo to remember the show, was all we needed.
Interesting only to me… this Richard MacDonald sculpture displayed in the lobby outside the showroom had special significance. First, years ago, I worked for an art gallery on Kauai that featured the works of Richard MacDonald. This talented sculptor created Cirque du Soleil “O” to capture the idea of the fine line where athletes defy gravity. All of his sculptures involve the movement of dancers, acrobats and gymnasts. He died of cancer in the early 90’s and his artwork has become quite valuable. Not knowing this about him, I was surprised to see so many of his works on display…
As we waited for the show to begin, it was announced to turn phones off. Before the announcement, I was able to capture a couple of shots of the ceiling… a dancer floated out of the beautiful stained glass. The smoke came out first and she came out through the smoke.
As I mentioned, we were told to turn off all phones. Lori and I took that to mean the ringer because usually, “no flash photography or photos” is emphasized. So we put our phones into airplane mode and went about taking photos. All seemed fine until Lori almost got “kicked out” by the security lady. Oops… but at least we have a small glimpse of the show in action.
Outside the showroom we found Lori’s “Happy Place”… a garden full of flowers! I’m going to bore you with a few more photos of the flowers!
We had a perfect view of the Bellagio fountains. In the past, I heard Frank Sinatra singing in the background. In the past, several years ago, I thought the fountains turned colors as they danced to the music. Two nights that we saw them, they were just as they look in the photo. Still beautiful…
From our vantage point outside the Bellagio, we were able to see the Paris Hotel. Las Vegas skyline is crazy! The lights, the neon…the architectural uniqueness. Honestly, I could stare at this sparkly area for hours!
Wandering through the Bellagio, we finally found the “Rideshare” area. One thing I’ve noticed, each hotel is very organized with the Uber/Lyft services. There is also a monorail that runs between certain hotels. We got to the “O” show via the Duece. It is a bus that went from the Golden Nugget to several hotels along the Strip. Our drive back to the Fremont area was pretty quick!
Back in our neck of the woods, we walked out to see the neighboring casinos. Binion’s, The Fremont, The D, and Four Queens were the closest to Golden Nugget. All of these casinos enter into the Fremont Experience. Walking out the door, it looks like daylight! Always full of people, zipliners, dancers, pop-up bars and street performers. It’s quite the scene! Another day comes to an end… we have things to do tomorrow!
