Chandeliers of Vegas

We're home now and even landed in Ottawa in a snowstorm. After being delayed on the tarmac in Ottawa for 1.5 hours while waiting for our gate to be ready and trudging through about 15 cms of snow from the bus stop home I finally made my way through my front door at midnight.

I can confirm that Vegas WAS a cultural experience! I did not get a chance to swim outdoors as all the outdoor pools were closed. I walked in flats with no socks and in spite of a few blisters it felt so good. The sun was therapeutic!

The customer service in Vegas is top notch. They want you to be happy where you are so you won't venture off to another restaurant or shop or casino.

There is no where to sit in Vegas, no where along the strip, no where in a hotel lobby. They want you to sit at poker tables, slot machines and restaurants only.

With the help of our friend Linnea here are some pics of more bling - chandeliers of Vegas. Every hotel, shopping concourse or restaurant is unique in its decor. Take a look






































Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Bling!

Today we wandered through several hotels enjoying looking at bling! (flashy, ostentatious and elaborate casinos, restaurants, shops and people!

In Vegas almost everything is oversized, the drinks that I see people walking around with, and food. Look at these.

A pice of carrot cake




My dessert



And plates





Blood sweat and tears (sylvie's blisters, sweating because of lack of juice in their iPhones)





Pics from various hotels.

Bellagio Fountains




Bellagio gardens theme is the Chinese New Year - Year of the Snake










Bling at the Wynn and Encore hotels




A $33 million dollar sculpture of tulips!!!!












For Claire


Our day ended with the spectacular Céline Dion. And oh yes I finally played the slots. I lost a big $5 in 3 mins......

And that is what is staying in Vegas!!

Catching the plane in 5.5 hrs. Better get some sleep.

A post trip blog entry of the chandeliers of Vegas will be posted shortly.




Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The canyon does not need man, however there comes a time in one's life that having experienced the canyon makes one complete.....

...or today's blog title can be stated ' how I survived going to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas - a trip of 562 miles (900 kms) round trip (including 2 stopovers to McDonald's)
So there were highs and lows of the grayline bus tour to the canyon yesterday!
Lows
- getting up at 5 a.m. for a 6:15 a.m. pickup
- sitting in a bus for 15 hours it was only at 2:45 that we actually saw the canyon for the first time
- stopping at 'Mickey d's (McDonald's) not once but twice in the day
- the bus driver's humour
Highs
- price for the tour
- seeing the incredible Hoover Dam
- having a wonderful sunny day to see the Grand Canyon from 2 lookout points, the overwhelming feeling of this
- the scenery on the tour change from dessert to snow laden tree lined forests
If there ever was a next time I would fly in a bit closer and take a shorter more personalized tour. Once we got there we pinched ourselves while looking out at the majestic scenery. My photos are but a glimpse of this natural beauty.
On the bus we viewed a short movie of the making of the Hoover dam, an incredible engineering feat. We viewed it from the memorial bridge and not from on top of the dam itself.












We travelled from dessert to ....




Wait a minute ... I thought we had escaped the snow in Canada!




Finally, the canyon... Amazing.
















This picture is for someone special and set up in a way that you could photoshop yourself in it...








In closing we learned that they are several unique speices of animals that live in the canyon one of them being the pink rattlesnake - not to be confused with the pink gorilla we saw here in one of the shops in the hotel ...




Off to view more hotels and other stuff before our concert with Céline.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Linnea arrives, High Tea at the Mandarin, the old Las Vegas strip and the Venetian

Great afternoon with Linnea and Sylvie at the Mandarin Hotel having high tea. This was quite a twist on the usual high tea! Interesting discussions and conversations.











Other photos from the Mandarin hotel.





The wall on the 23rd floor.




Sylvie lounging in the elevator?



Photos from the old strip where all the action used to take place years ago and believe me still does.












Oops I snapped a pic but batman wanted $ instead.




Amazing pics from the swanky Venetian. Again another case of distract,disorient and devour. We walked on and on and around and around with shops everywhere.










Yup a canal inside the hotel!


Apparently Michael Jackson was obsessed about shopping here.







Tomorrow we are off to the dam canyon oops off to the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad