Las Vegas: The Trip Report
Executive Summary
Friday: Morning at Shark Reef; lunch at New York, New York; picked up Zumanity tickets; a visit to M&Ms World to smash pennies; Paris for dinner at Mon Ami Gabi (excellent) and penny smashing; and then a visit to the Bellagio to see the Chinese New Year decorations at the Conservatory (which was smaller than I expected). Nearly 15,000 steps today, and boy, my feet are sore!
Saturday: Breakfast at EAT, a terrific little place; morning at The Mob Museum (The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcemnet), a museum a thousand times better than we expected; lunch at Mob Bar--delicious food and excellent service; a brief stop at the Pinball Hall of Fame; and in the evening, the Cirque du Soleil caberet show, Zumanity--very adult, very entertaining, with eye-popping feats of strength and gymnastics. GREAT day!
Sunday in Vegas a visit to Bauman's Rare Books; lunch at Grand Lux Cafe; and then it was off to drop the rental car and head to the airport.
The company was excellent, delightful--I couldn't have had a kinder, more entertaining travel companion.
Highlights in Detail
The highlight of our first day in Las Vegas was, honestly, dinner at Mon Ami Gabi at Paris Las Vegas Hotel. French cuisine served in a wood-paneled room with knowledgeable, accommodating waitstaff, this meal--variations on steak frites for each of us, with sides of magnificent sauteed mushrooms and spinach--may have been the best we had throughout a trip filled with good food.
We visited M&Ms World mainly because I wanted to smash pennies in the four smashing machines (I only did 3--I didn't like the designs in one of them). But seeing the multitude of M&Ms licensed merchandise was entertaining, and tasting the many different flavors of M&Ms was a treat. Raspberry M&Ms! Who knew there were raspberry M&Ms? Delish!
We saw Chinese New Year's decorations at the Conservatory at the Bellagio and at the Venetian, lovely, whimsical garden celebrations of the coming Year of the Snake. When I think "conservatory," though, I think of the one in Volunteer Park in Seattle. These were more like small indoor gardens, no more than one large room. They were colorful, though, and very pretty.
EAT served us the best breakfast we had there. A small, unassuming place, the food was perfectly proportioned and delicious. Highly recommended.
One of the top two highlights of the trip was our visit to The Mob Museum--the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, which was absolutely amazing and totally worth the trip. With lively, engaging exhibits, snappily written captions and descriptions, it details the history of organized crime in America with style and authority. We figured we'd spend the morning there, but after a stop at Mob Bar (where the food was, again, delish), we went back to finish the tour and even then didn't have enough time to really properly finish the entire museum. I had a blast there and would totally go back to devote more time to it.
The other real highlight of the trip was Cirque Du Soleil's Zumanity. As Cirque shows go, it's far more adult and far more intimate than any I've seen before, but no less eye-popping or entertaining. We saw a lot more skin, but we also saw individual acts that just knocked our socks off. Highlights for me included:
-- the host--a female impersonator who had me fooled for the better part of the show until I realized that she was very, very big for a woman, and that she never showed the kind of skin all the other women in the show were showing.
-- an acrobat of little-person stature who flew and tumbled over and across the stage suspended from a stretch of silk fabric.
-- two female acrobats and their opening number performed in and out of a small transparent pool.
-- an African American dancer who was just remarkable.
-- the comedy duo and how they very lovingly, very funnily worked with people they brought onto the stage.
We wound up the trip with a visit to Bauman's Rare Books at the Shoppes at the Palazzo. Both skidspoppe and lisagold used to work there, and so I felt an obligation to go--but what a trip it was! They keep not only rare books but rare documents as well. I stood there looking at a document signed by Abraham Lincoln and, after reading so much about him, actually got choked up at being in the same space with such a piece of history. I mentioned Skids' name and was gifted with their book on book collecting. The people there were lovely. Great conclusion to the trip!
Friday: Morning at Shark Reef; lunch at New York, New York; picked up Zumanity tickets; a visit to M&Ms World to smash pennies; Paris for dinner at Mon Ami Gabi (excellent) and penny smashing; and then a visit to the Bellagio to see the Chinese New Year decorations at the Conservatory (which was smaller than I expected). Nearly 15,000 steps today, and boy, my feet are sore!
Saturday: Breakfast at EAT, a terrific little place; morning at The Mob Museum (The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcemnet), a museum a thousand times better than we expected; lunch at Mob Bar--delicious food and excellent service; a brief stop at the Pinball Hall of Fame; and in the evening, the Cirque du Soleil caberet show, Zumanity--very adult, very entertaining, with eye-popping feats of strength and gymnastics. GREAT day!
Sunday in Vegas a visit to Bauman's Rare Books; lunch at Grand Lux Cafe; and then it was off to drop the rental car and head to the airport.
The company was excellent, delightful--I couldn't have had a kinder, more entertaining travel companion.
Highlights in Detail
The highlight of our first day in Las Vegas was, honestly, dinner at Mon Ami Gabi at Paris Las Vegas Hotel. French cuisine served in a wood-paneled room with knowledgeable, accommodating waitstaff, this meal--variations on steak frites for each of us, with sides of magnificent sauteed mushrooms and spinach--may have been the best we had throughout a trip filled with good food.
We visited M&Ms World mainly because I wanted to smash pennies in the four smashing machines (I only did 3--I didn't like the designs in one of them). But seeing the multitude of M&Ms licensed merchandise was entertaining, and tasting the many different flavors of M&Ms was a treat. Raspberry M&Ms! Who knew there were raspberry M&Ms? Delish!
We saw Chinese New Year's decorations at the Conservatory at the Bellagio and at the Venetian, lovely, whimsical garden celebrations of the coming Year of the Snake. When I think "conservatory," though, I think of the one in Volunteer Park in Seattle. These were more like small indoor gardens, no more than one large room. They were colorful, though, and very pretty.
EAT served us the best breakfast we had there. A small, unassuming place, the food was perfectly proportioned and delicious. Highly recommended.
One of the top two highlights of the trip was our visit to The Mob Museum--the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, which was absolutely amazing and totally worth the trip. With lively, engaging exhibits, snappily written captions and descriptions, it details the history of organized crime in America with style and authority. We figured we'd spend the morning there, but after a stop at Mob Bar (where the food was, again, delish), we went back to finish the tour and even then didn't have enough time to really properly finish the entire museum. I had a blast there and would totally go back to devote more time to it.
The other real highlight of the trip was Cirque Du Soleil's Zumanity. As Cirque shows go, it's far more adult and far more intimate than any I've seen before, but no less eye-popping or entertaining. We saw a lot more skin, but we also saw individual acts that just knocked our socks off. Highlights for me included:
-- the host--a female impersonator who had me fooled for the better part of the show until I realized that she was very, very big for a woman, and that she never showed the kind of skin all the other women in the show were showing.
-- an acrobat of little-person stature who flew and tumbled over and across the stage suspended from a stretch of silk fabric.
-- two female acrobats and their opening number performed in and out of a small transparent pool.
-- an African American dancer who was just remarkable.
-- the comedy duo and how they very lovingly, very funnily worked with people they brought onto the stage.
We wound up the trip with a visit to Bauman's Rare Books at the Shoppes at the Palazzo. Both skidspoppe and lisagold used to work there, and so I felt an obligation to go--but what a trip it was! They keep not only rare books but rare documents as well. I stood there looking at a document signed by Abraham Lincoln and, after reading so much about him, actually got choked up at being in the same space with such a piece of history. I mentioned Skids' name and was gifted with their book on book collecting. The people there were lovely. Great conclusion to the trip!