Holiday to the Pacific West Coast in Aug 2006: Day 20 – Las Vegas

By Nige on Sat 16 Sep 2006 at 22:00
Type: Post
Story: Holiday to Pacific West Coast in Aug 2006
Tags: Las Vegas

Had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel which was really good.  Vick tried to lead us to the breakfast restaurant but struggled to work out which way to turn.  The hotel is a complete maze and links up all over the place.

We decided to spend half the day in Vegas to check out some of the strip hotels and then come back to our hotel to chill for a while before going back out to Vegas for a show. 

We had booked to see ‘Ka’ by Cirque du Soleil yesterday evening and we picked the tickets up last night when checking out the MGM Grand.

Anyway, we started the morning at Treasure Island and wandering down the strip.  After a couple of hours of heat and walking we got pretty tired so we headed back to the car and back to the hotel.  It was an interesting trip through some of the hotels though. The Venetian, with its reproduction of the Grand Canal, was particularly nice. 

On the way out of it there is a Madame Tussaud’s, and although we didn’t go in, there were waxworks of Whoopi Goldberg and Simon Cowell outside, so Vick had her photo taken with her arm around Simon Cowell.   Caesar’s Palace has a gorgeous Roman-style shopping mall attached to it, with all of the top shops and a personal appearance by Magic Johnson.  Vick stocked up on smalls at Victoria’s Secret, very apt.

Lunch was had at the Irish pub in our hotel.  Sausages and mash for me and a very tasty salad for Vick.  The hotel is proving good for food!

We popped down to the pool for a quick swim and a short period of sunbathing.  It was pretty busy but the pool is big enough to give you enough space. 

There are even cabanas which you can rent out for the half or full day at $50 a shot!  Each has a tv, fridge and free water (I should think so at that price)!

In the evening we headed back into Vegas and parked in the Tropicana self parking area and popped across the road into MGM Grand.  We got into the show early and got our free drink, and went to find our seats.  The theatre looked amazing – difficult to explain but it looked like that scene from Star Wars when Luke finally knobbles Darth in the inner-core – high columns with bridge tracks linking the columns together on multiple levels.

Well the show was quite simply unbelievable.  We wondered whether it could possibly be worth the $150 we paid per ticket (this was standard ticket price), and we ended up deciding that $150 was a bargain.  We have never seen anything quite like it.  The stage itself was amazing – it moved in all directions and created some very different angles and scenes.

The whole show involved some astounding effects and feats by the acrobats and actors that had the audience taking a sharp intake of breath. 

If you ever get the chance, pay as much as necessary to see this show, or one of the other ones that Cirque du Soleil put on.  It was totally brilliant.

After the show we headed up the strip to Bellagio and checked this hotel out. Amazing hotel again, this time kitted out in Italianate stle.  We had dinner at their Noodle bar (after a bit of a wait), which was really good.  Then we went outside to the front of the hotel where every 15 minutes, from 8pm onwards, there is a beautiful show of illuminated fountains set to music.  Each one is different, and definitely worth waiting for. After getting back Starbucks provided our night-time drink (surprise surprise).

An ace day.

Follow the whole story here: Holiday to Pacific West Coast in Aug 2006