Las Vegas

The drive to Las Vegas on Sept 18th was gorgeous; I guess that the desert has grown on me. It does amaze me though, that the Mojave is vastly different from the Coachella Valley. We don't have miles of Joshua trees. As we whizzed by I tried to capture some photos of them. Not as many successes as I had hoped for.

We got to the Paris hotel just as the sun was setting and when the desk clerk asked if we'd like to change our room, on the backside without much of a view, for one on the front overlooking the Bellagio for a much lower rate we didn't hesitate. When we stayed at the Bellagio last year we had a view out the backside of the Rio Hotel and of the desert. How grand is it to see the Bellagio water show at night from our room? Very! We were on the 29th floor of the 32 floor hotel. The photo on the left is the view out of the window. The Bellagio lake is in the middle with the hotel directly behind it. Just under the Eiffel Tower is a restaurant that we ate at on our last night there. We sat on the left side and had a window seat of the Bellagio lake, perfect for watching more of the water show.

The night shot was taken from the front of the Bellagio with the Paris hotel in the background. Happily we discovered that the second performance of "O" at the Bellagio was at 10:30, unhappily it was sold out, but if we came back at 9pm and put our name on the stand-by list we might get in. A fast dinner at Noodles, the only lousy meal we had, and a quick race back to stand in line. We were 9th in line would we get in? They started calling the standby people at 9:30 and by 10:45 we were sitting in the 10th row back dead center! Last year we were in the first Mezzanine. We remembered the show as being outstanding and it didn't disappoint! No wonder I was so inspired the first time by the colors, sound, and  amazing talent of the performers! It is very magical.

Quote: ". . .  I also felt a new sense of possibility: If these artists could contort their bodies into such impossible shapes, if they could leap from such astonishing heights, if they could make me feel a spark of something I hadn't felt in years, what was I capable of accomplishing in my own life?" From "Spark" Cirque du Soleil by John U. Bacon.