Vegas

Las Vegas was cool.

We stayed at the Bellagio, which was nice. Every casino on the Strip has its “thing”; Caesar’s has statues that come alive and move and talk and wield flaming swords, the Venetian has an indoor/outdoor canal complete with gondola rides under the Rialto Bridge, New York New York has a re-creation of Manhattan and the Paris Las Vegas has the Eiffel Tower. The Bellagio is a little classier than others and has a huge lake out the front with fountains that are choreographed to music (remember this is in the middle of the desert). This was the casino that Danny Ocean and his 11 hit in the 2001 remake, and the fountains are featured at the end of the film.

The hotel itself was a fascinating place. From the huge lobby with its ceiling covered in two thousand hand-blown glass flowers to the expansive gaming floor the place was always bustling with all kinds of people. From high-rollers in suits to average looking people in shorts and t-shirts. The quality of food and service was uniformly excellent.

On our second night we saw Cirque du Soleil’s aquatic themed ‘O’ which is performed above, on and in a specially designed theatre in the casino. This show was an amazing mix of acrobatics, synchronised swimming and fire dancing. The cast were so spectacularly at home in the water they seemed more like sea monkeys or some kind of aquatic aliens.