Vegas, baby!!!

The Flori di Como at the Lobby of the Hotel Bellagio

Vegas, baby!!!!! LOL! I love traveling! I want to go everywhere twice! So this trip to Vegas was a great gift, because though I had travelled to the United States for EntreLeadership, and had planned to visit a friend in Los Angeles, I did not plan to go to Vegas. BUT, hubby and I got to LA, and our friend, who is absolutely fantastic, blesses us with an all expenses paid 2 day vacation to Vegas. He said he knew it was not my kind of place, me being a “small town Christian gal and all” but that it had to be experienced at least once! I was touched by his kindness and made up my mind to enjoy the gift.

He was right! I did not like Vegas. However, I am “woman” enough to admit that this may be a result of how I experienced it. Next time I go, I’ll find someone who lives or has lived in Vegas to tell me where to go and what to do. So why didn’t I like it? Its called the sin-city for goodness sake! The open gambling, the scantily clad ladies at every table, the endless glitz and the open consumption of marijuana… I guess it was a little too much for me. But, I am convinced there is another side to Vegas, after all, families live there, there are doctors, managers of all the businesses I saw and all, so next time I go, I’ll be seeing that side of it, parks, places where people live, community and “real life”… I think coming from very beautiful, very natural, very peaceful Nashville to Las Vegas may not have helped, Nashville is my kind of place, beautiful, quite, landmarks with history, in Nashville, I immediately met families, the cab company I used was owned by a father, his daughter drove one of the limo’s… at the Marriot, it was beautiful and friendly… I ramble but all of that appealed to me, juxtaposing it with Vegas, the lights, the noise (even in the cabs video adverts played through out on the screen, telling you all the shows that went on at the different hotels), there didn’t seem to be a quiet moment to be had there.

Having said that though, you cannot help but respect the work and investment that it has taken to make Las Vegas what it is. From desert to one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority says 39.6 million people visited Las Vegas in 2013 (www.lvcva.com). The level of entertainment that is available in Vegas is phenomenal, so also is the revenue that is generated in Vegas every weekend! In 2013, revenue on the Vegas strip was about $6.5 Billion! 6.5 Billion United States Dollars! So, I went, I saw, I took pictures and I’m sharing!

 

From the sky as we flew into Las Vegas!

 

As we drove into the strip! We arrived at night and it was beautiful!

 

In our hotel room. It was a lovely suite (we got a free upgrade as soon as we got to the reception, and we had a very beautiful view, the hotel was awesome too), however, this kit put me off very much! I think it set the tone for how I felt. I thought, is this obviously why people come to Vegas? Can they just be tourists and not need an intimacy kit in their breakfast tray? Ok, maybe I’m a prude, but it was too much for me.

 

 

The volcano show at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas! It was absolute fun, it was real fire, you could feel the heat… It was actually a thrill. I loved it almost as much as I liked the water show in Dubai

 

The volcano show at the Mirage

 

We took a stroll around the strip at night. It was pulsating with life, this little fountain looked like peace to me…

 

This little lion caught my fancy!

 

Still on our mid-night stroll…

 

Some of the gaming machines at the Palms Hotel

 

Yaay! We arrived at night so Vegas was beautiful with all the lights, but I loved it during the day. This day was particularly beautiful, the sun was brilliant and you could better appreciate the buildings and level of attention to detail.

 

Caesars Palace! Absolutely stunning. I sat on one of the benches outside the Palace while waiting for a cab, I noticed a gardener replacing whole rows of planted lilies with fresh ones, I guess so they all look nice and perky. I like attention to detail.

 

 

Who says the Eiffel Tower can only be found in Paris? I didn’t get a chance to visit the “Paris” section of Vegas, it’s on my list for my next visit though. LOL, I want to go everywhere in the world at least twice, after which I’ll only go where I really love.

 

Once you got into the casinos (almost every hotel in Vegas is a hotel and casino, though there are two towers by Trump and one is meant to be a home away from home type place. Its very classy but no casino and not overly lit- I shall stay there when next I visit), it seemed like night again. This photo was taken in the morning. I think it is this way of 2 reasons, so that the lights on the machines show properly and also because I think if you were gambling, you’d want to do it without being too obvious.

 

The Pussy Cat Dolls costumes were showcased here- I think this was at the Hotel Bellagio.

 

 

The Immortal Joe Louis!

I saw this guy stepping up to Joe lewis and I had to take a picture!

 

The lobby at the Bellagio was grand! It had this amazing glass sculpture in the ceiling- its called Flori di Como- there are 2000 pieces of blown glass in this sculpture. It was made by a glass sculptor called Dale Chihuly. It was lovely and the way the sun shone through them, reflecting colorful light in every direction, was amazing.

When I discovered Bellagio, I was already on my way out… It would have been a great place to explore as it has a conservatory, gardens, a gallery of fine arts and the dancing fountains like in Dubai! It is on top of my list for my next visit. I did spend a lot of time at a certain store at the Bellagio though, see below!

 

Where I was at Bellagio! There were many amazing stores at the Bellagio, but the service here was amazing! There was this Asian sales assistant, who as soon as I got in came up to me, I said, I don’t want to buy, I’m just looking (I hadn’t made up my mind yet), she said it was alright, asked me about my trip to Vegas, asked me where I had been, recommended a few places, brought me a glass of juice… Anyhow, great service works, because I took this baby home with me and she probably got a good commission.

 

We are having a great relationship thus far…

Across from the Caesars Palace! It was a brilliant day.

 

At the Vegas Airport, on our way out. I saw this stand where they sold home made chocolate! It was delicious and I bought some for our generous host and some to munch on the short ride back to LA.

I hope you enjoyed the photos. If you have been to Vegas and enjoyed it, please share why, perhaps you can do a guest blog and tell the Vegas story from your own perspective. If you also have been and done the less glitzy things, seen residential areas, experienced life there not as a tourist, I would love to hear from you.

Ciao! Be awesome this week. Let excellence be the hallmark of everything you do. And please, pray for Nigeria.