Two go wild and go west! THREAD 2 COMPLETE! ANNOUNCEMENT IN LAST POST About This Page:

[chezp]

Welcome to my trip report for our Vegas and California trip! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img]

This is the second thread of this report. The first thread of this report can be found here

As this will cover a number of different places, the Vegas, Lake Havasu City and San Francisco parts will be here in the Globetrotting forum. When we get there, the San Diego and Disneyland / Los Angeles parts will go into the Disneyland trip report forum.

[chezp]

Saturday 15 April – part six: new views and signing my life away

As I had seen lots of other people taking photos of the casinos today, some with flash, and they weren’t getting into any trouble, I decided to grab a couple of shots on the way out.



We walked a little further up the Strip, passing Bally’s:



Our next stop was Caesar’s Palace – one of only two casinos which were there when I last visited Las Vegas It’s nowhere near as garish as I recall, but I have heard that this place was knocked down and rebuilt. How true that is I don’t know.



I loved the interior of this resort. The Forum Shops are very similar to the Grand Canal Shops at the Venetian, with the false skies.


The lobby of Caesar’s Palace


I was aiming for one place here – Bath and Body Works, as I wanted to stock up on hand cream. Just as we came out, we were lucky enough to see the free Atlantis show. It used audio animatronics and was interesting, but after a couple of minutes, we were both a bit bored by it, so we headed off.



Now here’s where we made a mistake. I think by now we had got so used to the idea of resorts channelling everyone back through the casino, that we didn’t even look for a way out by the shops. We exited through the casino and carried on walking up the Strip and eventually what do we find but the entrance to the Forum shops? D’oh! I dread to think how many more miles we added on with that little jaunt… [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img]



We still had some more walking to do… back to the Venetian. By now, it was pretty hot and I was glad that we wouldn’t be outside much longer.



We went to the lobby to get details of our new room, now we were on floor 11, which meant a different set of elevators and sure enough, the views from this room were a lot better than the ones we had had previously.



The only other difference was that this room didn’t have an adjoining room to the next room, so we shouldn’t have any more problems with neighbours smoking.

Having settled in, I decided to use one of my package deals and head down to the Grand Canyon Spa Club, leaving Mark to relax in the room and sleep if he wanted to. It was quite a walk from the elevators which did surprise me, as usually these places are as convenient as possible.

When I finally reached it, I had to sign my life away. I must’ve signed two or three declarations about my health, ensuring that the Venetian would have no responsibility in the event of anything happening to me. By then, I had wasted about 10 minutes, but finally I had signed enough times and was let in. I went into the spa area with another woman and they showed us where everything was and then I was able to head for the spa.

I was quite surprised that here swimsuits were optional, because this was a single sex place. Most of the spas I’ve been to at home are single sex too, but you still have to wear a swimsuit. I cooked for a few minutes in the spa and then decided to turn up the heat in the sauna. After having been in there and cooked at gas mark nine for a few minutes, I stuck my feet back in the spa for a few more minutes.

Then I headed back to the room with a glass of cranberry and pineapple juice in hand for Mark. This stuff was free and I think I had about three glasses of it, it was lovely. As I waited for the elevators, a very drunken teenage girl lurched across to me and asked me something. I tried to ignore her and moved away. It was a very sad sign. I don’t think she could be more than about 15 or 16 years old. I let her stagger into the next lift with about 20 other people and waited for the next one.

Next: lions, first class fish and oriental warriors

[mestitch]

When I saw the title of "Signing my life away" I didn't expect it to be to a spa... I thought maybe it was getting to the helicopter part [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]

Glad your new room had such great views [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] As usual, I'm loving your photos!!

[MickeyMAC]

Glad you got a better room. Great report.

[mattnkatsmum]

[ QUOTE ]
When I saw the title of "Signing my life away" I didn't expect it to be to a spa... I thought maybe it was getting to the helicopter part [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]


[/ QUOTE ]

I thought maybe you'd bought some more DVC points [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[crystalloubear]

[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] I can't beleive it is still the same day - boy you guys cover a lot of ground in a day!!

[lauren-roxy]

Great update and more wonderful pictures!!! I thought all the signing was for the helicopter also! Can't wait to read more!!!!

[RobDVC]

Nice views from the new room!

[LisaJ]

I'm glad you got a better room this time. The view looks nice. I love the mountains in the background, too.

[snoozy]

Its always nice to get a better room, once again great update [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[DrDolphin]

So glad to hear the new room is better and that you enjoyed your day at the spa!

[chezp]

Saturday 15 April – part seven: lions, first class fish and oriental warriors

When I got back to the room, Mark was out for the count, which didn’t surprise me. He needed the sleep, but we also needed to go out for our 5.30 reservation at Shibuya restaurant at the MGM Grand. We headed over to Harrah’s to get the monorail again and this time I checked it on the pedometer – one third of a mile from our room to the station. Not exactly close.

As we walked through Harrah’s, we could see that the place was packed now as well. It’s quite scary to see how engrossed some people area in the slot machines. We’ve even seen a couple of people with their feet up, still pulling the handles down. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

The monorail once again turned up very quickly and this one was packed. Nearly everyone got off at MGM and there was quite a line for the tickets there.

We headed straight for Shibuya, but they hadn’t opened yet when we got there, so we they asked us to come back in a few minutes time. We took the opportunity to head over to the lion habitat and I wasn’t disappointed with what I found there.






When we got back, Shibuya was open and we were seated straight away. At first our server was a little offhand with us, but as the meal wore on, he did warm up. When we had looked at the menu earlier in the day, I think we had both been worried about what we would eat. The prices were quite high and we didn’t see that much that we liked. Well, we can’t have looked that hard, as I found pineapple miso salmon and Mark had the roasted duck breast with yellow bean and asparagus and we decided to share a lobster miso soup. I’m glad we did, as it was a bit hot for my taste, but it was very nice.

The best part was my main course. Oh my goodness, that salmon was amazing and I think Mark liked his as well. There was certainly nothing left on his plate when he finished.



The pineapple miso salmon

The roasted duck breast

Shibuya:

Appetiser 9 9
Entrée 10 10
Service 8½ 9
Atmosphere 8½ 9
Value for money 9 9

Our meal was very quick and we had time to head outside to see the Strip, we hoped at night, but it wasn’t dark yet. The traffic was mad though.



We made our way back to the Ka theatre and already there was quite a wait to get in there, so we visited the gift shop first, then went in. I loved the way that they start getting you into the mood the second you walk in. They have oriental warriors welcoming you. Well, I say welcoming, they were sullen and very suspicious of you. Very well done.

You walk in and immediately you’re struck by the theatre. What an amazing structure with lots of towers. As Mark said, “there’ll be lots of running around” – well, there was some, but not as much as we expected. There were also bursts of fire coming regularly from the stage and again I thought that the show would be dominated by fire effects, but really it wasn’t. There were a couple of effects in there, but not very much.

We were surprised at how long it took the theatre to fill up and even when it started, the four seats next to me were still empty and stayed that way all through the show. That’s a lot of money to waste, as those seats were $150 each!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] As Mark said, if you’ve had a big win on the slots, I guess $600 isn’t going to matter much to you! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

As for the show, well like all the Cirque du Soleil shows, it’s hard to describe, but it’s not the usual Cirque style. This is very different to the other shows we’ve seen. There are a lot more stage movements, including some out of this world hydraulics. It went up to a 90° angle on more than one occasion, quite incredible. That allowed them to do some things that you would never see one any other Cirque show, but I couldn’t help but think that maybe it was a little too reliant on effects in places, rather than being reliant on the people’s talent, as in the other shows.

The acrobatics and performances were more part of a story, so they weren’t that obvious, in that they didn’t have their own special segment. One example was the flight, which saw some “near misses” which were actually a bit of trapeze work. The best part though were the wheels at the end. If you’ve seen La Nouba, then the best way I can describe them is that they’re like the wheels they use in the first scene of that show, but on a far bigger scale. Well those guys just took the use of those things about 10 steps further and there were one or two close calls. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

It was an amazing show, not traditional Cirque, but still out of this world. Just one other word, the seats were very comfortable and they had speakers in them. This is what they need at La Nouba.

We came out at about 9.15 and I think we were both a bit stunned by what we had seen. We decided to go and get some night time shots of the Strip and it was back out to the same bridge that we had crossed earlier. The traffic was still as bad as earlier.



We decided to walk into New York New York to get a cab, as we couldn’t face the long walk back through MGM. When we got outside, there was a huge wait for cabs, but the line moved quickly and we were in a cab within just a couple of minutes.



Our driver opted not to go up the Strip, saying it could take 35 minutes and he made a good call. We were back at the Venetian in just 10 minutes or so and could see from our room at night.



I was amazed at how well we had lasted the day, considering our early start this morning, so once the photos were uploaded, it was straight to bed, as we’d have another early start tomorrow for our helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon.

Today we walked 8.62 miles
The weather today was sunny with temperatures in the high 70’s.
The best thing today was Ka.
The worst thing today was the hike to and from the monorail.
The funniest thing today was Mark’s alcoholic dessert at the Eiffel Tower restaurant.
Today we tried the Eiffel Tower restaurant
And the result was good food and great views.
The most magical moment today was seeing the Strip at night.

Next: “is it 5.00 already?” and “how do we get out of here?”

[CRCrazy]

Wow!!

Now that's what I'd call a busy day!

[jakenjess]

Wonderful report, Cheryl! I've never really thought about going to Las Vegas, but your report has me thinking we should someday. Looking forward to more!

[LizardCop]

[b]Excellent update and photos...

Did you use the monopod on the night shots? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] them...