Las Vegas
Las Vegas, for most is a dream.
When your dream is just arms length away and still you don’t make it..? That’s
how I felt when I could not visit Vegas during my earlier US visit in the month
of April 2012. When I visited Phoenix this time in June 2012, I was anxious
whether I can make it this time or miss it? As I hate going alone on any trip,
I was looking for a gang. This time when we went to Tonto national Park hiking,
I proposed Vegas trip to Ravi (Our own Schumacher) and he being a travel freak
readily agreed as he had not visited Vegas before and he can enjoy the 6 hours
long drive of 320 miles on VW, Passat. Then I roped in Albert (The Ghost
photographer fame of my last Grand Canyon tripJ ) and Gopal (The sleep
loving soulJ) joined the trip.
Friday 13th July 2012, I
worked from hotel so as to start our journey at 12pm sharp. Albert had booked
the tickets online for the show Cirque du Soleil – O, the top of the top shows
in the entire Las Vegas and we had to collect the tickets before 8pm same day.
Since the tickets really cost a bomb, we didn’t want to miss it by not reaching
on time to collect the tickets. So our journey began at 12pm with our Schumacher
Ravi on wheels, Gopal occupied front seat. Ghost photographer and I preferred got
ready to enjoy back seat royal drive.
As we moved out of
Phoenix, we had great scenic views on the way. Nikon fanatic Albert took out
his machine and started shooting and tried hard to prove me why Nikon is great
(meaning Canon is not as good ;)) and Gopal kept putting some fuel to the smoke
(not fire) expecting some fire J. In fact this almost continued till we returned. My point to
Gopal and Albert was that, let’s wait for the results and compare the Nikon and
Cannon Pictures after we return from the trip and then conclude who’s best?
Well even after one month of the trip, Ghost never returned with PhotographsJ. This was really funny.
As planned, we reached
Las Vegas at around 6.30pm after a brief snacks break on the way. As we were at
the outskirts of Las Vegas, every one of us was excited by view of Vegas’ tall
looking buildings and towers. As we entered the Vegas strip, Albert and I took
out our cameras and started rapid clicking as every view on either side had a
subject to click. It was amazing, breathtaking, awesome an out of the world
experience. We then drove straight to Bellagio to collect the tickets for the
Cirque du Soleil show and then went to Marriott hotel where Ravi had booked our
rooms for 2 nights stay.
After freshening up ourselves,
we left for dinner at Bombay Restaurant for our dinner. It was a pleasant
surprise for me to discover that the owner of that hotel is from a place
(Manjeshwara) close to my home town (Sulllia) and it gave me an opportunity to
converse in ‘Tulu’ language in US. After dinner, we went to Bellagio Cirque du
Soleil show which begins at 10pm.
Cirque du Soleil – O at
Bellagio, One of the top shows in Vegas. The opening scene where the large red
drape opens up to reveal the stage which for a moment looks like an amazing
open amphitheater (no traces of water) and within minutes it forms like a sea
or large pool of water with divers jumping from heights of 40 feet or above the
water. The show was mind-blowing as they have superbly incorporated water
into their performances. The music was top notch and they have live singers and
band playing behind a tinted studio room near the stage. I could take a peek at
the lady singing and dancing near the stage but that is not supposed to be
noticeable. The singer’s voice sounded amazing and flawless.
The visual stimulation of
the show was nonstop and overwhelming throughout the 2 hours show. It looked
like the performers were pushing the boundaries of human physical ability in
their performances. The Water stage design, water acrobatics, fire
dancers, stage design, stunts, athletic dancers, scuba divers, synchronized
swimmers everything was amazing, but I found comedy was bit stupidJ. I especially liked the
idea of ‘fake audience’ planted in the audience that they pull on stage.
This is how organizer’s
describe their play ‘"O," a play on the French word for water, is a
stunning aquatic masterpiece that explores a world of fantasy beyond your
wildest imagination conveyed through the amazing performances of world class
acrobats, synchronized swimmers, divers and an array of other characters in, on
and around a 1.5-million gallon pool.
Check out the trailer of
the show:
The ticket for the show
was really pricey @ $180 per personL, but it's worth the
first time experience. Over all, there are no words to describe how amazingly
wonderful and entertaining this show was
After the show we went
back to Marriott, Sleep loving soul (Gopal) badly wanted to sleep. Once we are
at hotel, we thought of going out to check out the Vegas strip, so leaving
behind Gopal, Ravi, Albert and I drove back to strip and enjoyed checking out
the night life……………………..and back, we are at Marriot, early morning to catch up
with sleep.
Las Vegas
Strip at night, virtual tour.
It was our second day at
Vegas, got up very late in the morning and went for a drive on Vegas strip
after finishing the breakfast. The Las Vegas Strip is about 7kms stretch of Las
Vegas. Many of the largest hotels, casino and resorts are located on the Strip.
Fifteen of the world's 25 largest hotels by room count are supposed to be on
the Strip, with a total of over 62,000 rooms, that’s amazing statistics.
One of the most fascinating
aspects of Las Vegas' cityscape is its use of awesome architecture, every
building is eye catching. The hotels, casinos, restaurants and striking
high-rises on the Strip are main attractions of this most popular destination
for tourists. The city turns out to be an amazing great feat for our eyes
especially in the night with dramatic lightings on the strip. Every building,
every nook and corner of the strip is beautifully decorated with lights. We
enjoyed some of the free shows on the strip like, spectacular Music fountain at
Bellagio, Volcano at the mirage, The Sirens of TI etc. We spend most of our
evening time on the strip just wondering for Food (worst part) and had to walk
all the way to Bombay Restaurant and get tired. This night Ravi gave company to
sleep hungry Gopal. Albert and I went out only to return to hotel after couple
of hours. Instead of sleeping we tried to go to roof top of the Marriot to get
a glimpse of the city in night but we could only manage to go to top floor as
high as the elevators could take us to. We spent some hours sitting and chit
chatting and looking at the restless city in night through window glasses.
Sunday morning we left
Vegas thinking we wasted lot of time wandering on the strip without a proper plan
what to do in the sin city, the city one must visit once in life time. On the
way back to Phoenix we planned to visit Hover Dam. Before I sign off, let me
reiterate; ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’, so whatever I wrote above you
may believe or better notJ.
Las Vegas on
Google Map
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