What can you say about Las Vegas?

Las Vegas. 

Wow. 

What can I say about Vegas?

Arriving by air, 9 days ago

Maybe I should say that it is amazing to think about the fact that this place was built from nothing, in the middle of the desert? That people continue to flock here for reasons I cannot even guess at, causing the city to expand continuously, and drastically, in the last 20 years? And that it has ONLY been here for 118 years?! Crazy, I know.

The Veer towers and pedestrian crossing

Maybe I should say that the strip that we all have a picture of in our heads(likely from the movies), is not that old scrappy image? It is actually a bustling 8-lane highway passing through town, and that the only way to cross it is via the raised pedestrian bridges, or by adventuring through numerous casinos, soaking in the blast of ice-cold air conditioning as you go? And that it is actually 4 MILES LONG, and lined with Hotels and Casino Resorts, which seem to stretch on forever, they are so big?

The Casino floor in New York, New York

Maybe I should say that the opportunities to gamble in this "town" are everywhere, and that it's very hard to escape the draw of the flashing lights and attractive screens? The Casino floor is central in every hotel that we wander through, and so in our search to escape the 100-degree heat outside, we are forced to traverse many such landscapes of temptation. But boy! Are they ever cool and refreshing inside!

Maybe I should say that, though people come here for the gambling, the closest thing I did to gambling was choosing which lever to pull on an Art-o-Matic, an old cigarette machine-turned art installation, where the cigarette packs have been replaced with miniature art stuffed into similar sized boxes? I may have lost 5 dollars, but I won a tiny cactus garden planted in a beer cap. 

Maybe I should say that, regardless of location, the burgers at Shake Shack are always delicious, and reasonably-priced when it comes to food in Vegas. Forget the all-day brunches and all-you-can-shrimp buffets in the hotels, Shake Shack is good eats.

Love these burgers!

The Eiffel Tower - it's only a model

Maybe I should say that, if you have never travelled the world, Vegas is a good place to get a taste of what lies beyond the US borders, but don't believe for one second that it is comparable to actually visiting any of those countries. Have been to all of them, I say that it is a fun exercise to visit them all, and a good walk, but it is a poor facsimile for the actual countries. Mario and I got a kick out of walking through a miniature Times' Square and down the back alleys of New York City in New York, New York. We enjoyed the views of the Eiffel Tower, and the people sitting out eating at the cafe tables of Paris. We marvelled at the sunset views in the Piazza San Marco, and watched the gondolas sailing by even though we were inside the hotel at the Venetian, but the singing of the gondolieri was just as enchanting(and the rides just as expensive). We even took a walk into the nearby Luxor to marvel at the hieroglyphs decorating the colonnades. We caught views up to the top of the pyramid, walls lined with hotel rooms, center filled with the buzz of slot machines. The tombs in the Great Pyramids of Egypt were never this roomy. 

Looking out the arches of the Venetian

Piazza San Marco, but INSIDE the hotel?!

Maybe I should say that the one thing I think everyone should do in Vegas is see a show? There are so many to choose from, it is impossible to not find a time, a theme, a location, or a price point, that you will not like. There are cheap ticket options available for same-dame performances, too - which is what we used - and we chose to see one of the many Cirque du Soleil shows. Mad Apple is a New York-themed variety show of sorts, with great singers, cheesy comedians with exaggerated accents, all of the big city streets and rough-n-tumble imagery you can imagine, elevated through the inclusion of high caliber circus acts seamlessly blended into the show. Asian tumbling acrobats are combined with Harlem Globetrotters-style basketball stunts, or others jumping inside spinning hoops are dressed as Wall Street businessmen. We snag front row seats in one of the side balconies, and find ourselves eye-to-eye with some of the acts, and laugh and scream and clap right along with the entire show. It's a riot, and WAY better than gambling that money away.

 

Great seats!	Juggler
Balancing acrobat	Finale number with all the acts on stage

Maybe I should say that another amazing thing about Las Vegas is the sheer amount of restaurants everywhere? You can find something for all tastes here, and we did! While wandering along during the afternoon, we happened upon a branch of David Chang's Monofuku, where we had ordered takeout last summer and fell head-over-heels for the noodles. After the Cirque du Soleil show, we headed over to the Cosmopolitan, and with no reservation, took a chance on getting a seat or two. Luckily, there was still place at the "bar", which is actually not around the bar but around the kitchen, so Mario and I have front row seats to another great show! We discuss a little with the chefs working the grill, which is right in front of us, but not too much, as we don't want to disturb them during their service. They are friendly, but also very concentrated on their work, which I completely understand. We concentrate on our food: Fried Shishito Peppers with smoked salt, Ginger-Scallions Noodles with pickled shiitake mushrooms, cucumbers and wakame salad, and a fantastic Bigeyed Tuna Tartare, with shaved foie gras and pine nuts - a very good suggestion from our very attentive waiter. He explained some of the best dishes we should try, which included higher-end as well as reasonably-priced options, and commended us for our choice of sake with our meal, a Ginjo Shibata Black Aichi. 

 

Sake for two - we want to enjoy it, not get drunk!	Bigeyed Tuna | shaved foie gras, peach, pine nuts
Shishito peppers | smoked salt, lime	Ginger Scallion Noodle | pickled shiitake, wakame salad, cucumber

Even better, as we slowly picked out way through the three plates, enjoying and complimenting every taste, every mouthful of delicious food, he remarked on our enjoyment, how we looked like we were really enjoying ourselves, and offered us each a glass of the restaurant's private label sake to enjoy with our meal, mentioning how it would pair perfectly with the tuna and foie gras. The food, the ambiance, the sake, the experience - we gambled on a restaurant and definitely won big.

Maybe I should say there is a humm, a buzz of activity that only gets louder when the sun goes down and the lights turn on? It being a Saturday, we find ourselves in dangerous waters: people are here to party tonight, and it shows in the level of sophistication and attire that we now see around us as we walk along the Strip. The heels are higher, the dresses classier, the suits are now making an appearance in place of the shorts and flip-flops that were center stage this afternoon. Everyone glows a little more in the lights of the Resorts and Casinos. Our big outing for the night was dinner and a show, and now we wander lazily back to our hotel room at the Excalibur, but not before one last look at the splendor of the fountain at the Bellagio, albeit a little less inspiring from the other side side of the boulevard, and behind construction fencing. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. But I guess that is the way of things in Vegas. And we definitely won this time. 

Plus, I got a piece of cake to go, and that makes for a fantastic bedtime snack. But don't tell anyone.

Because what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. 

Even bedtime cake.