Thursday, October 13, 2011

Showtime in Las Vegas, Nevada

Today, we flew to Las Vegas directly from San Jose (aboard Southwest Airlines Flight #644). We stayed at THE hotel at Mandalay Bay from October 13 to 17.

The plan was to see a few exceptional shows, and we purchased tickets to see:
Here are some photos from "Elton John's Million Dollar Piano" at The Colosseum at Caesar's Palace. Elton John was great; we enjoyed the show and all the theatrics and special effects. Elton played his greatest hits repertoire of songs, including "Your Song" and "Goodbye Yellowbrick Road." The entire tracklist of the show is here (courtesy of Wikipedia)
Setlist (10 October 2012 – present)[2]Elton John and Band
  1. "The Bitch Is Back"
  1. "Bennie and the Jets"
  1. "Rocket Man"
  1. "Levon"
  1. "Tiny Dancer"
Elton John Solo
  1. "Your Song"
Elton John and Ray Cooper
  1. "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters"
  1. "Better Off Dead"
  1. "Indian Sunset"
Elton John and Band
  1. "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)"
  1. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
  1. "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues"
  1. "Philadelphia Freedom"
  1. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"
  1. "I'm Still Standing"
  1. "Crocodile Rock"
  1. "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"
Encore
  1. "Circle of Life"









On October 14, we walked around the Las Vegas strip, stopping at a few favorite hotels, including Bellagio and Paris. We enjoyed watching the Bellagio fountains.

Here is a short video of the fountains:





Bellagio had a wonderful Halloween-themed garden with beautiful creations.










On the way around Bellagio, we stopped at the wedding chapel where we had married 10 years ago.




As we walked around Bellagio,. We ran into a new gourmet establishment that drew our attention - Jean Philippe Patisserie. All of the pastries, cakes, and other creations looked very appetizing. We tasted a few pastries there and enjoyed them immensely.




The flowing rivers of chocolate are very tempting. This reminds me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.


Since Inna booked our 10th Wedding Anniversary dinner at Picasso Restaurant, we walked there next. Picasso has excellent food and exceptional views of the Bellagio Fountains. Unfortunately, our table did not have great views, and we had to wait about an hour before moving to a better location outside.








After finishing the main dishes, we could finally move our table outside, where we could better enjoy the beautiful surroundings.




While eating our desserts, we enjoyed the beautiful Las Vegas sunset strip skyline with the miniature Eiffel Tower.







I recorded a short video of the fountain show here:


In the evening, we saw "O" - Cirque de Soleil at Bellagio for the second time. "O" was the first Las Vegas show we saw the day before we were married, and seeing it again brought many memories.






On October 15, we saw "The Lion King" at Mandalay Bay. The show had incredible decorations and costumes, but I took no photographs. Here is a Disney video of The Lion King:


For lunch, we made reservations at Fleur in Mandalay Bay. All the dishes were well prepared, and we found the service fast and efficient.






After a quick stop at our room to relax, we ate dinner at Aureole Mandalay Bay.



Aureole is an exciting-looking restaurant with stacks of wine bottles decorating its exterior. The food and service at Aureole were delicious, and we enjoyed all our dishes, especially desserts.








Later the same day, we went to see La Reve at Wynn Theater. We both like La Reve because it has a great story and acrobatic performances. The show changed slightly from the last time I saw it, but it's still fantastic.








On October 16, we decided to see "The Beatles Love" - Cirque du Soleil at The Mirage, a show that focuses on Beatles music. It was a fun show and was quite zany and happy. I liked it a lot more than I expected.



After the show, we went for dinner at "Mix" in Mandalay Bay. Mix has exciting decor, with lots of glass bubbles everywhere. The food was good but not outstanding (compared to Aureole or Picasso), but the service was good.






The views of the Las Vegas strip from Mix are spectacular, as you can see from my photos below.



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