Ben and Zhanna gifted Debby and one companion (she chose me of course) to the Beatles Love show at the Las Vegas Mirage. Included was a two night stay at the Four Seasons Hotel. Wow. What a nice way to experience The Strip. Thank you, B&Z.
The Four Seasons occupies the top five floors of the Mandalay Bay resort, with its own lobby, elevators, restaurants, and amenities. It is a quiet corner of the strip, a place to escape the crowds and smoke of the street. After seeing the zoo-like atmosphere in the lobbies of the big hotels, we really appreciated the seclusion of our small hotel. The staff was uniformly excellent. Highly recommended.
Cirque du Soleil was not new to us. Debby had seen both the Alegria and Mystere shows and I had seen the earlier show Nouvelle Experience, whose imaginative original soundtrack always puts me in a circus kind of mood. But to Beatles fans, Love is the ultimate Cirque delight. The show brings alive random scenes and characters from the Beatles songs. The staging is extraordinary, the conception enthralling, the Love soundtrack of remixed and augmented original Beatles performances yet another nouvelle experience. I cannot imagine a better tribute to the Fab Four.
We toured some of the strip, eating casually the first night at the Venetian and then the second evening a little more upscale at Sensi in the Bellagio (recommended - my Thai coconut soup, served in a hollowed coconut, was the best in my memory). The Bellagio was our favorite of the resorts we visited. It was in a Halloween festive mood, as evidenced by the several half ton pumpkins on display.
Just outside the Sensi was another delightful find, the Jean-Philippe Patisserie with its signature chocolate fountain and the best gelato we could find on the strip.
We caught a couple of the fountain shows (H2O variety) in front of the Bellagio, nicely framing the Paris Resort across the street.
We rented a car for our stay in anticipation of our second afternoon drive through the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, where we stopped for a short hike (I love my free Senior Pass). Our usual hiking pattern is that Debby goes as far as she feels comfortable, then we find a nice shady rock or log for her to relax on while I go for another 15-20 minutes as fast as I like. It works for both of us. Left to my own devices, once on the trail I would just keep going, always wondering what's around the next bend. The time discipline keeps me out of trouble and my aging joints from overstress.
It was sunny and in the 70s in Nevada. We checked out the large pool complex at the Mandalay Bay and Four Seasons our last morning before heading for the outlet mall and the airport. Debby bought a small souvenir, a leather backpack/purse.
We returned to 46 degrees and rain; it was a good time to go south.
Postscript: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, usually. But a couple of embarrassing moments are worth a chuckle, so I choose to reveal them. On checkout, I left our bag in the hotel lobby and just before leaving the outlets, Debby experienced an 'OMG where's the suitcase' moment. Fortunately, the hotel was on the way to the airport and all ended well. Shoe on the other foot, we scored some gelato at the Venetian and since all the chairs nearby were filled with spectators, Debby found a stage with a statue on it and plunked herself down on the steps in front to snack down. But unbeknownst, that statue on the stage was not really a statue at all, but an ongoing performance art imitation of a statue. To the statue's credit, she never blinked or complained about sharing her limelight.
Postscript: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, usually. But a couple of embarrassing moments are worth a chuckle, so I choose to reveal them. On checkout, I left our bag in the hotel lobby and just before leaving the outlets, Debby experienced an 'OMG where's the suitcase' moment. Fortunately, the hotel was on the way to the airport and all ended well. Shoe on the other foot, we scored some gelato at the Venetian and since all the chairs nearby were filled with spectators, Debby found a stage with a statue on it and plunked herself down on the steps in front to snack down. But unbeknownst, that statue on the stage was not really a statue at all, but an ongoing performance art imitation of a statue. To the statue's credit, she never blinked or complained about sharing her limelight.
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