Finishing up our last day of a 4 night 3 day birthday trip to Las Vegas. We are the guests of a ex-Caesar's Board member whose status still gains him regal treatment and crazy attention.We were picked up at the airport and whisked to Caesar's. They gave us a 3 bedroom suite at Nobu. Two story living room complete with pool table. As none of us gamble the weekend was all about shows, food, and hanging out in a pool cabana during the day.
First night we ate at Old Homestead ( steak) and spent a " quiet" evening. Coming from a suburban rural PNW area where bedtime is usually 8 PM the onslaught of noise, crowds and cigarette smoke was sensory overload. It still is even on day 3. You are NEVER away from noise. Even the tree-lined avenues of the Bellagio have speakers blaring rock music every 20 feet. The evening of day two we ate dinner counter-side at the Atelier Roubochon . We did the tasting menu. 9 courses of sublime food and service. It was without a doubt one of the best meals of my lifetime. Went on to see Beatles LOVE. The itinerary for our 3 days was arranged and reserved by a gentleman at Caesar's in charge of VIP services. Each event we went to, each dinner we had was the " best".....best seats, best service, etc. I know this is not the usual LV tourist view..... but for us...this warped VIP approach was wonderful and perhaps the only way we could have survived 3 days without fleeing on the first.
Third evening was dinner at Giada's. Seated at table overlooking the Bellagio fountains this was our most disappointing meal. Food I give a C, atmosphere was B until half way in the middle of our meal, they ( without fanfare), opened ALL the windows ( mechanically) , truly a sight to see and refreshing to get cool breezes into the restaurant...but along with the breeze came every conceivable city noise. Competing music drowned out any hope of continuing conversation. Two of our guests fled as the noise level was too much.....we all left soon after. Revised atmosphere grade D-. While the show of opening the windows to the world of LV was impressive...the results were deafening and drove us out. We went back to Caesars where we saw Celine Dion. Not a fan nor do I know any of her music except Titanic she did have me on my feet dancing. What amazed me ( and I have to admit it has been 40 years since I have been to " rock" concert) was the mania surrounding her adoration by the 10,000 fans. Screaming, singing, dancing, listening to every word of her ( boring excessively long ) monologues. But that voice. And how many people can say they saw Celine Dion sing Titanic live 7 rows center from the stage.
This morning we ate at the Bacchanal Buffet, my only request of the birthday weekend as I have never been to an all-you -can -eat buffet before. Stuffed we are now lounging at the pool cabana. Tonight we head to Nobu ( it was outstanding) and a tented show I never heard of called Absinthe. ( edited to add: It was a crazy politically incorrect revue show of acrobats, jugglers,trapeze, comics and song in a firetrap of a tent. A perfect last "event" for us.
I am the youngest in my group ( 63 years) and three of us ( my husband, our dear friend, and me) have never been to Las Vegas before. While there is so much more to see and do, we will never come back. But I am leaving this trip with more memories and stories than any other of our world travels. As an artist I am visually overstimulated in a good corny way. (parts of Beatles LOVE are imprinted on my retina) And seeing the passions of the fans at Celine Dion's concert...all the love and happiness....helped me forget the dark troubling times we are surrounded by everyday outside of the fantasy that is Las Vegas.