Las Vegas Baby!

The next stop on our grand tour was Las Vegas, a place that Peter in no way wanted to visit. I think that you have to go once in your life and if you don’t go back that’s ok. Also we were already in the states so why not make the effort and go. Today was another travelling day and also my birthday. Our day started early again and it was chaotic at the airport checkin but after a long wait and 2 queues later we were ready to go. 

We landed in Las Vegas and made our way to our hotel for the next 3 nights The Cosmopolitan right in the heart of the action. As it was a Saturday the place was packed with people. We were lucky to be able to checkin when we arrived as we were a bit earlier than a normal checkin time. 

We had a walk around the casino and then went and picked up the tickets for our show that night and to also make sure we knew where we had to go as with this many people it would be easy to get lost. Lunch was next on the agenda and by the time we had finished it was almost time for the boys to go to their show for the evening Alice Cooper and Deep Purple and for Cheryl and I to go to ours “O” at the Bellagio.

The foyer of the Bellagio

It was still very hot when we made our way across to the Bellagio for the show, so we cooled down with a lovely glass of Prosecco before the show. Thank you to my good friend Cheryl and we toasted my birthday. 

We made our way to our seats and they had a great view of the whole stage. not quite sure what the story was but it was absolutely fabulous. This is the one Cirque de Soleil that will probably not go to any other city as it is based around water. The stage goes up and down and water takes it place . The performers are very agile and need to be not only agile but able to do it under the water too. The stage settings are terrific as well. There is so much going on at some times we didn’t know where to look. 

The blurb about the show says that O was inspired by the infinity and elegance of water's pure form, which pays tribute to the beauty of the theatre. It has 150 technicians and a cast of 85 performers including international acrobats, synchronised swimmers and divers. Some are actually former Olympic athletes which especially for the divers would be a definite asset.

At one stage the performers are on a swinging ship shaped contraption high up in the air and throwing and catching each other as you would normally see in a regular show but one of the performers missed her catch and fell awkwardly into the water below. As soon as it happened you could tell she wasn’t in good shape as she tried to swim to the edge of the stage. At that time a whole heap of scuba divers emerged from under the water to help bring her to the side of the pool and help her out of the water. There were also back stage people racing to the side as well. She was helped out of the water and the performance was interrupted for about 15 minutes while they attended to her. It was awful to see that happen and I hoped that she was ok.

After the show finished Cheryl and I walked back to our hotel and along the way watched some of the Bellagio fountain display. We got back to the hotel and the place was jumping! Music playing, lights flashing and people everywhere. We went in search of a drink to finish the night and ended up back where we started as there was no quiet spot to sit and have one. We chose a spot by the window so we could people watch as there was so many to have a look at seeing it was a weekend and a Saturday night. ver the course of the day and night I counted 13 hen’s nights and I could imagine there would have been just as many bucks nights as well. 

We had a couple of drinks and then two 30 something ladies asked if they could sit down with us as they were trying to avoid some guy who was following them. We started to chat, well as good as we could given the volume of the music went up and the guy arrived. One of the ladies went up and started dirty dancing with him so they can’t have been too worried. Peter and I had been messaging to see who had finished with their show and we eventually met up with them for a nightcap and then it was off to be to leave the masses to their drinking and gambling.

What a hoot of a place Las Vegas is!