It’s Day 25 of our journey across America and our final day in Las Vegas.
We have been staying at the Marriot Grand Château in Las Vegas. We received our accommodation there as part of a timeshare, so we had to attend the presentation this morning.
Time Share Presentation
We paid $199 for our accommodation, which included three nights, and if we attended the presentation we would get back another $50 in Marriot credit.
The presentation was only meant to go for 90 minutes but we got along with our presenter so well that it ended up going for a couple of hours. We had attended a Wyndham timeshare presentation earlier in our trip, and they had been a little hard on the sell. They hadn’t put us up in the accommodation that they were trying to sell us, and they were pretty forceful and encouraging us to take the deal. The Marriot timeshare presentation on the other hand was in the same hotel they had us stay in. It was a beautiful hotel and just off the strip. Had we been at a different stage financially we might have bought the timeshare.
After the presentation we went out to explore the Las Vegas Strip and search for some food for lunch. We wanted to take a look around at some of the different hotels, as there were plenty of interesting things to see.
The Bellagio
First up is the Bellagio which had been featured in films like Oceans 11. Walking into the hotel is breathtaking. There is an incredible glass art piece on the ceiling in the lobby. It is 70 by 30 feet in size and known as “Fiori di Como,” or “Wild Flowers,” created by Dale Chihuly.
To the right is the casino and straight ahead is the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden. It was December so the Conservatory was decorated for Christmas and it was all made out of flowers, right down to the horses and polar bears! It was just an incredibly beautiful sight to see.
Sadelle’s
We looked at a couple of different restaurants within Bellagio for lunch but decided upon Sadelles even though it had a pretty long line. The wait was worth it.
This restaurant is beautiful, with a light summer feel. It was pretty pricey though so I just ordered a fried chicken sandwich with fries.
Though we had planned to have a reasonably light lunch, when we saw someone else ordering a cake, we simply could not resist.
Danielle orders the giant layered strawberry sponge cake while I was more content with the much smaller ice cream sandwich. They were both delicious.
Caesar’s Palace
From the Bellagio, we walked across to Caesar’s Palace which seemed to be undergoing some work at the moment. While interesting, the foyer was not as spectacular as the Bellagio.
That said the corridors were still beautiful. Just prepare yourself for plenty of naked statues.
The Venetian
Next up was the Venitian. I was not ready for how much work they put into creating this hotel. Once inside you actually feel like you’re in Venice. They have recreated the streets and the canals, complete with gondolas! It literally feels like you’re walking for miles.
After taking a look at these hotels we went back to our own hotel to have some rest before tonight.
In the evening we are headed across to MGM grand for the Cirque du Soleil show Ka.
Ka by Cirque Du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil has quite a number of shows on offer in Las Vegas. We chose to go and see Ka because it had some incredible reviews. We had seen a Cirque du Soleil show back in Orlando, which was pretty awesome. That said I wasn’t prepared for how spectacular the show is going to be.
Ka is incredible – it is Mad Max 2 meets Avatar with an Oriental flare. It is a $165 million dollar production, performed on a rotating, pivoting stage, with performers suspended mid air most of the time (sometimes overhead).
It’s a powerful story of a young prince and princess whose royal family is attacked and destroyed as they are forced to flee on a captivating journey for survival. You’ll come away mesmerised in wanting more of Cirque du Soleil.
New York New York
After the show we headed across the road to New York New York. This casino is designed to look like the cityscape of New York City, complete with the Empire State Building.
There is also a Rollercoaster but at $15 per ride we decided to give it a miss.
Excaliburs
Across the road from New York New York is Excalibur. This hotel is designed to look like a medieval castle inside and out. Danielle jokes that Las Vegas is a playground for adults, and this hotel certainly makes it seem that way.
We then went on a walk through a park to see Christmas lights.
Paris (Eiffel Tower)
We had planned to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris, but it was $25 each just for a view so we decided to just watch from street level.
It is incredible seeing the amount of water they are able to push into the air with such force.
They had Christmas music playing during the show. Even amidst the messiness of Vegas this lake of entertainment becomes a fountain giving glory to God.
We ended the night on the way back to the hotel with some pizza. I wasn’t fully ready to go to bed yet as we had also talked about getting a specialty shake back at Cafe Hollywood. While the shakes were awesome they were probably a little overpriced, but yum all the same.
What a way to finish our last full day in Las Vegas!
