Impressions

Yes, I know, it was long overdue…But I was busy with garden work lately, then some house work , while in November-December I visited my country Lithuania, so there were no blogs. the weather is too Grey there at that time, can’t get good pictures.

But here are some pics from Vegas – we visited it during Christmas time and the highlights of the visit was contemporary architecture and interiors. I never get tired of seeing what is constantly created and built in that sin city, which doesn’t bother us for its sins or crowds. We almost never gamble, we pass the casinos as if regular streets with some nice stores on both sides, and we head towards where new things have emerged. What makes it amazing is that they don’t save on materials, on ideas, they let their architects go wild.  Also – the speed in which they demolish the old hotels and build new ones in their place.  You come in several years-  and won’t recognize the Strip, it is like a new city. So here it is  – the City Center  -which is a complex of casinos and hotels with all their satellites – fancy restaurants, hotels, passages, entrance spaces, fountains, flowers and decorations:

There are real cacti  planted in between those pyramids, poor guys…

The entrance: they made two spitting  fountains with their spitted portions of water colliding in the air – and at that very moment a colorful light flashes on them making it look very spectacular,  different colors each time.

It seems the yellow stone on the floor is Jasper…I have a pendant made of it , no so dirty cheap. So how much could those floors be worth, not even speaking about the design.  And yes, the walls on the sides are leaning, it is not some optical effect.

I know that my brother architect would say those are crazy decors, but they were decorating the desert bar, what else can one want. They look very happy to me, especially now, when I am no longer eating deserts.

Andrei in the same pyramid hall we liked so much. But his pic shows more of the ceiling design.

Here we went for dinner at a Spanish restaurant:

These are the tapas we got there. Beautiful, very tasty, but for people like us – not much food .

Still I felt pretty happy there:

And Andrei was, too:

And here are the fountains dripping in waves from a special wall by the entrance to this building:

We stayed in MGM hotel and to my biggest astonishment – they gave us a very contemporary style room, that I never suspected they had in MGM, though a very tiny one:

It is a pity I didn’t take a picture of the bathroom mirror – it had two rectangular windows without the shiny substance in the back of it – one was a light installed directly in the mirror, the other – a TV. You brush your teeth – and watch Larry King with some Zoo man discussing and petting exotic animals…

Then we saw some usual Christmas decorations in Bellagio – more for a tradition than for a big amusement. But still  – it looks festive:

Have in mind that the whole body of this bear is covered from carnations…

Here is a pool full of cranberries in Palazzo:

So much for the Christmas decorations…

This is Las Vegas hospital -it  has a pyramid almost as Louvre does .

And finally – the biggest impression – when we drove into Vegas, still from the highway I noticed a pile of metal that reminded of the sad remnants of New York’s Twin tower after it burned… a little further from the road, behind the World Market building.  It looked so strange that we drove there on the way home – and it was too unusual…evidently it is not a pile of metal. But a modern building, still not completely finished but already has a function applied to it – so please sit down – it is a Cleveland branch of  Brain Institute!..

I bet that people with brain problems will not get disturbed by this “creation”, and I bet doctors will find it easier to concentrate on brain problems there more that on the curly walls of their offices… To think of it…

We don’t go to Las Vegas very often (it is 2.5h from us). Maybe twice a year. And only once to see some shows and wander around. But either that or on the way to the airport we always visit the Bellagio Floral exposition. I agree, Bellagio has the most beautiful singing fountain show every 15 minutes. But for me – nothing beats the Flower show. I read in their flyer that they change the flowers and themes 7 times a year but never had a chance to check it for myself. We somehow happen to see the fall decorations almost every year and I have to say that they are very different each time. They may have some big pumpkins and mums and watermill, but there are always different creatures covered with natural things like moss or flower petals, and they also have some featured trees, which are usually exotic in one sense or another. This time they were singing and raining trees:

And some trees-faces, as if they were taken from fairy tales. One of them even moved his eyes and opened his mouth to say something. If only have I had an opportunity to see such a live tree when I was a child – that would have been a huge impression…

The other tree-face was not moving but still very cute:

And as usual some humongous pumpkins:

And here are some “creatures” as I call them -maybe some grasshopper or other kind of bugs:

To get to that expo you just follow through the big entrance hall to the very end. The hall has the outstanding Chihulli glass flower ceilings:

It is a matter of taste, I prefer live flowers…

And then there is Las Vegas, with its Blue Man Group and other decorations:

This time we visited Dr. Scott’s hypnosis show in Riviera – it was really fun I didn’t expect. Those several people (not all of all the volunteers) were so well hypnotized that they talked and behaved rather funny, we laughed out bellies off! The other show was a show I never heard before: Raw Talent Live -Fuego. I liked the word Fuego, but the first part of the name is not enticing therefore not good in my opinion. If it wasn’t for pre-shows on the TV screens by ticket offices – I wouldn’t have chosen it. It was kind of a musical with some contents about a laptop how it gets into the hands of Evil then Good forces and how they learn about the world cultures and problems from the laptop and realize what happiness truly is. The singers were good, the dancers were especially good, and the clothes were fantastic. Lots of Latino rhythms. The decorations were mainly projected with lights onto transparent screens, very creatively, and on the whole it was quite a show in big speed. I liked it a lot with the exception of the last dance. The last dance was about becoming regular again and dancing the dance of happiness, which didn’t feel. The clothes were too simple, the music too loud and noisy… But everything else was really worth seeing and I highly recommend to everyone. They don’t let you take pictures on the show, so no illustrations, sorry .

Well, there is a Bellagio in Italy, so I had to specify. I like it. Not the hotel for I haven’t stayed there, but the greenhouse or orangerie – where they always have the most beautiful flower displays themed by the time of the year. Here is last year’s (2007) Christmas display:

The only positive outcome of my late arrival from Lithuania this year (the flight was stopped in Denver for 4 hours because of crazy reasons) was that at 5 am Utah time there is noone in Bellagio “decorated hall”. So we could fully enjoy the Chinese New year theme. Usually the crowds are very dense, it is hard to take a proper picture.

And it is Rat’s year!

This rat is grown as a topiary of some special moss. They try to make most of the decorations of natural resourses.

Those are real rocks, I have no idea where they brought them from, but they look like a small replica of those famous mountains in China. A variety of orchids are blooming from crevices.