Monday, December 22, 2008
On the trail of Grissom, Day 8.
We're down to our last day in Vegas. We've done a lot and at the same time, done nothing. It's been a great vacation to just hang out with one another and chill, actually talk but also shop like there was no tomorrow. 2 words. Outlet. Shopping. And you'll never want to buy retail again. Ever.
The only thing we hadn't done in the lead up to our leaving is to catch a show. We've done everything else.
- Shop
- Eat at the casino buffets with all you can eat crab legs (Alaskan) and prime rib.
- Gambled a little bit.
- Seen the Bellagio fountains and wonder which alcove the Ocean's 11 cast stood while watching it.
- Saw snow in Vegas.
- Walked the streets of Paris, saw the Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Élysées, the waterways in Venice and the Colosseum.
- We got married. Everyone asks why we didn't get married by Elvis. Well, primarily because we'd rather spend the money it costs to hire Elvis (it costs at least $400 to be wed by the King not inclusive of Minister's (that would be Elvis in this case) gratuity) on nice rings.
- We shopped at Tiffany like it was the Gap.
So what hadn't we done?
- Caught a show. I wanted to see Bette Midler but she's not performing till after Christmas. Packrat wanted to see Zumanity, Cirque Du Soleil's adult's only show but tickets were ridiculously priced, even at Half- tix.
- Go to Grand Canyon or Lake Mead. We had full intention to but with the weather being unpredictable, we weren't going to risk it. Packrat had never driven in snowy conditions and we hear Black Ice is a big problem in Vegas.
- See the Siegfried and Roy tigers. Even though the show's not on anymore and from the looks of it, it was an amazing show, we wanted to see the Tigers.
So, yesterday, we managed to check off two of the 3 things we had on the list. We saw the Tigers at
the Secret Habitat of the Mirage as well as dolphins up close with a baby dolphin as well. All very cool. I cannot get over the fact that I can't play with Tigers the way I played with my cats because watching the tiger cubs (there were four of them) rough and tumble reminded me of watching my cats pounce on one another. Packrat reminds me of
Roy's attack as well as
the guy in the Singapore zoo, all at the hands (well, paws) of white tigers. Amazingly, the enclosure had White Tigers and White Lions. We left when Packrat couldn't feel his fingers anymore and I had happily purchased a snow white tiger plush toy for myself. (Jordan can play with it, but it's Mommy's!)
That was item one.
Item two was to see a show. We got free tickets to see a
Burlesque show. It's a long story how we got the tickets and I'm not going into it. Sufficed to say, we got tickets to a show that is usually sold out and very expensive. In Packrat's words, it's as close to strip show as I'm going to get unless I really want to risk heading to one of the strip joints near the tattoo parlours near the wedding chapels. Sounded good in theory. Dinner and then a (Burlesque/ Cabaret) show, the true Vegas experience. The thing is, for me, I saw it from a very performance point of view. So, I marvelled at the way they moved, the high kicks and the fluidity while at the same time amused that they were taking off various pieces of clothing as the show went on. The thing about Cabaret shows is that there isn't total nudity, just the suggestion of it. Possibly to retain some semblance of propriety or because tantalising is always better than in your face nudity. The problem was, after a while, there is such a thing, well, for me anyway, as too much boob and while varying in sizes, a boob is well, just a boob. So, I fell asleep, even with girls dancing on a pole in front of me. But at least I was there and I had fun while I was conscious. I'm sure Packrat had fun so I'm not asking him to comment.
My biggest bugbear about the whole trip and it came to a head last night during the show was how in Vegas, it's ok to smoke. And it's ok to smoke EVERYWHERE. So, the old cliche about smoke filled gambling saloons? Very true. And the less classy the casino is, the more smoke there is. And the Burlesque show took place in a mid-class hotel where it wasn't just smoke in the casino, it was smoke in the entire hotel. That led me to remark that it was no wonder that all the hotel drugstores sold Visine, eye drops that make one's eyes freakishly white. It also led to Packrat and I having scratchy throats and glazed eyes. Well, it's a once in a lifetime thing. I don't think I would go to another cabaret show, not like this though, I still want to go to the Bette Midler one and I don't think I'd set foot into another casino that was so smoke filled again.
So now, we're done. The only thing left is to endure the horrendously long flights and connections back to Singapore. I maintain, if the USA wants to be a global power, it really should make itself more accessible to the rest of the world.
Technorati Tags: Las Vegas, X Burlesque show, Siegfried and Roy White tigersOndine tossed this thought in at 00:03
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" Far in the stillness, a cat languishes loudly"