1. Crystal’s Crystal’s is located within the City Center complex. Crystal’s is the gray building on the ground level. It sits between the two front towers on the right (blue) and middle (grayish) buildings in the front of all the buildings. 1
2. Crystal’s Interior Look closely inside the massive wooden design and you will notice a restaurant. 2
10. Mandalay Bay Mandalay Bay is a 44-story hotel casino, with 3309 rooms. Five floors are occupied by the AAA five diamond Four Seasons Hotel. In 2003 the Hotel tower opened with 1120 suites. A restaurant and bar are on the top floor. All the windows are painted in gold leaf. It offers a sandy beach with water waves, 3 pools, lazy river to tube down. 10
11. Mandalay Bay Mandalay Bay entertains a 1.2 million gallon saltwater shark aquarium. This is a ‘must see’ in Las Vegas. 11
12. Mandalay Bay The Mandalay Convention Center has been the location used by major boxing events, Latin Grammy awards, Country Music award shows and of course, Michael Jackson’s Immortal World Tour. MJ’s Cirque show will be in Las Vegas for 2 weeks beginning Dec. 3, 2011. Mandalay Bay employees 12,000 people. Next door to Mandalay Bay is Luxor (Pyramid shaped) and next door to Luxor is Excalibur. One tram will take you to all three resorts. 12
13. Mandalay Bay Sandy and Victoria with big smiles thinking about the MJ Cirque show in December 2011. Great picture !!!! 13
14. Mandalay Bay Susan and Sandy posing for Victoria. I looked everywhere for Mr. Branca. Oh my !!! 14
16. Mandalay Bay Aureole is a restaurant. It was currently undergoing a newly added feature of a wine rack. The wine rack is from floor to ceiling. Victoria or Sandy can explain this better than I can. Ladies will be dropped by wires from the ceiling and move to the floor section to remove the bottle of wine you have selected. This display can be seen by people walking through the hotel/casino free of charge. 16
17. Mandalay Bay Here’s a better view of the wine rack. You can get an idea of the size of this rack. 17
18. Mandalay Bay Victoria taking Sandy and Susan’s picture before heading to The Venetian. Bye Michael. We’ll be b-a-c-k- 18
19. The Venetian The Venetian was built on the property where the Sand’s Hotel was located. The tower contains 40 stories, 4049 suites and 4059 hotel rooms. It cost $1.5 billion to build. The life-like replica tower of St. Mark’s Campanile in Venice, Italy sits at the front of the Venetian. The Venetian is the most popular resorts in Las Vegas due to it’s water canals and atmosphere. 19
20. Venetian Interior The Venetian is truly a photographer’s dream come true. Every detail in this resort portrays the feeling of Italy. This picture is looking down a hallway with painted ceilings. 20
23. Venetian Interior This is the main square. You will see individuals dressed in traditional costume perform free on stage singing Italian opera, playing musical instruments, performing a play, etc. You often see juggler’s, kings, queens, mime’s within The Venetian. You are welcome to take pictures with them also. 23
24. Venetian Exterior The Venetian is famous for their gondola ride. This is an outside picture of a gondola with the gondolier steering through the canal. The gondoliers sing as they work to create a pleasant ride. Many newly married couples will take this cruise with their picture taken by professionals afterwards. 24
25. Venetian Interior A gondolier steering his gondola for the upcoming bridge. 25
26. Venetian Interior Victoria captured this picture of the gondoliers walking in a line in the main square singing loudly in their base voices. 26
27. Venetian Interior A mime in action....or I should say, no action. When people first visit The Venetian they think this is a statue. People will stand/sit watching the mime’s and give them a tip (money). There is a Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum located on The Venetian property. Michael Jackson is in this museum, along with Prince, Siegfield and Roy, Princess Diana and numerous other celebrities. 27
28. Venetian Interior Victoria taking a photograph of Sandy and Susan. We finished our tour inside Peter Lik’s store. We are standing in front of it. Peter Lik is an Australian noted for his fine art photo galleries and panoramic landscape photographs. His photographs glow from the glass used within the frames. 28
29. Venetian Interior Does this look familiar? Remember in Martin Bashier’s documentary the scene with Michael Jackson purchasing the beautiful vases? This is the store they were in. Regis Galerie keeps a continuous running tape of Michael shopping in his store. Sandy took a picture as you can see in the bottom picture. 29
30. Venetian Interior Allure will see this in June and Renee will see this in December. Bring your camera’s ladies, it will be a fun filled day. 30
31. Venetian Interior Victoria, Susan and Sandy standing in front of Regis Galerie with Michael Jackson behind us on video. Regis Galerie is very expensive yet perfect for that one of a kind gift. They have beautiful Faberge Eggs. 31
33. Venetian Main Square Time for lunch. We walked up an appetite. We ate lunch at Mario Batali’s, Otto Enoteca Pizzeria. Before I forget, see the blue sky in the top picture? The sky in The Venetian changes color as the day progresses into evening. It will be golden by sunset. 33
34. Otto Enoteca Pizzeria Sandy and Victoria sampling their wine. Wine and pizza go hand in hand. 34
35. Otto Enoteca Pizzeria There were many items on the menu to select. You could order in portions i.e., for 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. It’s a great way to sample the different Italian foods offered. 35
36. Otto Enoteca Pizzeria Mario Batali uses a very thin crust. His sauce is to die for. I could put this sauce on chocolate cake and devour it. 36
37. Otto Enoteca Pizzeria We also dined on fresh spring salad, eggplant caponate and red beets. Lunch was excellent and is highly recommended. 37
38. Venetian Shows The Venetian hosts production numbers like Jersey Boys, Phantom of the Opera, Blue Man Group and headline shows with Tim Allen, Rita Rudner or Joan Rivers. 38
39. Venetian Hattitude This is the “hat” story that I spoke about in Part 1. After lunch Victoria, Sandy and I walked through the shops in the Venetian. Suddenly there was a shrill from Victoria.......”Michael hats.” We put on our brakes, put it in reverse and we were off to get a closer look. 39
40. Venetian Hattitude Sandy and Victoria doing Smooth Criminal moves. We were chuckling with each other. 40
41. Venetian Hattitude Victoria went for the black fedora, Sandy stayed with the Smooth Criminal look. MJ back-up dancers. We were trying all the MJ moves and the chuckling got a bit louder. 41
42. VenetianHattitude By this time the laughter was out of control. Sandy departed to the other end of the store to buy a hat she saw. Victoria and I still had our camera’s snapping away. Mall people were now looking and coming into the shop to see what was going on. 42
43. Venetian Hattitude Victoria had MJ’s moves and poses down perfect. By this time we were ROTFLOAO. We were so engrossed in our MJ fun, we blocked out everything and everybody in the store. We were in our own MJ world having so much fun !!!! 43
44. Venetian Hattitude I was trying to do an MJ kick and my foot WAS supposed to reach my hand. The old leg muscles didn’t budge and I just about fell on my ass in the middle of the store. Lol The old gray mare ain’t what she used to be. 44
45. Venetian Hattitude Victoria was doing MJ’s moonwalk perfectly. Notice her shoes are off to slide barefoot. By this time tears were running down my face with laughter. We finally stopped and looked around for Sandy. While waiting for Sandy at the register, Victoria whispered .....look up there. A sign on the wall saying “No pictures allowed”. We looked around and another sign on the other wall. Signs everywhere. As we left the shop Sandy told us the manager had yelled out “only 1 pic ladies”, but our laughter drowned out her voice. We then laughed even louder. We bad !!! 45
46. Caesars Palace Caesars Palace was built in 1962 with many towers being added as the years passed by. Caesars has 3348 rooms and the only resort in Las Vegas to host the World Series of Poker. 46
47. Caesars Palace The front entrance into Caesars Palace. The entire resort is themed from the Roman Empire. 47
48. Caesars Palace In 2000, Caesars Palace built their “Colosseum” which seats 4300 people. The Colosseum was opened for Celine Dion. Celine and Elton John are regular performers. During their vacation time Bette Midler or Cher have recently filled in for them. 48
51. Caesars Palace Caesars Palace opened the “Forum Shops” in 1992. These are high-end shops with fashion designs from around the world. Many celebrities are noted for eating at the restaurants and often photographed. 51
55. Caesars Palace Beautiful statues to view while shopping in the Forum Shops. 55
56. Caesars Palace While we were walking passed this shop, chocolate aroma was filling the air. Victoria snapped a photo. We must return to Max Brenner to feed our endorphins. 56
57. Caesars Palace Here’s Max Brenner standing over sheets of different chocolate. He wasn’t there the day we were, so I researched to see what he looked like and copied his picture. 57
58. Caesars Palace Max Brenner’s, Chocolate by the Baldman, sure knows how to merchandise his tasty, tempting product. 58
59. Caesars Palace This sorbet shop was extremely creative in displaying their delights. Sandy, Victoria and I were amazed by this display. We were strong and managed to walk away without a taste. 59
61. Caesars Palace Victoria shopping. She wasn’t aware I took this candid shot. Surprise Victoria !!! 61
62. Caesars Palace Victoria and Sandy walking ahead as we headed out of Caesars Palace Forum Shops. 62
63. CaesarsPalace Victoria wants this corvette. I can picture her now moonwalking to the driver’s side and speeding away. lol 63
64. New York New York New York New York is the resort Allure will be staying when she visits Las Vegas in June 2011. Yes, that is a rollercoaster on the roof. Let’s see if she’ll ride on it. 64
65. The Strip This is the south end of The Strip. The building with the blue lights (left) is the Excalibur. The Strip continues to the north and Sandy, Victoria and I didn’t make it to the downtown section of Las Vegas resorts. 65
66. Las Vegas This is a panoramic photo of Las Vegas for those that have never been there. 66
67. We had a blast We hope you enjoyed our pictures and experience we had in Las Vegas. Sandy and Victoria may elaborate more on our blog with stories, sites and sounds. Until then......back to our blog to talk with all of you. 67
