I think I used all of these words, mostly in that order, at one time or another over the past four days while I lived it up in Las Vegas with my friend, Emily. How can I even begin to describe this city or my unique experience? Here goes nothing...
Opulent: When we walked into the Wynn I literally thought some French peasants were going to appear with a guillotine to revenge themselves on me for staying somewhere that just reeked with money that could have gone to feed a third world country-- several third world countries-- for years. The place was absolutely gorgeous. Our room-- my goodness. It was amazing. And on the 60th floor (possibly 50th, as the elevator had no rooms in the 40s), and my ears popped during every elevator ride. The lobby was decorated in sparkling mosaics, laid-in wood desks, and to get to the main lobby you had to pass through an atrium that smelled heavily perfumed, had flowered mosaic floors, and little streams with real koi fish.
(Emily in The Wynn)Decadent: I suppose most of the trip was decadent. The first night we were there, Emily and I went to go see Cirque du Soleil, La Reve, at the Wynn theatre. We sat in the VIP seats, which were leather recliners, had a waitress, a free bottle of champagne, chocolates and chocolate-covered strawberries, and a little backstage TV in front of us. It was jaw-dropping. The show was absolutely beautiful. The story follows a woman who doesn't know whether to fall in love or to resist it. When she falls asleep on a park bench, the Dream King (who I'm just going to go ahead and call Oberon, because he had a little Puck figure with him) appears and throughout the show they explore the various facets of love through dance and choreography. Love is presented as crazy, fun, scary, hurtful, exhilarating, and ultimately something which is worth putting yourself out on a limb for... I really enjoyed it.
After the show, Emily and I went to a club called Blush. We bought some drinks and realized that in Vegas, to sit in a nightclub you need a reservation. Oddly enough, just then a girl named Kashmir called us over and had us sit with her and her friends/co-workers who were part of a marketing group and had a $2,400 tab to use up. They bought the rest of our drinks that night. It was quite an odd experience, I must say. Kashmir was a dear, and a man named Matt seemed nice enough to talk to, but overall, slightly surreal. I did enjoy the free drinks, though. I also enjoyed pleading the time zone difference and leaving at midnight-- it felt like 3:00 AM to my body clock.
The next day, Emily and I had free spa appointments (yes, free!). The spa was gorgeous, and after our massages we spent some quality time in the jacuzzi room. But again, the place was opulently decorated and full of amenities. After the spa, Emily and I went to a lovely little restaurant called "Society at Encore!" and I had the BIGGEST turkey sandwich I've ever eaten in my entire life. It was incredibly tasty, but goodness! I also had some amazing sweet potato fries. Funnily enough, though, Emily and I were trying to save room for our dinner that night at Alex.
Alex is the nicest restaurant in the Wynn. Good God, I could write a whole post just on this restaurant experience. We walked in, were led to our table, and then given little chaise lounges to set our purses on. They gave Emily one for her wallet. There was no detail too small during dinner. The waiters were constantly attentive, gave Emily a new napkin after she left hers on her chair to use the restroom, and refilled our champagne glasses without us noticing. We were given a pre-first-course course that consisted of a butternut squash soup sample, a cheese cracker, and fois gras on toast, then came bread, then our appetizers (I had risotto and Maine lobster tail). After our appetizers came an amuse bouche (chicken and cranberry beans), then our main course (I had duck). After our entrees came a little panna cotta, followed by our desserts, FOLLOWED by our after-desserts-- a little basket of warm honey Madelines and a tray of chocolates. We had no idea there would be so many extra courses, and by the end of the meal the chocolates were exquisite torture. I had eaten so much I thought I might be sick if I tried to take another bite. Then, just as we were leaving, they handed us a box of macaroons. I've never been so full in my life.
Bigger-Than-Life: We woke up the next day intent on seeing the rest of the Vegas strip. We ventured down to Paris Las Vegas for a brunch (which we were both still too full to really enjoy). The buffet, called Le Village, looked like something out of Beauty and the Beast. The architecture of the rest of the hotel was crazy-- it really did look just like Paris. You can even go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I felt like I was in some kind of strange inverted Disney World. After brunch, we crossed the street to Caesar's Palace-- again, bigger than life. The buildings were so tall, the hotel so extensive, the attention to detail striking. Then into The Mirage, past the pirate show at Treasure Island, and over to The Venetian. We were going to take a gondola ride INSIDE THE HOTEL but couldn't find the ticket booth and didn't care that much.
(Le Village Buffet at Paris Las Vegas)Manipulative: That afternoon, Emily and I walked up to the Forum shops at Caesar's Palace to visit the Anthropologie store (I can't help it). I tried on about 20 shirts and dresses but settled on buying only a pair of tights I had been eyeing online. After our mini-shopping adventure, Emily and I headed back to the hotel. It was getting to be late afternoon, and the sun was setting, but we decided to go sit by the pool-- not in swimsuits or anything, just to be outside. We were comfortably reclining when a voice came over the PA system announcing that the pool area was closed and any Wynn guests needed to leave. We went back inside and sat on a couch in the lobby. Side note: great people watching spot. Anyways, we got to talking about how there is literally nothing to do in these hotels besides eat, shop, and play at the casino. The entire enterprise is geared towards manipulating people into spending money in the casino. The ventilation system is great so the air always tastes fresh, despite all of the smokers. The casino is bright and noisy and exciting. The pool closes before the sun is gone. There is no bowling alley or movie theater or... anything. So, we let ourselves be manipulated.
(Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas)That's about the time that I lost six of my ten dollars in the slots (three the day before, one at the airport). It's amazing how quickly the money goes. Emily, on the other hand, hit a huge bonus in a Monopoly slot machine and turned her three dollars into $17.73 or so. But once you're up, it's hard to quit. Emily played a few more rounds and her seventeen plus dollars dwindled down, then up! Then down... at $15.99 she decided to call it quits. But, as she noted, it's very addictive. Once you get a small payout, you think you can do better, even though the slots are pure chance, no skill involved. It's easy to see how someone with an addictive personality could become a compulsive gambler. Overall, though, Emily came out up about 8 or so (given the dollars spent the previous day) and I came out down 10. Not terribly good or bad. But the amount of money some people spend!!! There were Blackjack tables with a minimum bet of $500 or even $1000: crazy.
Exhausting: Slots wear thin quickly, though, if you're not into losing huge sums of money. And given the time change which we hadn't really adjusted to and the piles of good food, we were exhausted. We got a small tapas dinner at the Lobby Cafe and Bar, then headed up to watch a special about the making of the Harry Potter movies.
So overall? Vegas is an amazing place, especially if you're a "Vegas" person. The thing is, I don't think I am a Vegas person. One night at a low-key nightclub was enough for me; I felt no need to go back out to their other, more hyped up "dance" type nightclubs. Nor do I really like to gamble away huge sums of money, and most of the shopping was out of the range that I was willing to pay for clothes or shoes (I mean, I can drool over Manolo Blahniks, but I'm not actually going to buy a pair!).
But it's definitely worth experiencing. Vegas is what it is, and doesn't try to hide that fact. In Vegas, you find the best and the worst of life. The sheer opulence of the hotels, the impressive themes of each resort on the Strip, the nightclub hawkers on the street, the smell of stale beer coming from the cheaper casinos on the Strip, the crazy people in pirate costumes or who look like brunette Paris Hiltons or terribly mismatched couples where the woman is clearly a trophy wife, the lights, the Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand, the Cirque Shows, and everything in between make it unforgettable.
(Blurry due to aperture issues, but me with the lights of Las Vegas)(All photos by me, except the last one, by Emily.
If you wish to reproduce, please do so with a credit and a link.)
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