Fabulous! Las Vegas!!

Which city is your favorite in the U.S? Mine is...LAS VEGAS!!! But actually, my hubby LOVES it more than me.

Sometimes we feel like...he IS ADDICTED TO Las Vegas. Basically, he doesn't like traveling and big cities so much. However, since we went to Las Vegas two years ago, he often says, "So...when will we go to Las Vegas?" His favorite TV shows and movies are related to Las Vegas, like "Ocean's Eleven". When he is VERY quiet in front of PC at home, he checks Las Vegas information Web-sites. Have you ever seen the first picture? It is a trademark of Las Vegas, which is located at the entrance of the city. It says, "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas!!" My hubby REALLY likes the sign, so he collects any Las Vegas goods!! Occasionally he says..." I think I was born in Las Vegas in my former life..." Nobody knows...

Anyway, since we were FASCINATED by this city, we have visited Las Vegas once a year!! Last Memorial Day holiday, (May 26th-29th) we went to Fabulous Las Vegas for our third time!!

Why is Las Vegas so fabulous? I guess it's because the whole city is very entertaining, and unrealistic. Everybody is enjoying their vacations! But it's not like Florida Disney World. Las Vegas is a nice vacation place for adults.

What do we do there? Well, first...shopping!!
My favorite shops are PACKED in Las Vegas. The right picture is my favorite favorite jewelry shop, "Michale Negrin." In the U.S, we can find their shops only here and a small mall in the suburb of NYC!

This shop is in the big shopping mall of Caeasr's Palace Hotel, "Forum Shops." If you were a Japanese or you had been to Japan, do you know the Odaiba Venus Fort(お台場ヴィーナスフォート）？　　The mall was influenced by the Forum Shops, a lot. They are really similar, but the Forum Shops is quite bigger than a Japanese one! Other than Michale Negrin, my favorite shops are Kate Spade New York, Almani Exchange, Anne Fortunate, etc etc.

The left picture is the Grand Canal Shoppes, in the Venetian Hotel.

You know, most Las Vegas hotels are like theme parks. The Venetian Hotel's theme is Italy! Their fashion mall is like Venice! You can ride a gondola enjoying listening to canzona music!! In this mall, Burberry's shop is immense, and has lots of items!!

These shopping malls have gorgeous brand shops,,,but of course you can find casual goods in Las Vegas!

The beloved American candy, m&m's, have their own shop!
My hubby and I bought the blue & red golf club cover. Their faces are really...funny! We love them.

Oh, sometimes m&m's characters appear, and have pictures taken with kids! The green gal is sexy!??

How do we enjoy Vegas?

Secondly, shows!! Las Vegas has got many spectacular shows. Especially, we love Cirque du Soleil!! It means "Circus of the Sun" in French. The group is a Canadian circus group, but there are many members who are Chinese and Mongolian. Their artistic & acrobatic performances are always breath-taking! We have seen all of their shows except for "LOVE", a very new one. We heard that "LOVE" is mostly for Beatles' music fans, so this time, we went to the Wynn Hotel to watch "Le Reve."

It means "The Dream" also in French!! This is not a Cirque du Soleil show, but in fact, the group performance was very similar to the Cirque du Soleil, and we were satisfied with them!!

In the contrast to other shows, in this show, the front seats are cheaper because they are "splash" seats! The stage is like a round pool and the audience seats are surrounded by the stage. We booked the very front seat, so we were afraid we would be "drowned." However, it was OK! We had some splashes, but not much. Due to the very close distance to performers, we could see their delicate face expressions, details of costumes and so on! This show is cheaper than Cirque du Soleil shows, but just as good as them!

If you plan to go to Las Vegas, I recommend your seeing "Le Reve" or "O" by Cirque du Soleil.

This time, we rented a car for the first time. So, we explored the suburbs of Las Vegas! The Strip (the most gorgeous area) is a very crowded big city, but if you drive severel miles away from there...

Las Vegas is just a desert like the side picture. We went to the Hoover Dam, which is the only water supply of Las Vegas. The place was really crowded & not so impressive...I don't recommend it.

But of course you should go to the Grand Canyon!! We went there two years ago. It's spectacular!!

We went to some famous theme hotels that weren't located in the "Strip" area. Especially, the Hard Rock Hotel was quite impressive!! This hotel and cafe are nationwide. We have been to the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago... But, in Las Vegas, it was not like that!! The hotel's decorations are funky & cool. The customers are....too cool!!

I thought, "Wow, does this hotel have age limits to stay in it?" Most of them were pretty young, maybe high school or college students.

They looked like black rap musicians and models from the music videos. I mean, boys wore baggie pants, sloppy clothes and had tattoos. Their hairstyles were like punk musicians.

Girls wore bikinis, V-string panties, and thick make-up... Well, it was the Hard Rock Hotel, so it maybe make sense; i.e, they "rocked!" But actually, my hubby and I got really scared! Most of them were drunk, shouting, running, or making out in the hotel!! When we walked around the outdoor veranda, we could see some of them were dancing to loud music, and hanging a black banner with a skull mark like pirates... I don't want to speak ill of the Hard Rock Hotel, but... for us, it was one of the scariest moments in the U.S!!

Probably it happened just only in the graduation fun trip season?

If you want to have an adventure, you may visit the hotel...

Anyway, in the hotel, they held the Jackson family's auction. We could see Michael & Janet Jackson's stage costumes, private letters, old records, and so on! We saw this news was broadcast worldwide, but inside the hotel...Oh, I should stop talking about it!!

If you visit Las Vegas, you should go to the casinos!! If you win at the casinos, what will you buy? Last year, my hubby's aim was a plasma TV. This year? He said, "Can I buy a Rolex watch if you become a millionaire?" His dream has been getting bigger... Before we went to the casinos, we went to a Rolex shop in the Wynn hotel, which is the most gorgeous hotel in Las Vegas, to motivate us to win! He tried his favorite one on, but it was $25,000!!! Of course we couldn't afford it...so far!?

Therefore he said to the clerk, "Thanks. But we can't buy it now, so maybe the next time. " Then, the clerk, a middle aged guy, said nothing to us! He was really rude!! Or, they had just very rich customers who can buy the watches without a hesitation? We don't know...

That night, my husband grabbed a hundred bucks and said to me, "Honey, I will win and bring back that Rolex with me!!" and went to the casinos. He is a good boy ! He never spend over $100 in the casinos even though he keeps winning. He didn't come back for three hours!

When he was back, I asked him, "So, did you win?"

He smiled, " I won!"

I smiled back, "Did you get your favorite Rolex?"

He looked down, " No... I tripled money, but far from buying a Rolex!! I think it's really hard to make BIG money enough to get a Rolex..."

Of course we knew it! If you want to get a HIGH return, you should take HIGH risks!!

We don't want to bet big money, but we can always have DREAMS to be millionaires☆

Oh, what did I do when my hubby went to the casinos? Actually, I had somethings to do...to make money! When I tried to use a safe, it was accidentally locked, and automatically the hotel charged us $3!! I didn't want to pay it because the safe was broken, so I talked about that at the front desk.

After that, I used a vending machine to buy a soda, then... the machine was also broken! It ate my $2, and didn't give me a soda! So, I called the maintenance office to complain. They said "If you can come to our office, we will reimburse your dollars." So I went to their office.

When I told these stories to my hubby, he said, "Honey, this is a LAS VEGAS hotel where millions of dollars are moving every night... But you complained about a few dollars?? YOU ARE FUNNY!!"

Oh, boy! we can spend our dollars in the casinos to bet on our dreams, but I don't want to lose a dollar because of the hotel's negligence!!! Maybe, I have become TOO ASSERTIVE since I came to the U.S...

Anyway, we definitely want to go back to Las Vegas, our imaginary hometown!! (This sign is on the opposite side of the very first picture, "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas!" So, when you leave Las Vegas, you can see this sign saying, "Drive carefully. Come back SOON!!")