Day 5 - Vegas baby "O"MG!!

Today was the start of our actual road trip, we left LA and drove 4 hours to the fabulous Las Vegas!  The four hours (covering the first 250 miles of the 10,000 we're planning to drive over the next 3 months...) took us through canyons, mountains and plains - we drove through sunshine, drizzle and a storm before finally reaching LV (no not Louis Vuitton)!

The "ghost town"

Oli the rootin' tootin' sherriff

The guide books are right, one minute we were driving through the desert road for miles and miles and then suddenly Vegas' amazing skyline pops up out of nowhere:-)  As most of you know Oli and I got married in Vegas two years ago this week so it was like visiting an old friend as we drove on to the famous glitzy strip.  By the time we arrived at the beautiful Bellagio hotel it was already 7pm, where the day went I have no idea....okay I do, in fact we stopped off at a retail outlet (yes big sis I bought you all clothes) and then Oli took us on a detour through a ghost town which prob took up a couple of hours)! 

The hotel was breathtaking, my face was a picture so much so that the concierge asked "first time here?" - doh!  I have to stop looking like an out of space tourist!  We replied that we got married in Vegas two years ago this week, he gave us a friendly smile and said he upgraded our room to one overlooking the famous Bellagio fountains - wow that's two upgrades in two hotels...really must keep using the "we're celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary" line for the next three months!!!

Our room is fab, another king size bed, this time with curtains, the bathroom complete with white robes and slippers has marble double sinks, a bath and a walk-in shower - how dirty can two people get in three days!!!  Not quite sure how I'm going to cope when we have to stay in the roadside motels and the winnebago for the rest of our three months now I'm getting accustomed to this luxury!!  And of course not forgetting the view!  We can see onto the strip and of course the fountains which perform their spectacular displays to music every 30 mins until midnight.  People line the streets below our 21st floor room to catch a glimpse, we did two years ago and now it's the view from our window:-) 

Oli's colleague mentioned to him that we shouldn't get a room view of the fountains due to the noise - not true mister, the room is sound proof but if you put on channel 22 on your tv you hear the music which is being played below and can enjoy watching the show from the comfort of your own room!

After yet another quick shower and change of clothes ( a $12 dress I just bought, yes Oli I do need ANOTHER pink dress) we headed off to see if we could get tickets to the Cirque Du Soleil show "O" which is in one of the theatres inside our hotel (seriously every hotel here is sooooo much bigger than say Bluewater shopping centre or Westfield... Oli says it's 1.9 million square feet).  We were told that the show was sold out and that tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday are their days off and we leave Vegas on Wednesday morning:-(  That doesn't deter team OliAnne, we headed to the theatre and queued up for returns, not only did we manage to get two tickets, we got the two seats that apprently the likes of Tom Cruise books and they are the preferred choice of the original creator of the show! 

While waiting in the queue we got chatting (me? chat? never) to two American ladies here on memorial weekend vacation; they loved our accents (third time today) and we had a good laugh with them in the 40minute queuing time (even had a burger for dinner while in line) - they said it's the most fun they have had in Vegas while sober!!  Now the show, wow, "O" obviously stands for the "O" in OMG, I was lost for words if you can believe that?!  I don't think I can describe how utterly amazing it was....the show is mainly set in water, a pool IS the main stage but not an ordinary pool by any means.  The pool is like an amazing lake from a dream set in an enchanting forest, the water appears deep (Oli googled that it's 1.5 millon gallons) as acrobats/synchronised swimmers dived from the heights of the ceiling and then before you knew it other acts were running across it as somehow the floor below the pool had risen to floor level.  At times half the lake would be at floor level creating a stage and then parts would be a deep pool again - a truly amazing spectacle that I haven't given even an ounce of justice with my description.

Off to bed now as it's 1.30am local time 9.30am your time, we've got two full days in Vegas (not including our arrival today), first thing tomorrow we plan to ride a rollercoaster that goes all the way around the outside of the New York, New York hotel - yippee!

Enjoy your bank holiday Monday folks:-)

J&O