Thursday, February 14 2008

Cibolla . . . Eldorado . . . Babylon . . . VEGAS!

It was a nice little place, very quaint and charming. I'd probably stay there again.

A quick wrap-up of our Vegas event: we went to participate in a surprise for my pal Craig (co-owner of Winesense in Manitoba). His girlfriend Wendy arranged for a 40th birthday party for him in Vegas with a bunch of friends. Well, because it always has to be about him, he managed to propose to her the morning of his birthday, completely unaware of the upcoming festivities. What a glorious concatenation of events!

Here's the lovely couple:

Oh, you crazy kids!

The look on Craig's face when I rounded the corner and stuck my mitt out to shake his hand was priceless: it's the first time I've ever seen anybody do a triple-take. Altogether there were nine of us hitting the town.

L to R: Tim, Dawn, Kim, Wendy, Craig, Andy, Curtis, Colin and Suzanne

The first day we did a bit of shopping, sightseeing and getting into cultural misunderstandings with some other visitors (luckily for us the crowd in the highly charged piano bar thought better of engaging in fisticuffs with a group of fellows who averaged six-foot three). That night we did dinner in Bradley Ogden

Nice joint! The philosophy was very good as well: fresh things, in season, from as close to local sources as possible. Stars of the meal were a nice Vouvray, some pretty good Oregon Pinot, poached lobster in vanilla foam and truly wonderful desserts. Kim had the Kobe beef and ate it with a look of disbelief: she swore she was ruined for all other steak for life. We waddled off to do some more sightseeing.

Next day the missus and I were off on foot, up the replica Eiffel tower to look about.

It's only half as tall as the original (something about it sticking up into the flight path of the airport) but the view was pretty great. We also hoofed around the Venetian and took a gondola ride. I'm not noted for my high tolerance of corny, cheesey gimmicks, but I really got into the spirit of it and I'd have to recommend it to everyone with a spark of romance in their soul.

The next day we spent in the spa at the Bellagio, where they truly understand pampering. Manicure, pedicure, massage and a facial–I think my wife took some spa treatments as well. Then it was off to Caesar's for a little slots action where Dawn came out $3.75 ahead and got a free drink while I lost a fortune–my whole $20!–and paid the tip on the drinks as well. Such is life. We toddled off to Spago for dinner.

The picture might look a little funny at first, but that's only because like a lot of Las Vegas establishments, Spago is a street cafe inside a building, complete with a sky painted to look like clouds. Go figure! We split a margherita pizza and both had the pancetta wrapped meat loaf with port wine sauce. The wine by the glass list was really thoughtful, and complemented the menu perfectly. I had a glass of Tempranillo with the pizza while Dawn opted for another Vouvray (don't tell anyone about this delightful and under-rated Loire version of Chenin Blanc. It's too good to survive becoming popular, and it's reasonably priced to boot) and I had a rip-snortin' Merlot (the label said 15% alcohol, but they were fibbing by at least 1.5%, it was so hot) with the meatloaf.

Then it was off to see Spamalot, the Monty Python musical with the Peterman guy from Seinfeld. Pretty funny stuff, and once you've seen a Vegas production, everything else looks like high-school theatre.

We finally wound up at a showing of Zumanity, the Cirque du Soleil show. I was amused to find out in Quebec last summer that C du S started off as some street buskers in Quebec City. They've really done well for themselves. The show itself was a bit naughty (rather beyond PG 13) but wonderfully done with great acrobatics and dance and music and comedy. Afterwards we tottered about a little bit more, hitting Pour 24 for a taste of their 24 draught taps of beer before calling it a night.

If there's one thing I learned from this trip it's that what's in your wallet in Vegas, stays in Vegas. But I can hardly wait to go back, once I catch up on my sleep and wrestle my creditors into submission.

Posted by Tim AT 9:31PM

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