I’ve been a little busy but have just posted pictures of another day of our trip to Las Vegas to our flickr photostream.
While at the Bellagio, we met the real-life counterpart to the role that Julia Roberts played in “Ocean’s Eleven” who works in the Bellagio’s Gallery of Fine Art. We asked her about the location of the staircase that Roberts descended in the film only to find out that it was torn down during a recent remodeling of the hotel. Very sad. I guess lots of folks had their picture taken there but they needed room to put in more shops and walkways (because Las Vegas needed more shops?!?!). This is the area where the Jean-Philippe Patisserie with the chocolate fountain now sits.
The Bellagio retains a AAA five-diamond rating and even without our personally viewing the rooms, it’s easy to see why. Just the area around the swimming pools is gorgeous and opulent, let alone the rest of the resort. The famous and wealthy seem to like it as Randy almost literally ran into one of the Olsen twins as we passed the chocolate fountain (I was busy trying to navigate the onslaught of her entourage).
I’ve only stayed in a five-diamond hotel once and that was when I was in high school of all times. My friend Leslie invited her friend Keisha and me to stay at the Four-Season’s Olympic Hotel (now the Fairmont Olympic Hotel) in downtown Seattle, a treat provided by Leslie’s parents for her eighteenth birthday. We ate in one of the hotel restaurants, went swimming in the pool and ordered room service — a very plush experience for us high school seniors.
Although the five-diamond experience is wonderful, I have a difficult time now imagining spending that kind of money for a night’s accommodations (I just looked at prices for a basic room at the Bellagio in November and rates were as high as $950 a night but usually ranging from $179-$499) . Around Kentucky, that could be easily a mortgage payment or better yet, a flight to Hawaii. I’d rather go somewhere and stay in a more modest place than only have a nice room to look at. Of course, that nice room would have a gorgeous pool and good restaurants so I guess there is something to be said for that too.