Mystere

Having not made it to sleep before the sun came up this morning, Ami and I were rather late to wake. We did eventually get up this afternoon. While she was getting ready I went out to the parking garage to retrieve my sunglasses. It took an embarrassing amount of time to find our car. After I finally did I met up with Ami at the bar near the elevators and we went out on the strip to do some shopping.

It was nice and hot outside and Ami quickly felt overdressed so she bought one of those stretchy one size fits all dresses and chanced into that. I picked up a couple t-shirts in the same store. After that we got something to eat at a food court off the strip at a Wendy’s.

We spent most of the afternoon at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. I don’t recall either of us buying anything there but we did look at quite a bit of stuff. There was a gallery featuring the works on Vladimir Kush which was rather interesting. I think the Club Tattoo store was Ami’s favorite. We spent a lot of time in the Urban Outfitters store looking at all the knick-knacks and books there.

Since we weren’t terribly hungry around dinner time having eaten lunch late, we deferred dinner until later in the evening. We took the monorail back to our hotel to change and freshen up for the show we went to see this evening.

With more formal attire on, we took a cab from our hotel to Treasure Island. Cirque du Soleil’s “Mystere” was playing there and I bought some tickets last night. A long line had formed to enter but it evaporated while I waited at will call to pickup our tickets. This was my first Cirque Du Soleil show so I didn’t really go in with any expectations, even though the entertainment company has been around as long as me. I hardly feel qualified to describe the show in much detail. The show combines acrobatics and other feats of athleticism, street comedy and “worldbeat” music. Before the show starts, what could only be describes as a clown in a tux mingles through the audience with popcorn, spilling it on and around the audience. He’s also featured during the show as a nuisance to the performers and audience. At one point he put a man in a cage and proceeds to attempt to woo his girl.

Among an array of impressive acrobatics was a “hand to hand” performance by the Alexis Brothers in a particularly impressive display of strength at they balance themselves on each other. I was thoroughly impressed, although I wasn’t exactly drooling like Ami was. In any event, I’m sure one of the many reviews written about Mystere do a better job of articulating the experience than I could. One thing I was expecting that I didn’t really see that I was expecting was a coherent plot of some kind. If there was a deeper meaning, I did not get it.

Following the show, we stopped at the gift shop and picked up a couple little things. I wanted to have dinner at Delmonico’s Steakhouse that night but it closed at 10 like many restaurants on the strip so we took a cab to Smith and Wollensky which is next door to the MGM Grand where we were staying. I had the sirloin almost out of obligation and Ami had a turkey BLT. I was not especially hungry though and couldn’t quite finish it. After dinner we stopped at the hotel room to drop off the souvenirs we bought earlier and Ami’s leftovers.

Around one in the morning we went back out to walk around and get some drinks. Our first stop was the Centrifuge Bar in the MGM Grand. After a couple rounds there we walked up the strip and stopped at the casino bar at Bill’s for a shot and one of their 99 cent margaritas. Following that we spent a good deal of time at the Carnaval Court Bar at Harrah’s. As far as we could tell it was one of the few places open into the wee hours of the morning. We were there for a good while. Ami had me drinking a bit more heavily that I otherwise would have been. The big camera slung around my shoulder attracted a bit of attention. A couple handfuls of people had me takes pictures of them. One guy tugged on my camera strap and asked if I was carrying a satchel, much to Ami’s amusement. I didn’t yet get the joke.

Sometime time around four, things were wrapping up at that venue. The DJ was done for the night and we heard last call. Lastly we went to the Rockhouse Bar on the strip. I walked back to the hotel around five and went to bed.


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