MARINA SOKOLOVA

Rainforest Cafe.

Out of all the places we eat at in Las Vegas, Rainforest Cafe is my favourite so far. Even so the Planet Hollywood had testier food, because of such entertaining surroundings, Rainforest Cafe is still my favourite. I love seating under giant mushroom with rain dripping of its cup, by the bar on funny chairs that make your butt look like zebra, or duck, or the like. We ended up eating there first night we were in Vegas. We were completely knackered after 10 hours flight, 3 hours in advance checking-in in the airport and drive from Chandlers Ford to Heathrow in the first place. Yet, we managed to enjoy ourselves nevertheless. So because we liked it so much, this is the only place we came back second time during our 10 days stay in Vegas, even so there was so many different places to try. When we arrived home in UK and were unpacking our souvenirs, we noticed on the packaging of the souvenir glasses they gave us that this is actually an international restaurant chain and that there is one in London. I wonder if it is just as nice as in Las Vegas.

 

Bellagio.

Chocolate fountain, I wonder if it is a real chocolate:

Bellagio Conservatory:

Floor:

This tree has animated face and talks:

Flower art:

Caesars.

Jim and I, both loved Caesars hotel and shopping mall. It is a very beautiful place.

Luxor hotel.

Ceiling:

Carpet on the floor:

Flamingo hotel.

The Wynn.

I have mixed feeling about the Wynn's buffet (champagne brunch one). Champagne refills are nice, but one hour in a queue to be seated is not worth it in my opinion. It is not like they don’t have free tables, they just prefer to have a queue. No, it is not the waiting like in Stratosphere, where they give you a pager and you go on observation deck or whatever – in Wynn you actually stand in the queue. The food is nice, but it is nice in a lot of places in Vegas. The price is equivalent to a few course meal with drink in many good places in Vegas (champagne and tax are not included in advertised price). This is the only place we encountered, where server doesn’t stop by your table smile and chat. Instead you stop them mid-run and they quickly talk to you over the shoulder. There is also quite a wait for refills. And I was told by a server that the entire big place has only one cappuccino machine and it is broken. This was also the only place we haven’t left tips. Jim, nice guy he is, wanted to, but I insisted : “1 hour waiting time. Really?”.

 

Fremont Street.

Fremont street is a street in downtown Las Vegas covered with a screen-like roof. This roof shows lovely free light and sound shows every hour in the evening. I think it was a lot of fun.

The Venetian.

Venetian is disappointing inside after it builds up your expectations with beautiful exteriors and entrance. It is just a dark dinky canal – nothing special comparing, for example, to Caesars.

More Vegas photos.

Landing:

Airplane we flew on:

Grand Canyon.

One of the days on our honeymoon we dedicated to the trip to the Grand Canyon, the southern rim, which they show on all the postcards and in the movies. There was 2 other couples with us in a minibus and 2 guides (1trainee). On a way there we made a stop at the Hoover Dam. When we arrived to the Grand Canyon, we were given a picnic which we eat seating on a rim and looking down. Then we went for a trek along the rim and after that we watched sunset seating on the rim again. Our guide, Alfonso, took beautiful photos of us with our camera.