If it weren’t for those annoying slot machines, more smoke than we have smelled since we left Eastern Europe and the sometimes sleazy advertising, I’d say that Las Vegas is one of the most fascinating places in the world to visit….for one day. The over-the top extravagance is crazy and often beyond imagination!
We are fans of Cirque du Soleil, The first one we saw in Washington D.C. blew us away with it’s creativity and incredible display of the endless limits of the human body….with 10,000 or more hours of practice. It’s just beyond belief! There are seven Cirque shows now playing in Las Vegas. We have seen all but one (Zumanity).
So when we realized that our trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for a speech would not only be cheaper but would also include only one stop instead of two if we left from Las Vegas instead of Salt Lake City we decided to take the 2 hour from St. George, where we had been all week to Las Vegas the night before the flight. We stayed at the relatively new Cosmopolitan Hotel which is just one casino away from the Aria where Zarkara, the Cirque du Soleil’s “kid in town” was playing.
It was, of course spectacular and we learned afterward that the finale of that show is going to be presented at the Stadium of Fire at the annual fireworks show in Provo, Utah on the 4th of July. Pretty impressive!
Our hotel room overlooked the fabulous fountains at the Bellagio and we loved having a bird’s eye view of the dancing fountains that blasted off about every hour.
We had dinner at an amazing restaurant called American Fish that was pretty incredible! They served nothing but fish of every variety. The kitchen was in plain sight where we saw the wood burning stoves as well as the broilers and a wide variety of dishes cooked in copper pots.
Fun ceiling décor:
And walls:
And a sumptuous dinner!
And on to the creative and mind boggling Zarkara:
After an over-the-top buffet the next morning, we headed for the airport. We went from 100 degrees in Las Vegas to the cold, bleak landscape of the delightful city of Winnipeg. Even though there was not a bud in sight and the cold wind kept us inside most of the time, the the good people we met with there warmed us up right away! They were terrific!
Our hosts gave us a tour of this unique city that is just finishing an incredible new museum called the National Museum of Human Rights. It cost well over 100 million dollars and unfortunately wasn’t open yet. Our good tour guides were active in raising funds and the creation of it. The knew that every part of the building is symbolic Each of the glass panels in the picture below is a different shape and was crafter individually. The glass represents the clouds.
The Tower is called the Tower of Hope. Somebody had a great idea on this! I guess we’ve got to come back and see it when we can go inside.
It was within a block of our nice little hotel
which was in the front yard of a fun Children's Museum with a “tunnel” slide and lots of terrific kids’ stuff.
A suspension bridge and ice floating down the river:
And a great skate park…
There is a beautiful park in Winnipeg that is bigger than Central Park in NYC.and posrts an extraordinary seafood restaurant where we were treated to an excellent dinner. With not a mountain or a even a hill in sight, our driver told us with a smile that if your dog runs away you can watch him run for three days.
If you’re looking for a unique new place to visit, we highly recommend Winnipeg. But wait until summer!
2 comments:
Oh I'd love to go there. Some day I need to go to some of these places with you guys since you'd sure make some good tour guides. Sure love you!
Ha ha! " A couple we know well" is you guys!
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