Friday, May 30, 2008

Anniversary Trip! Part 2

After our wonderful dinner at TAO we went to our room to change for Phantom of the Opera. I have really been wanting to see this for the last 12 years and was very excited to finally be going! The theater was built just for Phantom of the Opera and it's just stunning.



They don't let you take photos inside the theater so I pulled this picture off the web. I was kind of surprised that people didn't dress up a little more. I mean at the price of the tickets you think they would. There were people there in jeans though. Anyway, we had really great seats. We were in the second row and almost the middle. It's a very exciting show from the very beginning! There are four parts of the chandelier that slowly rise up from different parts of the theater. They slowly circles around above the whole audience (I could not figure out how they kept all the wires from getting crossed) before they all come together and rise up to the top of the ceiling. Here's a couple of interesting facts I found online- the Chandelier weighs 2,100 pounds and cost $4.5 million to create. The shimmering chandelier is comprised of 29,444 individual crystals that were hand strung.
At first I was very distracted by tiny rectangle microphone's that all the actors had taped to their foreheads. At first I didn't know what they were. The mic's and tape are skin colored so I'm sure you wouldn't even see it if you were farther back. Once I figured out what they were I wasn't so distracted by them anymore.

My favorite part of the play starts when Christine sings Angel of Music in her dressing room. You can see her reflected in her mirror and the Phantom appears behind the mirror. You can also see the dungeon behind the Phantom. Then Christine walks into the mirror. They then sing Phantom of the Opera while in a "boat". The floor is covered in fog and is really looks like they're in the water. While they "float" through the fog hundreds of candles pop up and eight 8 foot Candelabras. It was so breath taking that it gave me goose bumps and I think I was even holding my breath!! They have some really amazing special effects including fire works (which by the way were very blinding that close to the stage). It was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had! If you're going to be in Vegas I'd highly recommend seeing this!

The next morning we ate breakfast at a cute little Italian cafe at the Venetian shopping center. It felt like we were sitting outside but we really weren't. We then went to our room and packed our bags, checked out, and went to the Tropicana. There we went to the Bodies exhibit. I wasn't sure if I would like this or not. It's gross and fascinating all at the same time! It's real humans that have been specially preserved and well (there's no nice way to put this) sliced up all different ways so you can see what a human body is like.
Not something I'd like done to me when I am dead but hey if the people knew what they were getting themselves into then whatever. It gives you a better understanding of your body for sure. One that was very neat was a body of just veins nothing else. I have no idea how they did that. It also had a room with babies. It's amazing how much a baby grows in just two weeks. It had babies from 1-18 weeks old. I thought the exhibit was fascinating but with Sterling's science background he definitely liked it more than I did. He's been wanting to see this ever since it was in Idaho a couple of years ago.

We then went to the Titanic exhibit also at the Tropicana. Something I've wanted to see ever since it was in SLC four years ago. Sadly they won't let you take pictures so I got some from their website.
Upon entering you're given a boarding pass with information on it about a real passenger of Titanic. At the end you get to see it you lived or died. Sterling was a rich man who traveled 3rd class (so no one would know he was rich) with a suitcase full of diamonds. I was a french actress in 2nd class traveling as the mistress of a famous videographer. I'll tell you at the end if we lived or died! They had rooms that were just like the 3rd and 1st class rooms. That was fun to see. They had all kinds of things recovered from the ocean floor like the Titanic dishes and jewelry.
One of my favorite displays was a recreation of the famous Titanic Staircase. It's so beautiful. I want this staircase and glass dome in my dream house!


My other favorite part of this exhibit was the recreation of the Titanic boat deck. You walked through a door and it's like your standing on the deck at night. There are stars, and when you look over the railing it looks like water. It's also cold with a breeze!Another fun part was the room with a huge iceberg you could touch. It was real ice!
In the last room there is a wall with all of the passengers separated by class and alive or dead. It took us quite awhile to find the names on our boarding passes. Sterling and I both died! Sad, huh?

We then went to lunch at the Go Raw Cafe. They make really amazing raw food. I had the veggiecotti and Sterling had the raw enchiladas. We were so stuffed we couldn't eat our raw cheesecake. We saved it and ate it for dinner on the drive home! We had an AMAZING time. The best part was while we were on our trip Sterling's business made more than we spent. That is the great thing about internet business. Making money while you're playing!! It was the perfect Anniversary. It doesn't get much better than that!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Special thanks to my parents for watching our kids for the two days that we were done.

We had a wonderful, relaxing time. Paced well -- full schedule but not frantic.

It's true that my business pulled in more during those two days than what we spent, but that doesn't take into account the business expenses also incurred. Credit goes to the many who make the business what it is.

Tahnie said...

What an awesome weekend! Do you think even Brad would enjoy the show? You know how he is! :)
It all sounds like soooo much fun! I definitely want to go to Vegas soon!

Alayna's Creations said...

Thanks for putting up part 2 just for me :) Are you feeling better? Sounds like you packed plenty of fun activities into your trip. I'm really going to have to see Phantom.
Did I tell you Sam is already planning our next trip to Vegas? He asked Orvil if they want to go with us in Sept :)

Holmes Family said...

Sounds like tons of fun! I have heard about the Phantom of the Opera there and now I definitely want to see it! What a great way to spend your anniversary!