Vegas Part II: Tracy's Top Three...

Tracy's top three picks of things to see in Vegas!

One thing about Las Vegas that I forget about until I'm there again, it's kind of a creepy-stinky place to walk around.  But there are a few sights that make up for that, for me at least.  So here are my top three favorite things to see when I'm in Vegas:

My Third Favorite:  New York, New York.

New York, New York has special memories for me.  It was the first casino/hotel I saw here, besides the MGM where we were staying.  Tom and I were awed by the whole theme and look of the place.  The miniature buildings inside with all the names of places in the Big Apple.  There was even steam coming up through the fake man-holes in the floor.

One of my special memories is one evening when Tom and I went there, we stopped just outside of the 'Tavern on Times Square' piano bar in the center of the casino.  That place was packed with people because there was an extraordinarily energetic musician playing the piano.  He was terrific to listen to.  He would do some of his own songs, and he did requests from the audience.  Tom and I probably stood there for close to two hours just watching and listening to the good music and jolly atmosphere.  Sadly, we've never been back when the 'Piano Man' was playing.  Some nights they even have duelling pianos.  Now that would be something to see!

The New York, New York has a whole city scape on the main floor.  Then upstairs is a Coney Island style game arcade for kids, and a roller coaster!  It's just a fun, up-beat place to see, and get out of the grime and heat of the strip.

And you never know what you'll happen upon.

This time it was a Statue of Liberty made out of Jelly Bellies.

YUM!

My Second Favorite:  The Venetian.

How can you not love the Venetian.  It amazes me every time I see it, with it's canals running through the mall part of the building.  One of the most amazing things about it is... this is upstairs!  The casino is on the floor underneath the mall.  It's just so cool!  And beautiful, too.

I love watching the gondoliers poling the gondolas through the canals and singing to the people riding in them.  It's a popular place for people getting married.  The mall is kind of neat too.  It's a miniature venetian city and each little building is a store.  Some are up-scale, some are the more affordable shopping choices.  But each one is unique.

In the center of the mall there's this wide-open plaza with 'outdoor style' restaurants and vendors.  One of the things I wanted to do during this visit was stop at the Gellato vendor.  I've never had Gellato.  Unfortunately we had just eaten dinner, and dessert just wasn't sounding too good at the time.  Maybe next time I'll finally get that Gellato from the Venetian.

The gondolas outside of the Venetian.

This is a BIG casino/hotel/shopping mall.  It goes on for a long ways with LOTS of stores.  I was surprised to find they had one of my favorite stores there.  The ABC store, which is based out of Hawaii.  It's like a large convenience store where you can get all kinds of things for good prices.  I definitely had to do a little shopping there!

Anyone who visits Vegas should see the Venetian, it's definitely worth checking out!

My Number One Favorite Place to see in Vegas:

The Bellagio

(vegassolo.com)

There's just something about this hotel.  It's clean, and it smells good.  And it's beautiful.  My favorite part to walk through is the indoor atrium garden.  Every time I go there, it's got a new theme with something different in it.  This time was an oversized garden theme with huge critters and flowers.  It was absolutely lovely.

Bumble Bees & Flowers

The bees are actually made out of real flowers.  They look like some kind of  Mums.  And they were really big! 

I really liked this water feature.  A globe fountain.  So if the Flamingo fountain just isn't going to work in my backyard, can I have this one?  Tom???

A darling flower frog, just for Winston.  It was enormous!

Balloons!

A flower picture.  So creative.  It was made out of some living and some preserved flowers and plants.

A closer look at one of the bumble bees.

So cute!

And cutest of all were the huge carnation-flower lady bugs!

There was so much to see in that garden.  I wish I had taken more pictures.  I could have spent hours there just looking, dreaming and photographing.  My husband made sure I kept to the schedule and we mosey-ed along.

Until next time Bellagio!

Next I'll list Tom's three favorite picks of places to see in Las Vegas.  I know you're just waiting to see what that could be, so stay tuned!