Day 1 in Las Vegas, Lemongrass at Aria, Liberace Costume Exhibition and Cocolini Gelato at The Venetian

Our evening destination after motoring on from the Grand Canyon was Las Vegas.  It is not strictly on Route 66, for sure, but it would be silly to come all that way and not drop in to the party capital of Nevada.  Besides, you can "travel" all over the world in just one place.  There was New York, New York, at the top of this post, and the ever stunning Bellagio:

and who could leave out Paris:

For dinner on that first evening, I was keen to return to Lemongrass at Aria, where I had dined two years previously:

As the name suggests, it is a Thai restaurant.  You can dine a la carte, but I wanted to have their excellent pre-show set menu again ($39):

For starter, you receive a fish cake and a vegetarian spring roll with a sweet chilli dipping sauce:

For main, you receive pad pak (vegetable stir fry) with jasmine rice:

and green chicken curry:

All of it is delicious, and because it is designed for those dining before going to a show, it comes out really quickly - no waiting around.

For dessert, we received this divine bua loi - sticky rice "dumplings" in warm coconut milk:

This was as good as I remembered from last time.  Trust me to remember the dessert!

The staff were prompt and courteous, and didn't indicate that they even noticed that Tim and I were dressed for the road rather than the theatre.

Afterwards, we went next door to The Cosmopolitan, where they were hosting a Liberace costume exhibition:

I have posted all of my photos from the exhibition on my travel blog here, if you are interested in some more glittering costumes.

We then took a leisurely stroll back to our home casino.  Here is a fab arial shot of The Strip at dusk from one of the elevated walkways:

And here is Paris again, all dolled up in its evening finery:

and of course, its next door neighbour, The Flamingo, who hosted the Osmonds for years, and now has our very own Livvy performing:
 

Don't miss The Bellagio light show, which happens every half hour or so nightly on The Strip:

We wandered over to The Venetian which, you guessed it, is decked out to transport you to Venice.  Gondola ride anyone?

We were in The Venetian because our tour guide, Bob, told us that he liked to end the evening by having a gelato in St Mark's Square at The Venetian.  We were sold on the idea, and while it took us quite a while to find (if you have never been to Vegas, the scale of the casinos is enormous!), we finally wandered into St Mark's Square:

when we stumbled upon Cocolini Gelato:

I threw caution to the wind and ordered this very decadent bacci gelato ($7.50):

Tim and I sat and ate gelato while listening to a classical music trio entertaining the crowds.

Of course, on the way back to our casino, I had to take a photo of this sign advertising the Love Cirque du Soleil show, which features music of The Beatles:

 

Sadly it was not on the nights we were there, and last time I was in Vegas I didn't go because I messed up and bought a ticket for another show on the same night in Los Angeles which I could not attend and I decided to just wear my mistake.

 

I wasn't sure about being in Vegas again when I saw it on the itinerary, but I have to say that I enjoyed it way more this time.  Just stay away from the pan handlers, the pretty ladies at card tables and the shiny machines with flashing lights, and you will be fine.

 

Lemongrass

at Aria

3730 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89149

United States

Ph: + 1 877 230 2742

 

 

The Cosmopolitan
3708 S. Las Vegas Blvd.  

Las Vegas, NV 89109

United States

Ph: +1 702 698 7000

 

The Venetian

3355 S Las Vegas Blvd

Las Vegas, NV 89109

United States

Ph: +1 702 414 1000