Las Vegas "Aria"

Oh my gosh! So much has been going on since my last post! I don't even know where to begin! I made these darling centerpieces for the Girl Scout Father Daughter Dance. We had a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Theme... I painted twenty flower pots in various bright colors, painted candies all over them and wrote "Willy Wonka and the Me and My Guy Dance" with the date on them. Stuffed them with candy bouquets and colored cellophane. Wrapped them in tulle and sprayed them with glitter. It took me all Easter weekend to finish them. But, the sad part is I did not take even ONE picture of them when I finished. I was so tired and just wanted to deliver them to the event chairperson. Now I wished I would have taken a moment and snapped a few pics. We raffled them off. Such a fun event!

Anyway... I want to share our recent trip to Las Vegas and our visit to Aria. This is the new hotel and shopping center which is like it's own "city." In a nutshell. Two words to describe this new place are Logan's Run. Did you see this movie? It starred Michael York and it had a "city" within a bubble. Very modern. The city (in Logan's Run) had touch screens and automated doors, windows, used laser technology for surgery to enhance one's appearance. Oh... all the things that are present in this "city" of Aria!

The directory is a touchscreen. Touch the screen to "begin." Touch the area of interest and the screen diverts to that information page. Touch again and more defined information pops up. You can not say that you "got lost" as an excuse for missing a meeting here. The directory screens are very helpful. The building itself is a big metal ensemble. I am not one for "modern" architecture so I was not impressed or found the features appealing...

Tall, tall ceilings. Brightly colored green cones randomly placed? Cell towers? Not quite sure or just for aesthetics..? Technology is also in the restaurant's outside menu's. Walk by a restaurant and look at their menu and it is a touch screen. Select the "lunch menu" and the menu items pop up. Select an item, say the pasta dish. The description and calorie count pop up. Interesting to fully understand the menus. I liked this. My husband the "chef," especially liked this. The pool to the hotel was reminiscent of a tropical oasis. Covered thatched buildings, big pool, palm trees. Inbetween all of the tall buildings. Not sure how long the sun would be out once it starts moving behind the buildings. Plus the pool is visible from all of the windows inside the hotel and lobbies of the meeting areas. Talk about being in a bubble...

The restaurants were all decked out in their themes. This one was interesting with the "balls" floating down on the windows and the black trees. Seems like a perfect place to carve "SB plus DB" in a heart onto one of the trees... The mall was even a modern group of high end stores. Many, many stairs not stores.... not a place for someone who does not like to go up and down stairs constantly! And I am serious. Up and down. The picture of this wood contraption in the center of the mall - is very much like a Logan's Run feature - it is a restaurant. The blue ice sticks in this picture change colors - white, blue then fuscia. There is also a "cyclone" water display and you can walk through cylinders that have various speeds of a funnel in them. Why? This is in the mall. Just odd. I kept think I would see some odd hairstyles or outfits that looked like astronaut suits... beem me up Scotty.

Not all of the stores are opened yet as the "city" has just opened for business the beginning of this year. Just as a reflection, I have been going to Las Vegas for many, many years. I remember when most of the hotels were two and three stories tall. I remember Caesar's entrance with the statues, water fountains and patina green lights at night. I remember walking down Las Vegas Boulevard and the casino doors would be open to the strip and you could feel the air conditioners blasting out of the buildings and you could here the slots paying off in coins! I remember all of the trinket shops along the strip and all of the pharmacy stores they had. Now it is like a theme park with a plethora of "themed" hotels - Paris, Bellagio, Treasure Island, the Venetian. I like that too. I like all of the eye candy that the city offers. The Aria though, I am not into the metal and the modern entourage of a building it is. Plus it over shadows the beautiful Bellagio... just an eye sore next to a building which tries to replicate historical architecture. I wished maybe it was further down the strip, say by Mandala Bay... Then it would not stick out so much. Bottom line... not a fan.