A Very Vegas Christmas – Christmas and Boxing Days!
Christmas morning found me again waking up before Chris and
making good use of the bathtub in our room at Aria (first, using it as a
reading spot and then actually taking a peaceful bath within it). He woke up to the sound of me closing up a
bag of Frito’s and wisely decided it was time to take his hungry wife to
breakfast. Since we’d eaten at the Aria Café
the day before, we decided to wander a little bit and ended up at the Café Bellagio;
the food was just okay (the biscuits were like little hockey pucks), but thankfully, the café happens to be right next to
the Conservatory within the Bellagio, always one of my favorite stops on the
Strip. It’s completely free, it’s all
decked out in a seasonal theme, and it’s generally gorgeous. This time of the year, the theme was
logically a winter wonderland, complete with all of my favorite things,
including penguins in sweaters and Christmas trees.
Merry Christmas from the Olsen’s!
Absolutely delighted with the penguins.
So…
…many…
…penguins!
Polar bears, too!
After breakfast, we did the traditional “wander up and down
the Strip” Vegas stroll, stopping as we wished to see the decorations and
newest additions. Neither of us had yet
made it to the Linq hotel (the old Imperial Palace) and the accompanying Quad
area, full of exciting shops and restaurants (none of which were open at 10am
on Christmas Day – imagine that), including this:
My precioussssss…
We wandered north to the Venetian, then crossed the road and
turned southward, heading back toward Aria.
Our actual destination was the 23rd floor of the Mandarin
Oriental, which house their tea room, an oasis of serenity and class amongst
the rest of the Strip. Since the seats
in the actual tea room were going to be filled starting in just a bit, the
thoughtful hostess seated us at tables in the attached bar area, which was just
as lovely and quiet. The tea room faces
north right along the Strip, so the view was also fantastic. It was nice to sit there, just Chris and I,
and enjoy some hot tea and cupcakes while the world bustled along below.
Our tea service
A view of the Strip
We next wandered to Holstein’s, inside the Cosmopolitan, as
we read they had an interesting selection of beers on tap. We each found a few we tried out, and we had
a few snacks as well, enjoying our conversation with the bartender, who seemed
happy to have company on Christmas Day.
After all of our libations, we practically floated back to our room, as
it was high time for a nap (notice a theme developing here?). Post-nap, we popped down to our lobby to
spend our resort credit for the day at Javier’s, a Mexican place with delicious
ceviche and guacamole. Chris also spent
some time becoming educated on the finer points of sipping tequila and enjoyed
a draught; I had a few sips of my own and found it quite lovely.
Fortified for the moment, we headed back up to lounge in our
room and change for our Christmas dinner date at Aureole in the MGM Grand. While they had a special Christmas menu, we
actually found the fall tasting menu to be more interesting, so we went that
route. Most of the food was outstanding,
and the experience was only made more interesting by the fire alarm going off
and blinking for a good 10 minutes or so during the meal (waiter: this happens
all the time. Us: really?).
Our dessert course –
yum!
After dinner, we lumbered through the MGM, stopping to see
how much tickets would be for the Cirque de Soleil performance of “One,” their
Michael Jackson tribute. I’ve wanted to see
it (their ode to the Beatles, “Love,” is seriously amazing), but the lowest
ticket price being $100 convinced us to pass.
Instead, we trundled home and went to bed.
Boxing Day dawned, and we had a quick snack (a chocolate
croissant and coffee/chai tea) downstairs at Jean-Philippe Patisserie,
conveniently located directly outside the guest elevators in Aria. We packed up our gear, loaded up the car, and
checked out of our room, saying goodbye to our temporary home on the 14th
floor. We wandered the Strip for a
little bit, waiting for lunch time.
Killing time lounging
in the chairs inside the Cosmo
We had lunch plans to eat at Mon Ami Gabi, one of our
favorite restaurants in the area, and we didn’t want to head home until we had their awesome food. We ended up in
the Miracle Mile Shops (the mall that belonged to the old Aladdin hotel), and
since it was Boxing Day, we indulged in a little discount shopping. Armed with some new duds from Ann Taylor and
French Connection, we headed to lunch and thoroughly enjoyed our meal.
We headed back to the car, hopped in, and started our
commute home, getting caught up in horrible traffic on the way through Boulder
City, just south of Vegas proper.
Although traffic was reasonable for the rest of the trip, it took us
about 45 minutes to drink around 8 miles, and the mess dissipated once we
crossed the new Hoover Dam overpass.
Apparently, the backup was due to the line of cars exiting to go to the
Hoover Dam Visitor Center for tours and whatnot. I know it’s a wonder of the modern world, but
seriously people? Dang.
We took a quick pit stop for water, gas, and Twix bars
(well, for me) outside Kingman, and then it was on to Peoria to reunite with
our furry kiddos! Overall, we had a
great time and enjoyed seeing the Strip a bit less crowded than normal, which
was a pleasant surprise.
Later!
Amy
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