Optical Illusions: Photos from The Venetian, Las Vegas

I'm always a sucker for a good optical illusion. Here are a couple of particularly fine shots of such illusions taken by dondelion - found within the flooring of the main public entry hall at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. Thank Goddess for The Venetian. This is perhaps the ONLY hotel in Las Vegas where one does NOT have to walk through the casino in order to check into the hotel! It's a gorgeous spot, one of my favorite places in Las Vegas. The ambiance is incredible - they seem to have the colors and the lighting JUST right. I also love the shops and the faux "canal" complete with gondolas, although when dondelion and I were trying to find the faux "St. Martin's Square" (the restaurant where we had a 10:30 PM reservation was on the Square), the pathways on the shopping floor turned into a veritable labyrinth! The particular path we needed to take was down a certain lane that - from the general perspective on the main path - looked like a dead-end with an ice cream shop dead center. I really wanted to visit the ice-cream shop but I kept that wish to myself. Half an hour later, after wandering around (I was enjoying looking in the shop windows) I was miffed when dondelion stopped and asked for directions (can you imagine - a man who actually stops and asks for directions! - that's why I love him so much!) and led me down the very same path that we both had previously judged to be a dead end - ending in the ice cream shop! Oh well. We strolled past the shop with my salivating tongue hanging out and suddenly appeared what seemed to be the equivalent of a yellow brick road! Before we knew it, there was the Mikomoto shop that I remembered SO well from dondelion's and my last visit (in November, 2003, when we got officially engaged) with the $50,000 strands of pearls in the windows! We had arrived in the faux St. Martin's Square! It was filled with people. A group was playing venue-appropriate music, far too loudly in the echoing confines of the Square, and there was no place to stop for a minute (or even 10 seconds) to catch one's breath and simply and enjoy the views and the people all around. But we did find a spot or two anyway. I am not a fan of the rudeness of elbow use in general, but in Las Vegas, sometimes, one has to use elbows in order to MOVE! Anyway, back to the optical illusions. The first shot is at the main entry into the hotel lobby where guests check-in. It is a bit dark - I'm too tired tonight to do photo-stuff to try and lighten it a bit - anyway, the spectacular astrolabe is not the primary subject of the photo, it's the floor! Take a look at it. dondelion's photo captured a lady walking gingerly across what appear to be raised planks! The second photo was taken at the end of a long promenade from the check-in area toward the casino. On one side are exclusive shoppes, on the other side are windows looking out onto the grounds of the hotel and the busy sight of limos, cars and taxis pulling in and out. Where the casino begins, the marble flooring ends and plush carpeting takes over. Shades of Escher! You also get a very good view of the lushly painted vaulted ceiling over the promenade.