More Las Vegas Pics

This photo does not do justice to this Lalique sculpture!  It's gigantic, and gorgeous.  The hanging umbrellas are a theme throughout the public areas of the hotel and grand atrium leading to the Palazzo's maze of shops.  I got lost several times while wandering around, and even with the conveniently placed "maps" I still got lost.  Yep, that's me, Wrong Way Newton.  I successfully managed to get us lost in Amsterdam in 2001 and in Central Park in NYC in 2005. This atrium area is probably five to six stories high.  While the scale is immense, the pastel colors of those whimsically floating umbrellas keeps the space from being too ridiculously overwhelming.  It strikes just the right balance between Las Vegas style grandeur and fun. 

I really wanted to get this shot - but to do it better, I would have had to go back to the ground floor and stood in the middle of a pool with fountains.  I don't think the guards would have appreciated that, even though there were hardly any people around.  So, I craned my neck and cracked my backbone and got the best angle I could whilst looking upward toward this immense glass dome at least four stories above me, from the top of the escalator landing :)






This is the pool I would have had to have invaded in order to get a good centered shot of that glass dome!  All of those silvery and goldish speckles in the water are coins that folks have tossed in, each one probably a wish.  I think it's incredibly romantic and I would not have wanted to be swishing my stinky feet around in such wish-filled water.  From this angle, you can see some of the intricately-designed geometric patterns of the marble floor.  To the left is the entrance to the casino.  I know Mr. Don and I took several shots of the Palazzo (outside and inside) when we visited Isis and Michelle in August, 2009, but I couldn't help myself.  It is just the most incredible space!

No visit to the Palazzo would be complete without getting a shot of that spectacular waterfall between the escalators!  I also really like those faux gold-glittery obelisks, but did not manage to get a really good photo of one.

I love the colors and the intensity of the light in this photograph.  That blazing splash of hot white sunlight on the rear wall is sparkling down from the large glass dome above.  Where the light hits the umbrellas, they seem to glow almost like jewels - see how the colors have morphed where that blazing sun is hitting them, creating a translucent glow.  You also get a sense of the grand scale of this atrium area - notice how tall the trees are, but at the same time the designers chose a type of tree (looks like some kind of arborvitae) that has a light and airy branch structure.