VERY MUCH SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOT MUCH AT ALL

Yesterday was the big day; the Newman Family (Joe, Melinda, Matthew, and Hannah) took me to The Strip. I could have wandered up, down, and within those glittering arteries, for days—or at least for weeks. Beauty moves me; why not let it submit its product? Why not admit to its successes? I appreciate the conglomerate efforts of men and women—given eyes for beauty by God—putting tools and visions to work in a city that makes, for me, a breathtaking merger of peace (there is peace in falling water), and plants, and reflecting pools, and wonderwheels, and statuary reminiscent (in Caesar’s Palace, particularly), of a) a better era, b) strength, c) the Renaissance, d) a time when the citizens feared volcanoes. 

(Off we go now, to the lobby and mall of the Bellagio Hotel):

How many of our fellow men and women think to build life-sized polar bears of living, white flowers? (Not many; the rest of us merely gape at the artistry.) I thank God for caring people whose task on this earth is treating us lesser beings (whose eyes nevertheless seek respite from pain, death, decay) to snippets of otherworldly invention. I thank God, also, for those blenders and blowers of colored glass (masters of multiple arts); glass that somehow sits and moves simultaneously, making me see God. 

I cannot do any of this, with either flowers or glass. 

Other talented inventors hang Christmas ornaments the size of school buses from the ceiling, to the point that the point at the end of the ornament points leads eager eyes to the snow below, where mothers and fathers hug bundled children who, thank God, are not being shot. 

Las Vegas is a happy place where female beauty (the result, too, of artistry: the divine variety) gets fair display. What I love so much about Las Vegas is the absence of hypocrisy. If it is hypocrisy you desire, please visit one of the many denominational churches outside town. For beauty, peace, fun, and love, however, head to the Jewel of the Desert, shining very much somewhere in the middle of not much at all.   

(Click photos to enlarge.)

Outside Caesar's Palace

Inside The Mirage

Look at me, I'm the Fifth Beatle

At The Forum Shops in Caesar's Palace

Erupting volcano in front of The Mirage. (It's a mirage.)

Joe treated us to a wonderful dinner at Mon Ami Gabi,
across from The Bellagio. Thank you, Joe!

The mall at The Bellagio

Beautiful painting at one of the galleries.

 © 2012 by Martin Zender