By Mary Giuliano

Needing a dose of Italy a couple of weeks ago I booked the Venetian Hotel for my first trip to Las Vegas. I had no idea that this hotel would take me back in time.

The Venetian and its sister hotel the Palazzo joined by an indoor bridge are an amazing place to stay. The décor boasts magnificent frescoed ceilings reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, stunning pillars and marble floors. Huge framed images and potted palms, fountains and impressive chandeliers.

In the Palazzo, lights are in the form of walls of crystal, the style is simply decadent. Accordion players dressed in red and white striped tops and black bottoms play the tunes I recall as a child, 10 feet tall puppets, court jesters, jugglers and women in sumptuous dress stroll leisurely down hallways. In the Grand Canal, gondolas glide slowly by as gondoliers croon traditional Italian songs.

In the square there is regular performance of music and acts including living statues that makes it fun to watch shocked guests realize the statue is a real person.  People throng about watching the entertainment and eating gelato, fruit dipped in chocolate and eating in places like Mario Battali’s and Wolfgang Puck are world-class restaurants.

The Venetian hosts the two hottest nightspots in Vegas, Lavo and Tao. Young women dressed in stilettos and fancy attire head out to these nightspots at 11 p.m. as the clubs stay open until 4 a.m. or later. This where Hollywood celebrities hang out when they’re in Vegas.

The Grand Canal Shoppes are high end stores with prices to take your breath away. I held a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes on sale for $2,600, a pair of little flats at $1,600. In the Palazzo every high couture designer is represented. Window shopping was fun but I didn’t go inside as it was obvious from lack of  price labels in window displays that I wouldn’t be making any purchases.

We walked miles each day touring different hotels; Caesars Palace,  Excalibur, Times Square in New York New York. We saw a Cirque Du Soleil show, listened to Smokey Robinson’s Human Nature and saw Joan Rivers who insulted everyone and everything she could think of and at the end of the show gave away the potted plants on the stage.

We watched the dancing waters at the Bellagio and all the man-made waterfalls at many of the hotels and had dinner at wonderful restaurants. We walked down Fremont Street in Old Vegas, enthralled by the roof covering the entire street, ate gelato and fried calamari and zucchini and watched a live puppet show.

I now understand why so many people make Vegas their holiday. This city mesmerizes with all that it offers and 103 degree weather during a long winter is also most enjoyable.

– Mary Giuliano is currently the Mayor of Fernie

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