Auto Collection at Imperial Palace: Part 2

This post is a continuation of the photo set I shot while touring the stunning car collection at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Marilyn Monroe used this 1954 Cadillac during the filming of Bus Stop.

A Night in Old Vegas

Having just visited the Mob Museum that afternoon, the sun was just going down as we hit Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas for the night.  Mike, Erin, and I did quite a bit of wandering, checked out all of the various performers along the plaza, and had a nice dinner at the Tony Roma's inside the Fremont Casino.  The ribs I had were ridiculously good, although you'd have to be a bigger guy than me to finish them.

What I love about Fremont Street is that despite the upgrades and spectacle of it all, it still feels a bit rough around the edges.  The casinos are smaller, the entertainment and performers are a bit sketchier, and just a block away you feel like you've left the tourist zone.  That's not to say it isn't a lot of fun, because it is.  It actually seems more genuine to some of the traditional stereotypes of Vegas in fact.   

Between the souvenir shopping, the countless neon signs, a few drinks at Benny's Bullpen, and catching the Fremont Street Experience (see highlights in my video below), you could say that the trip was catching up to us by this point.  It was a great time, but after a big meal, a few beers, and all of the activity, we didn't stay out much later than midnight.  A week in Vegas is amazing, so much so, that 'not much later than midnight' becomes an early evening. 

Blue Man Group at the Venetian

Having been to Las Vegas a number of times before, I was keen to play it by ear when it came to seeing any shows this time around.  I've seen the Beatles Love Cirque show twice, and so wasn't too concerned with having to see another Cirque performance (which everyone should do at least once in Vegas) this time around either.  What Mike, Erin, and I decided to do was hit up one of those last minute ticket booths that line the strip to see what was available that night.  

Obviously, we ended up seeing the Blue Man Group at the Venetian, which was cool because we actually saw their show on the tail end of their run there.  They're now moving to the Monte Carlo this month, which makes some of the Blue Man Group Venetian swag that I bought seem a bit more significant.

The show was incredible (and surprisingly hilarious)!  It's a mix of multimedia, music, gags, and spectacle.  It's also one of those shows, like Cirque, that you can't fully appreciate without seeing it in a venue that was designed specifically for it.  The paint flinging, the neon tubes, the giant screens, etc. are tough to replicate in the same precise way that they are in Vegas.  This was actually something I heard a lot when the group came to Medicine Hat earlier this year.

It was a lot of fun, and kind of cool to do something like that on the spur of the moment too.  For a guy whose appreciation of the Blue Man Group has come mostly from Arrested Development, I was really impressed.  Now I totally get what Tobias Funke was on about, because "I just blue myself".