Any thoughts I might have had at the beginning of my trip to Las Vegas regarding eating healthy lasted, oh, less than twelve hours. Eh…you win some, you lose some, and I wasn’t about to miss out on some of the culinary goodness offered by this crazy city (and by culinary goodness I, of course, mean ice cream).
Second day in Las Vegas equaled work for me and play for Teresa. 🙂 Teresa spent the morning and afternoon walking the Strip (in an entirely non-sleazy way); while I spent the morning and afternoon managing a convention registration desk. Anybody want to take a guess on who had more fun? Anyone?? Hello? Too easy, I suppose. 😛
Teresa’s meanderings
After I finished up with my work for the day and freshened up a bit, we headed to dinner at the Aria Cafe at our hotel. Since this day was National Ice Cream Day (yes, it does exist) and we knew we were going to be honoring this special holiday later on, 🙂 we decided to eat light for dinner. Somehow, “light” turned into a table-full of food. I’m not sure how that happens…all the time.
Salads, giant plate of sweet potato fries, huge basket of bread-stuff
We practically waddled out of the restaurant and made our way by foot (gotta work off those calories!) to the Bellagio. What a beautiful hotel! And we both agreed it’s one of the more “family-friendly” ones on the Strip. Just like all of the other hotels, it is HUGE!! We walked around, took pictures, and visited the Jean Philippe Patisserie, home to the world’s largest chocolate fountain. Also home to quite the impressive collection of cakes, pastry art, and marshmallow creations.
Giant train engine made entirely out of marshmallows
From there we walked through the Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, a beautiful, colorful, whimsical area located just off the main lobby. 
And speaking of the main lobby, it contains one of the most spectacular works of art I’ve seen: Fiori Di Como – a glass chandelier created by Dale Chihuly and containing 2,000 hand-blown glass blossoms. Incredible. 
A quick trip into the (enormous!) casino for a couple pulls of the slot arms, then back outside to watch the famous Fountains of Bellagio. This attraction was high on my list of must-sees! Every 15-30 minutes, the water in front of the Bellagio comes alive with shooting fountains, music and lights. 
We fought the crazy crowds for a perfect view, centered right in front of the hotel. The show started and I was seriously disappointed that this particular one was choreographed to “God Bless the USA”. Now, I don’t have anything against that song (other than the fact that it’s very country – not even close to my favorite musical genre), but it just did not fit with this beautiful water and light show. At all. Oh well. I wanted to come back later on to watch another show with hopefully a better song selection but never made it back. 😦
Although we were still pretty full from dinner at this point, we just had to get some ice cream! 🙂 And we decided the best place to celebrate National Ice Cream Day would be Serendipity 3. The original Serendipity restaurant is located in New York, and I’ve wanted to visit it ever since seeing the movie of the same name (I’m not ashamed to say, one of my favorites). 
As we waited for a table, we perused the menu and noticed a couple of things: 1) this was the world’s largest menu, and 2) they have a $1,000 ice cream sundae. And yes, that is a one with three zeros after it…for ice cream. $1,000.
So, for those wondering what an ice cream sundae could possibly contain to warrant a price tag of $1,000, I’ve found this video for you. And the answer is: Tahitian vanilla ice cream, 23k edible gold, candied fruit from Fauchon Paris, Madagascar vanilla bean, passionfruit-infused caviar, Amedei Porcelana chocolate (the world’s most expensive) and Amedei Chuao chocolate (the world’s most rarest), all contained in a Baccarat crystal goblet and placed into your mouth with an 18k gold spoon – because, why not?
We chose quantity over quality. 🙂 And that meant an Outrageous Banana Split (Cowards Portion) for me and a Forbidden Broadway Sundae for Teresa, saving us a grand total of $971. Not too shabby.
Before…
…and After 😛
We didn’t come close to finishing our ice cream concoctions but what we were able to shovel down was pretty darn good – even without the gold leaf. 🙂
At this point I was fading pretty quickly and we had both reached our stomachs’ capacity for food for the day, so we headed back to our hotel for the evening, looking forward to more days filled with food and fun.
{life} A Beautiful Journey 