Free Shooting On the Strip by Selena Cooper Page B

Bellagio. I’d read it was inspired by the Lake Como town.
    “It looks like there’s a not-leaning Tower of Pisa in the center,” I said to Luke.
    He smiled and then kissed my cheek. “I love seeing things through your eyes. It’s like seeing them for the first time all over again. Except you notice things I never have.”
    “I didn’t grow up used to things like this,” I said. “Wow!” I pointed at the fountains in the middle of the clear blue lake. “That’s gorgeous!”
    “Wait until tonight when you see it choreographed with music and lights.”
    I hugged him. “I can hardly wait.”
    “There’s so much I want to show you,” he said. “I don’t know where to start.”
    “Well, since we’re here, let’s start with our hotel.”
    We walked between the Chinese lions into the huge lobby of the Bellagio. I looked up at the large multi-colored glass chandelier.
    “Wow,” I said. “That’s gorgeous.”
    “It’s called the Fiori di Como,” said Luke. “It was created by the sculptor Dale Chihuly. There are two thousand hand-blown blossoms in that chandelier.”
    “I see touches of it around the room too.”
    “There are also some for sale in the gift shop if you’d like one,” he said.
    I smiled. “We’ll take a look later.”
    We walked on over to the marble-top check-in desk with the inlays of gilded gold vines on the front.
    Luke checked us in and got our keys, and we went to the elevator.
    We lucked out and were the only ones going up, so we made out all the way up to our suite.
    The suite was luxurious. In the living room, there was a beige sofa with matching arm chairs. The sofa and chairs were accented with red pillows. An oval coffee table rounded out the conversation area.
    The dining room within the open floor plan consisted of a buffet and a highly-polished round wooden table and chairs. A vase of red tulips in the center of the table served to complement the red of the accent pillows in the living room. The stools in front of the wet bar were taller companions to the dining room chairs.
    I strolled on through the dining room and into the bedroom. The bedroom was decorated in creams and browns. The king-sized bed had a thick ecru down comforter, a cluster of pillows, and a large oblong chocolate brown pillow. There was a bench at the bottom of the bed—which I loved for putting on my shoes—and there was a reading area with two armchairs on either side of a table with a built in lamp.
    The bellhop brought up our bags, and Luke gave him a generous tip. I hung our clothing in the closet and was starting to put away our toiletries when Luke stopped me.
    “Come on,” he said. “You can do that when you get back. I thought you wanted to explore.”
    “I do…but I want our things to be nice and neat when we come back here to get ready for dinner.”
    “You’ll look beautiful at dinner, and you know it. Let’s go.”
    I smiled. “All right. So…where to first?”
    “You tell me.”
    “I’d like to see more of the hotel,” I said. “I don’t care much about the casinos because I’ve always been afraid to gamble. I don’t want to leave Las Vegas wearing a barrel. What else is there to see?”
    Luke threw back his head and laughed. “More than you could see in a lifetime. But we’ll start with the Strip.”
    “Could we go to the conservatory and botanical gardens first?” I asked. “I’ve read so much about it.”
    “Of course.”
     
    The conservatory was located across the lobby from the front desk. The Chinese New Year celebration was in full swing, with the Year of the Horse display designed to attract harmony and positive life forces. The centerpiece of the display featured eight life-sized horses cavorting on a mountain top. I’d read that the significance behind the number of horses was that eight was symbolic of good fortune. Other Chinese symbols throughout the conservatory included a money tree for prosperity, water for positive energy flow, pine trees