CITY CENTER, LAS VEGAS - "TRAVEL TUESDAY ON A THURSDAY"

City Center, the newest addition to our Las Vegas Strip, is just that - a glittering, beautiful city within the city...hotels, apartments, The Aria Resort & Casino, and more.  Nestled in the heart of this city is a fabulous 500,000 sq. ft., high-end shopping experience - The Shops at Crystals.  It was definitely a window-shopping kind of day, with a fabulous lunch find once we had worked up an appetite and quit drooling.

Did I say high-end?  A nod to my daughter's favorite Kreayshawn song - "Gucci, Gucci, Louis, Louis, Fendi, Fendi, Prada"...to name JUST a few.

"Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat"...charming window displays at Louis Vuitton.

Incredible architecture in this shopping "experience" - beautiful hardwoods, dancing tornado tubes of water, gigantic ICE cylinders rising from a pool of water; and gorgeous costumes from Zarkana, the Cirque du Soleil Show in residence.

At one end of the mall, we encountered the most eye-dazzling, massive wooden staircase - quite the sight in this day of "get-you-there-with-little-or-no-effort" moving devices.  At first glance, it looked like patterned Plexiglas, and we should have had a far more educated guess considering the rest of the surroundings...

Upon getting down on my hands and knees for a closer look (yes, I have no shame, even in this ritzy place), I discovered each one of those glowing oval shapes was an actual slice of agate - STUNNING!

Rising from the floor and regaining my composure, we headed to a restaurant that Jackie had seen in the corner, by the glistening Christmas trees.  An English Pub - TODD ENGLISH PUB, to be exact.  It was the DUCK BUNS, on the menu outside, that clinched the sale for her (seriously - "They have DUCK BUNS!" she called, as I was off snapping photos of the trees).  BEST eating decision we've made in a long time.  No baloney!

YES, BOLOGNA!!!  Fabulous atmosphere - charming wait staff - INCREDIBLE GRILLED BOLOGNA SANDWICH, if you can believe that?!  UNBELIEVABLY TENDER, melt-in-your-mouth MOUNDS of thin-sliced, grilled Bologna and Mozzarella Cheese - Oscar Mayer would be proud, 'e would.

I ordered a Grichebactom - creamy grilled brie cheese, double smoked bacon, and tomato; thin fries, and a Mimosa (you thought the Mimosa reference in the last post was by coincidence?).  Jackie ordered that Grilled Bologna, and we split halves.  Once I started on the bologna, I completely pushed the grilled cheese aside until the end - not that it wasn't fab, but who woulda' thunk' that a childhood sandwich meat could have brought either of us such pleasure?!  If you're in the vicinity, this would definitely be one restaurant worth stopping and experiencing - I KNOW we will be back.  Median price range for lunch - English fare, as well as something for the American taste buds.

The entry way to another "shop" - it may have been the bologna that induced it, but I turned to find Jackie playing like a kid, in the gleaming stainless steel doorway - like she had stepped in front of a Carnival Fun House mirror.  If bologna can do that, we should all eat a little more!  The seizure-inducing pink hallway leading to the free tram between the Bellagio and City Center - it really was THAT pink!

Last stop of the day found us at the large, Fashion Show Mall just past Treasure Island, on the northern end of The Strip.  REGULAR shops that we actually bought a few things at, in addition to stopping for a cup of holiday cheer in the guise of Starbucks Eggnog Latte.  GIGANTIC Erte art-deco designs - women spanning two floors of the center.  Yes, the Christmas holiday seems to definitely be upon us - someone commented that they couldn't believe how Vegas does it up for the holidays (I think there is the misconception that it's all just slot machines and blackjack tables here)...just like anywhere else, we do!  Maybe a little grander in scale and/or flashier, at times...a little louder perhaps, but pretty much the same - except for the bologna.  I don't think you can get that just anywhere.  Stay warm, my friends...