The bellagio connection

CEBU, Philippines - For the last 10 years or so that we have been visiting Las Vegas, this last visit we had was the most memorable one.  It was New

Year’s Eve and my cousin Loly Casas with her children Danny and Rudel Batalla and nephew Jeffrey Salinas had a beautiful experience in Sin City, as they call it.  We focused ourselves at the Bellagio Hotel where entertainment was almost unforgettable. The Bellagio, at the time, was filled with people locally and from all over the globe, witnessing the beautiful Christmas decors and the dancing waters gracefully pirouetting with Frank Sinatra’s songs.

We were there in Vegas last November with Fides and Fiza and Bellagio’s Conservatory glowed with autumn’s glory. Lilies and pumpkins and mums were part of the cornucopia of autumnal delights found at the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. The elaborate exhibit, which changes six times annually, welcomes the changing seasons with an orchid-filled greenhouse, smiling V- Ent tree and babbling brook.

For locals who don’t get to experience falling leaves or a bountiful harvest, the exhibit was a trip through what much of the country takes for granted. For visitors like us, it’s a marvel of craftsmanship and precision as the attention to detail of the Conservatory’s horticulturists is unparalleled.

In celebration of the season, pumpkins of all sizes picked from Half Moon Bay, California were on display including ones clocking in between 300 to 1000 pounds. Wow, they were really humongous!  However, the centerpiece of the exhibit was a trio of 25-foot “fantasy” trees created by artist Tom Hare. The 3,300-pound trees reach for the conservatory’s glass ceiling, their woven willow branches wrapping around a metal skeleton frame.

And so last New Year’s Eve, Bellagio’s conservatory was littered with beautiful and gorgeous Christmas decors not to mention the floor covered inch by inch with red poinsettias and the spectacular sight to behold was the marvelous display of fireworks all over Las Vegas, an experience we shall always treasure in our lifetime!