A Visit To The Bellusso Watch Store In Las Vegas
Part II: The Photo Shoot
April 25th, 2008
Friday morning
I woke up before Karen, grabbed some breakfast at Bouchon in the Venetian.
Bouchon is billed as "The Best Breakfast in Las Vegas" according to
Las Vegas Life magazine.
I had the
sourdough waffles with fresh bananas, maple syrup and Tahitian vanilla bean
butter. Tastey, but not the best breakfast I've ever had in Las Vegas.
After breakfast, I grabbed my camera gear and headed over to the Venetian's new
tower called the Palazzo. The Palazzo's shopping area tastefully decorated
with lots of fountains and waterfalls, and plenty of natural light:
I quickly located Belluso - it has an enviable first floor location that can't be missed by the Palazzo foot traffic:
The store is broken up into several boutiques within the store - here's the main store front:
The highlight of the store however is the Haute Horlogerie Department where their most exclusive brands such as Ulysse Nardin, Glashtte Original, and Parmigiani Fleurier are houses, just to name a few:
Perhaps the most unique feature of the Haute Horlogerie Department at Belluso is this private area in the back of the department:
This bar was designed for Belluso by Ralph Lauren:
The bar is stocked with the very top shelf spirits (yes, that's a $2000.00 bottle of Louis XIII de Rmy Martin), cigars, and chocolates.
I did my interview with the store Director, and we played with a dream collection of six figure time pieces:
After I finished the interviews and photo shoot, I headed back upstairs and collected Karen and went back to the Venetian's pool area - no high winds on this day so the main pool was open.
Sun tanning in the middle of the desert gets mighty warm, so I thought this shallow pool with submersible furniture was a nifty idea:
After a relaxing afternoon at the pool, Karen and I went back to the room and got ready for the evening. Our first stop was to my favorite steak house in Las Vegas - Chef Emeril's Delmonico restaurant which is located in the Venetian:
I got the "surf and turf" option - 9 oz. fillet and a 20 oz. Australian lobster tail which did not disappoint me in the slightest. Karen thought her filet was a bit too rare for her taste, but particularly enjoyed the green beans:
After dinner we headed over to the MGM Grand and the ticket will call booth to pick up the tickets I had ordered weeks ago to one of my favorite entertainment acts - David Copperfield
We then headed over to MGM's Hollywood Theater:
I felt very fortunate that Copperfield was playing a limited engagement run in Vegas the same week we were here. The last time I caught his act was during the open week of the Shuster Center in Dayton. I only managed to wrangle a sixth row seat to that particularly show, but I don't think we could have asked for better seats than the stage side seats we had this particular evening:
Much to my surprise, I was pulled out of the audience to participate in one of Copperfield's illusions. I was brought back stage and asked to wear a red tie. After David brought me up on stage, a clear plexiglass box was brought out, and we examined it together to make certain it was "solid." David then asks me to remove the tie and he placed it inside the box and made it dance around like it was alive. The box lid eventually popped open and the tie flew around in the air. I tied the tie twice (we rehearsed the bit backstage) and I was dumbfounded as there was nothing out of the ordinary about the tie. I've been an admirer of David Copperfield for years, so it was quite a thrill to meet him and be in his show. Unfortunately, there's no photography allowed in his show so Karen didn't get a photo of me up on stage, but I did get an autographed photo of Copperfield for being part of the show:
The MGM has even more special meaning for me now - my father brought my mother to the MGM over 30 years ago where she actually got to sing with Dean Martin. After the show we walked around the MGM a bit then headed back to the Venetian. Tomorrow I would be covering the Esquire magazine "Best Dressed Real Man in America" competition, held in conjunction with the watch manufacturer IWC. Much to my surprise, I got drafted to come out from behind the camera and actually compete in the event....but you'll read all about that in Part III.