the art of illusion

The weekend before last I was in Venice...

Then I walked to Paris...

I continued on through a jungle oasis...

And stopped by Ancient Greece too for good measure...

Naturally this would only be possible in Vegas -- where everything, it seems, is possible. Including a massive fountain display in the middle of a parched desert.

My favourite by far, though, was something that didn't pretend to be anything but what it was -- a ceiling covered in massive glass-blown blooms by the brilliant artist Dale Chihuly. While everything in Vegas works excessively at creating the illusion you are somewhere you aren't, this ceiling is what really takes me away.   Maybe there's a lesson there about trying too hard.