Macau

We had a very fun overnight stay at the Venetian in Macau this past weekend. Macau is becoming something of a Las Vegas of the East. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you are not into gambling and all it brings with it) the casino industry has taken a hit from the downturn in the economy. We saw many large construction sites that looked like work had either been stopped or slowed down.

The picture above is of St. Paul's Church (well, what is left of it) that was built in I think 1565 or thereabouts. The Jesuits were expelled in the early 1700's and the buildings were burned sometime after that.

We were fortunate enough to be able to catch the Cirque Du Soleil show Zaia. It is unlike anything I've ever seen and though I probably have watched a Cirque show on TV, seeing it in person is incredible! I loved every minute of it. Living in a big, overcrowded, polluted city as we do, my eyes gratefully absorbed the grace and beauty of this show.


In this picture you can see what is on the other side of St. Paul's Church - nothing but air (and a museum further in back).

I wasn't going to include this picture, but when I gave it a closer look, this has China written all over it. You've got the bent over little old lady pushing her cart, the kites for sale, the narrow crowded streets.

One of the reasons for our trip to Macau was so Brad could collect on his birthday present - unfortunately, he was not able to bungy off the Macau Tower due to high wind, but I'm sure we'll be making a day trip over when the weather is less unpredictable. I had not been nervous about it until that morning. When he walked in from golfing and told me that the wind was blowing the golf ball around, I felt a huge sigh of relief!!

Here I captured Zoe and Hannah as this lady (complete stranger) pulled them into her picture. They evidently are in a few peoples' pictures from the Venetian from what they were saying. They really hated all the attention, however (as you can see).

Here we are now in Venice, Italy - well, a replication of it Las Vegas style.

Me and my good bud Nadine - that's the Grand Lisboa, that giant golden building, an older casino, in the background.

As we were walking down a street near St. Paul's Church, I just happened to look to my left and saw this open construction sight. What was interesting is the altar in the background. I can't remember seeing something like that in such a small construction area before.

This is a square where there are several Portugese style buildings- of course you recognize that "M," right? Yep, with four kids in tow, that's where we ate lunch.