Penn & Teller

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Address: 3700 W Flamingo Rd.
Date: March 2003
Website:  www.riolasvegas.com/shows/penn-and-teller.html

  During our first visit to Las Vegas we purchased tickets to see Penn & Teller at the Rio casino.   Penn & Teller are illusionists who always mix their magic with a little comedy, brains and danger.  Penn is the big, talkative one and Teller is the smaller one who never says a word.  You may have seen them perform together on Saturday Night Live or in one of their various specials throughout the years.  Penn once appeared on an episode of Friends and sells Joey one volume from an encyclopedia set.
  Our evening began when we decided to walk from the Bally's casino to the Rio.  The Rio is off of the main strip but, like everything in Vegas, looks closer because of the sheer size of it.  As we walked along Flamingo Road we left the crowds of Las Vegas Blvd. and soon we were the only pedestrians on the street.  As the sidewalk crosses the Las Vegas Freeway it becomes entirely enclosed by a cage, and fortunately we did not come across anyone else as we felt just a little bit trapped.  Not put in a clear box and then locked into a wooden box trapped, but a bit uneasy.

  We did eventually arrive at the show and took our seats.  On stage was a clear box and a wooden box which the audience was welcomed  to come up and inspect.  Later Teller was placed in the clear box and then locked into the wooden box.  Penn gives the audience an option to either close their eyes and be amazed or keep them open and see how it is done.  Anyway Teller's escape is not so much an illusion as it is purposefully constructed boxes.
  Another highlight of the show is when two audience members write something onto bullets.   One bullet is put into a gun and given to Teller, the other handed to Penn.  Pieces of glass are placed in the middle of the stage between them.  The two illusionists line up their shots from opposite sides of the stage and fire.  They both flinch back a little bit, then reveal that they have the opposite bullet between their teeth.  The glass in between has shattered and has holes through it to prove something passed through.  How did they do it?  While Penn & Teller are known to often reveal how they do a trick, this one they kept a secret. 

  After the show there was a meet and greet with the two performers.  One of us had their ticket signed by and picture taken with Penn and the other did the same with Teller.  We are sort of a mix of their stage personas as one of us is tall and quiet and the other is small and talkative.  We paired up based on height.

  We really enjoyed the show and now it was time for us to perform one final daring escape act of our own.  We headed back into our sidewalk cage in a darker, later, Las Vegas night.

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Map of Our World
Penn & Teller

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Post # 18

Boston Olive Oil Company

Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Address: 262 Newbury Street
Date: Sept 2013
Website:  bostonoliveoilcompany.com

Most people are familiar with wine tastings, but the Boston Olive Oil Company offers oil and vinegar tastings.  As we were walking along Newbury Street we came upon their shop and could not resist the chance to give it a try.  We use oil and vinegar daily atop our salads and appreciate the noticeable differences in quality and taste.
The staff explained to us the scale of the olive oil and how it goes from 1 to10.  The oil is kept in stainless steel kegs from Italy called fustis. You get a little paper cup and turn the tap on one of the kegs to release some oil from inside.  You then decide if you want to dip some bread into it, or mix it with some vinegar, or just take a shot.  You can really notice a difference as you go up or down the scale.  The oil higher up the scale tended to have a grittier taste  We preferred something around the middle range.  What we were most interested in was the flavoured vinegars, and we sampled a few before deciding on a Pomegranate White Balsamic Vinegar for ourselves.
We left with our purchase and headed over to the Prudential Center for some ice cream and shopping.   We were looking for some gifts for family and friends but nothing seemed quite right.  Then we realized we were holding the perfect gift.  It worked as a Boston souvenir since the green bottle says Boston Olive Oil Company.  It was also healthy and from our earlier sampling experience, very tasty.  So we headed back and picked up a couple more bottles.
We know that the next time we are in Boston we will be having another taste.

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Map of Our World
Boston Olive Oil Company

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Post # 17

Toronto Zoo (Giant Pandas)

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 2000 Meadowvale Road
Date: May 2013
Website:  www.torontozoo.com

Back in 1985 the Toronto Zoo had Qing Qing and Quan Quan for several months.  Now it is Da Mao and Er Shun who pay the zoo a visit.  We are sure to stop by and see them whenever we can, as we know that their time on loan from China is limited.  They are expected to remain at the zoo until 2018 and then move on to the Calgary Zoo, unless they breed successfully.  If that should happen then their departure date will be re-evaluated.

 

   Pandas spend most of their time either sleeping or eating massive amounts of bamboo.  On our visits they have usually been sitting back enjoying a good chew on a bamboo stick.  Despite being known for being cute and cuddly, pandas have big claws and sharp teeth that help them with this task.  We would expect that 10 out of 10 dentists don't recommend that you try this at home.

The two pandas are kept separate unless it is during the mating period.  They spend a lot of time apart since that period is only for a few days each year.  Da Mao is the male panda and he usually spends his day in the larger outdoor area of the enclosure.  His name in english is 'Big Fur'.  Er Shun is the female and she has a smaller area on the other side of the exhibit.  Her name means 'Double Smoothness'.  Both pandas weighed roughly the same amount shortly after their arrival.  Da Mao was 98.8 kg and Er Shun had a slight advantage over him at 100 kg.

 

  We have also been fortunate enough to see the pandas do something else besides eat.  Da Mao often takes a walk around his pond area to help him digest before his next snack.

   During one visit Er Shun treated us to quite the acrobatic display as she did somersaults, commando moves and spent some time swatting at a big giant mirror.  We were lucky enough to have recorded this and you can see the highlights in the video below.

We hope that the pandas will be with us for quite some time and maybe if we are really lucky the Toronto panda population is on the rise.

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Click here to take a virtual tour and see our collection of Toronto Zoo animal photos.

Map of Our World
Toronto Zoo (Giant Pandas)

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Post # 16