[UPDATE: Several sugary sources insist Reese's does make squatter, smaller peanut butter cups. My apologies to Mr. Elfman for this scurrilous accusation. I am concerned, though, that our president may be so out of touch with average 'Mericans that he eats untraditional Reese's products as well as Dijon mustard on his burgers. Hannity's gonna have a field day...]
I happened to be at Caesars on Friday for lunch with a fellow journalist when it dawned on me to ask for a tour of the 22,000-square-foot Marc Antony-Cleopatra Suite where President Obama stayed on Tuesday night after
Obama: The Las Vegas Spectacular, the benefit for Harry featuring Bette, Sheryl, Rita and Clint.
The photo above is another piece of hand-out art from Caesars, showing one of the atriums. Thanks to Mike E, you can look at the
floor plan via this link. The rest of these images here were shot by me.
To give you an idea how gargantuan the thing is, see this photo below?
I took it from one of the terraces. The other terrace? You're looking at it over there on the other edge of the building. Wow, huh?
The place has: six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, two full kitchens to service two 10-seat private dining rooms ready with full settings of Sant’ Andrea Royal porcelain, two outdoor decks with waterfalls that flow into private pools, a dry sauna and two sitting parlors.
Some of the sights of the spread:
[Click on any images to enlarge them]
All are arrayed off a central corridor of bronze-swirled marble floors and pillars as well as Roman antiquities.
All of this is arrayed along this marble hallway...
The beds themselves were actually sort of plain and smallish. The president's a tall guy, right? No one could tell me, by the way, which one he used, but here are two of the three from the master bedrooms. (Obama was here alone, btw. No Michelle or kids.)
I spotted this candy wrapper (below) in a dish. Evidently, there were two but the Review-Journal's Doug Elfman is shown in
this R-J video tour snatching one. (Elfman also controversially claims they were Reese's Peanut Butter Cup wrappers even though everyone with as many fillings as I have knows Reese's are wider and thinner. Plus, he thinks the existence of bidets are funny and sorta tries to get his viewers to imagine an Obama Enema. No, really.)
Here's the dining room, one of two that Obama didn't use when he ordered up a steak from Neros.
And here's the treadmill The One did not use. Instead, he went to Qua. They shut down the whole spa for his 45-minute workout.
They also, by the way, emptied the floor below this suite. And the Obama entourage occupied 100 rooms in the tower.
In case you're wondering, I don't know what the White House paid for the pad. Caesars spokeswoman Debbie Munch says Obama’s suite has no price tag; it’s only available to high rollers or celebrity guests. But the White House couldn't take it for free, could they? Especially for a fundraising trip, right?
Others who have used the suite, by the way: Marc Anthony and J. Lo (they were first after a recent renovation, renewing their vows along with New York Met Carlos Beltran and his wife, Jessica in October 2008), Celine Dion, Cher, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Two who have not: former presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush. Both stayed at the resort since their presidencies – Obama is the first sitting president to check in – but they were lodged in other suites.
Of course, the obvious question was asked: Will Caesars now rename the space the Presidential Suite?
“Ha ha,” Caesars spokeswoman Debbie Munch chuckled. “No. But I'm sure it will become known.”
