Viva Las Vegas!
Hello again!
With a couple of hours to kill before I fly to LA, and needing to digest my Denny's breakfast (Denny's does very nice breakfasts, but they do explain why Las Vegans are the 2nd fattest in the US!) I resume my comments
Firstly, at Miami airport, while waiting to board my flight to Vegas, I saw none other than Bruce Forsyth, with his family! (I think he was flying to the Dominican republic). You'll be relieved to know I didn't ask him "Are you dancing?" !
Las Vegas. The tone is set as soon as you land, as the first thing you see as you exit the plane and enter the terminals, is slot machines! Casinos are everywhere, I've lost track of the number I've seen over the last few days, it must be in nearly 3 figures. You can't avoid them either. For example, with hotels, you have to walk though the casino, to get to reception, and to your rooms. Never mind the dress codes you get in posh London casinos, here you walk through them with the suitcases and laundry!
The Strip itself is fascinating to walk down, (or ride down on the brand new British double decker buses!) as architecturally the big casinos are stupendous, playgrounds of fantasy and whimsy. Outside you can see scale copies of the Eiffel tower or the statue of liberty. Inside you can see amazing animatronic displays, replicas of Venetian canals, middle eastern bazaars, wild animals etc. This all cost billions to build, but pays for itself due to the incredible amount of gambling going on, most of which seems to be blue collar people. Lots of shows here to, though I resisted the temptations of the erotic caberet, countess magicians and Celine Dion!
To escape the madness, I took 2 (long) day trips out. The first was to Death Valley, the desert landscape there and during the journey was amazing (Las Vegas is, after all, in the middle of a desert), the highlight for me being Badwater, a giant salt flat 282ft below sea level. The weather there was very pleasant, warm and sunny, but then it was winter! 130F in summer sounds less agreeable
The second trip was to the Grand Canyon, a VERY long day (I think the bus covered 520 miles), so most of the day was spent in the bus looking out of the window, or watching films. The big disappointment for me, was that the helicopter trip I had booked was cancelled due to lack of numbers. That would have given a much better perspective, as it's almost too massive to take in. It was very cold there too, on our bus were a large group of Australians with several young children, I haven't heard that much childish Aussie whining since Ricky Ponting was run out by Gary Pratt last summer
Hopefully, I wil find a internet cafe with USB connections, as then I'll be able to upload my photos. Until then I'll be off (and no I didn't lose my shirt in a Casino!)
Mike
With a couple of hours to kill before I fly to LA, and needing to digest my Denny's breakfast (Denny's does very nice breakfasts, but they do explain why Las Vegans are the 2nd fattest in the US!) I resume my comments
Firstly, at Miami airport, while waiting to board my flight to Vegas, I saw none other than Bruce Forsyth, with his family! (I think he was flying to the Dominican republic). You'll be relieved to know I didn't ask him "Are you dancing?" !
Las Vegas. The tone is set as soon as you land, as the first thing you see as you exit the plane and enter the terminals, is slot machines! Casinos are everywhere, I've lost track of the number I've seen over the last few days, it must be in nearly 3 figures. You can't avoid them either. For example, with hotels, you have to walk though the casino, to get to reception, and to your rooms. Never mind the dress codes you get in posh London casinos, here you walk through them with the suitcases and laundry!
The Strip itself is fascinating to walk down, (or ride down on the brand new British double decker buses!) as architecturally the big casinos are stupendous, playgrounds of fantasy and whimsy. Outside you can see scale copies of the Eiffel tower or the statue of liberty. Inside you can see amazing animatronic displays, replicas of Venetian canals, middle eastern bazaars, wild animals etc. This all cost billions to build, but pays for itself due to the incredible amount of gambling going on, most of which seems to be blue collar people. Lots of shows here to, though I resisted the temptations of the erotic caberet, countess magicians and Celine Dion!
To escape the madness, I took 2 (long) day trips out. The first was to Death Valley, the desert landscape there and during the journey was amazing (Las Vegas is, after all, in the middle of a desert), the highlight for me being Badwater, a giant salt flat 282ft below sea level. The weather there was very pleasant, warm and sunny, but then it was winter! 130F in summer sounds less agreeable
The second trip was to the Grand Canyon, a VERY long day (I think the bus covered 520 miles), so most of the day was spent in the bus looking out of the window, or watching films. The big disappointment for me, was that the helicopter trip I had booked was cancelled due to lack of numbers. That would have given a much better perspective, as it's almost too massive to take in. It was very cold there too, on our bus were a large group of Australians with several young children, I haven't heard that much childish Aussie whining since Ricky Ponting was run out by Gary Pratt last summer
Hopefully, I wil find a internet cafe with USB connections, as then I'll be able to upload my photos. Until then I'll be off (and no I didn't lose my shirt in a Casino!)
Mike
posted by Michael Conway at
6:51 pm
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