Las Vegas
Trip Start
Sep 25, 2008
1
15
47
Trip End
Feb 05, 2009
Las Vegas,
Nevada,
United States
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Luckily, beginning with managing to find a card at nearly half the standard price (my Yorkshire blood coming through!), the day picked up from lunchtime and we ended up having a very enjoyable day wandering the Strip and seeing the various sites.
From our hotel - the Luxor (which was slightly underwhelming and quiet, despite its promising glass-pyramid exterior) - we headed first to the neighbouring Mandalay Bay and then the Excalibur. The former had a vague eastern theme while the latter was a Camelot-esque castle. From Excalibur, we passed through into New York-New York which was supposedly a miniature recreation of the eponymous city. Although the outside featured a 1/2 size Statue of Liberty, replica Empire State Building and Brooklyn Bridge however, the inside largely fitted the pattern which seemed to be emerging; namely that the casino floors themselves were almost identical in every hotel.
Next we crossed the road to the MGM Grand, whose trademark giant gold lion statue was overshadowed by the real lions inside - so tame that their keepers could play with them like pet cats and so near to the glass screen that they felt close enough to touch. Our next stop was the Bellagio (of 'Ocean's 11' fame) and we were lucky enough to arrive just as its signature fountain/music show was about to start. These displays, choreographed to Frank Sinatra songs played over loud-speakers (this time it was 'Singing in the Rain'), were probably the highlight of the whole city for us; erupting every half an hour from the giant lake in front of the hotel. The inside of the Bellagio was almost as impressive - much more luxurious and up-market than any of the hotels we'd seen up to that point.
From there, we had a quick look in Caesar's Palace (made slightly longer by getting lost in its shopping centre), then crossed to the Venetian to see its bizarre recreation of Venice's canals upstairs above the casino floor. By the time we left the Venetian, the sun was going down and this proved the perfect time to see the city's newest and most up-market hotel - the Wynn (a possible relation to the Wynnes perhaps...?) - whose gold-glass facade reflected the sunset perfectly. The inside was just as opulent - definitely the place to stay when/if we have access to more money!
Tired by this point, and having had our fill of casinos, we headed back, stopping on the way to watch the slightly odd mock sea-battle outside Treasure Island. This battle used to feature pirates and the navy and was a fairly family-friendly spectacle which featured in the film 'Miss Congeniality.' These days though, it pits a budget group of Pussycat Doll wannabes against some greased-up body-builders who spend 15 minutes exchanging more innuendos than cannon-fire. As such, it was probably slightly unsuitable for the several young kids who were watching from their parents' shoulders, although seeing the dads trying to take advantage of the maximum zoom on their camcorders was quite amusing.
After the show and catching the end of another Bellagio fountain display ('Luck Be A Lady' this time), we ate dinner at a pizzeria in New York-New York, before heading back to the room to finish a bottle of wine and to prepare for the Grand Canyon the next day.
Overall, Las Vegas was a very odd place and a strange mixture of extreme tackiness and sophisticated luxury. Many lesser casinos, and large areas of even the most expensive, were dominated not by the well-dressed heirs and playboys depicted in films playing blackjack and roulette but by the fairly depressing sight of normal and occasionally seedy-looking people feeding coins into slot machines for hours on end. To really get much out of the city (other than seeing the sights), you'd need to come with some money to burn on gambling, a luxury room, expensive meals and drinks and show-tickets. For the wealthy, its a great playground with everything in one place, while for those like us on a budget its not somewhere to stay for very long.
