Vegas Baby!

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After literally putting my feet on the ground back in Manchester, I was already thinking about the 13 hours of flying I would have to do the next day to reach the city that never sleeps, Las Vegas. There was no question where we were when we walked off the plane to be met by the sounds and flashing lights of slot machines. After waiting for a lifetime for our bags we met our limo driver and got chatting about how Wanderlei Silva has an account and how he gets beasted at Silva’s gym on a regular basis. Cue the champagne drinking and sightseeing and I was amazed at how close the mountains were that pretty much surrounded the neon lights that are the strip.

The hotel Casinos are amazingly big and our hotel the Venetian didn’t disappoint. Inside the hotel was just as impressive and our room, well I won’t harp on about it just look at the pictures. I’ll just say it was…….. comfortable. A quick change out of our plane clothes and we hit the casino floor, me and Anne quickly noticed that almost everyone around us was American, not that it mattered it was just surprising. The place was buzzing with the sounds of the slot machines and flashing lights greeted you at every turn. We decided against jumping straight onto the slots and headed for the Grande Canal Shoppes to explore. The first thing you notice is the ceiling and its depiction of a blue sky which is lit up so well, at first glance you think it’s real. After registering what we were seeing and having a leisurely walk along the canal, we tackled the slots. I can’t even remember the name of the machine as there were so many but I parted with my $10 bill and watched as the lights flashed, the shapes span around and my credits quickly disappeared. Then all of a sudden, as I pulled down the lever 3 matching symbols lit up and my credits were soaring upwards to a grand total of ………. $52! Overwhelmed by our huge win we decided to quit whilst ahead and get some food. We stopped at a French restaurant where I treated myself to some lobster and got blasted by the freezing cold air con, it was like a blizzard! We had finally gotten over our massive win at the slots and decided to head back up to the shops and take a ride along the canal on a genuine gondola complete with singing gondolier, who treated us to a rendition of the Godfather theme tune.

Day 2 saw us hunting for a place to eat breakfast and we found the Grand Lux Cafe and we would eat our breakfast here every morning and I highly recommend it. Now that we had fuel, we headed outside to be slapped in the face by the Vegas heat and made our way to the South end of the strip. It was sensory overload, looking all around, sounds everywhere it was so much to take in and I’m glad we were walking to do so plus we saw a man spray painted gold dressed as a cowboy, and a large man dressed as a woman. At the end of the strip we were greeted by the golden shininess of Mandalay Bay and went inside to check out the shark reef which I have to say was disappointing. We then started to walk back down the strip stopping at hotels of interest starting with the Egyptian themed Luxor. Here you are greeted with a large Sphinx and inside the pyramid itself is the hotel casino, where we checked out the Bodies exhibition which is well worth the visit. Next it was the medieval Excalibur which just stands out from all the rest with its brightly coloured towers and castle like exterior. By this point we could tell that the casinos themselves were all pretty similar so it was the other attractions and entertainment that the hotels offered that made them unique. Here it was the Tournament of the Kings for which we bought tickets for the next day’s show. A quick walk across the road and you come face to face with the huge golden lion of the MGM . We visited the lion habitat and they were doing what they do best….. sleeping, however we then got our picture taken with a lion cub and got to stroke him whilst he was playing so was a great bonus. By this time we were well and truly hungry and got some lunch at the rainforest cafe within the MGM. As the name suggests it was set within a rainforest where as the waiter enthusiastically told us “the creatures come to life!” So while tucking into your food you get robotic animals making noises at you and thunderstorms with flashing lights, it was all good fun. Moving on further into the MGM and we came across something that had Anne stop in her tracks…… the CSI experience. You’re given a crime scene to examine and you have to investigate and solve the case in the CSI way, it was actually really good.

We left the MGM behind and walked over to Cesar’s Palace which was beyond huge, but not really a lot to do other than the usual. They did have a fountain which turns into a show with robotic people coming out of the ground and talking about Atlantis, with fireballs coming out of the water, but it wasn’t anything spectacular. We made our way back to the Venetian taking in the sights of New York New York and Paris along the way, and passing by people giving out cards for HOT ASS GIRLS! They even had to wear the t-shirts!
The evening’s proceedings started with us heading across the road from our hotel to Treasure Island casino for some food before going to watch the Cirque Du Soleil show, Mystere. I have to say it was one of the best things I have ever seen; it had everything, comedy, amazing stunts, great music and crazy costumes. I have never experienced a show like it and it is one of the must do things in Vegas in my opinion and it ended our second night on a great high.
Day 3 and we began with the usual breakfast and you could see that some people blatantly hadn’t been to sleep yet. We walked across the road to the Mirage hotel to see the Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat which has panthers, tigers and of course dolphins. However on the day we went we could only see the dolphins, which was unfortunate, so after a brief walk around viewing the baby dolphin we left the Mirage and started to walk to the North end of the strip. Here we stopped off at the Fashion Show mall where my wallet became significantly lighter, but there wasn’t anything unique about the place that stood out and said we’re in Vegas, it was like any other mall. Carrying on north and we were arriving at the less popular area of the strip and I could see why. We stopped off at one of the first hotel casinos Circus Circus and it just reminded me of Blackpool amusements, it even had those machines that you drop 2p into in the hope of getting back even more 2 ps! So needless to say we didn’t venture much further. In the distance you could see Motels that looked like they would be the stage for an episode of CSI and we headed south to the Wynn. The Wynn stood out with its huge curved building all made of glass. Inside it was very bright and had a sort of mini orchard inside, it was very posh.

Evening was upon us and we got the metro up to Excalibur for Tournament of the Kings whose tagline read, Eat, Drink and be Rowdy! Rowdy it was, in a very very good way and we were treated to jousting, sword fighting and a delicious chicken dinner that had to be eaten with your hands! Everyone was in good spirits and me and Anne had a great laugh shouting for our king. Definitely recommended. After grabbing a few photos with the performers, we hopped back on the metro and headed to the end of the north strip to see the stratosphere. This was a hotel casino with a huge observation tower overlooking the strip, complete with rides at the top. The views were fantastic and we went at night which made it even better seeing the lights in all their glory. There were 3 rides on offer at the top, we chose Insanity in which you’re strapped into a chair in a circle of about 10. These are all attached to a mechanical arm which rotates to moves the circle 10 ft over the edge of the tower. You then spin around getting faster until you’re facing the ground below. Awesome. Another short walk past the seedy motels and dark alley ways and we were heading back to the Venetian to end the night.

Day 4 started with a very leisurely wake up before strolling through to the Palazzo hotel next door where our limo pick up awaited us. This was to take us to the airport for our helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. After a short video and getting issued some fetching name stickers, we were boarding the small chopper ready for takeoff. The pictures describe what I can’t, it was an amazing tour and the views were epic covering Lake Mead, the Hoover Dam and the Canyon itself. We then landed inside the canyon for some food and more photos before flying through, up and out of the canyon culminating in a fly over the strip. Here you could see how small the strip was compared to the whole of Las Vegas itself. After getting back to solid ground we got dressed up for our second helping of Cirque Du Soleil in the form of KA which was showing at the MGM. First we went for some food at Wolfgang Puck’s where the menu was very tasty. As for KA, well I have to say my high expectations were responsible for my lack of enjoyment of this show. Whilst there were some really clever ideas to the show, all I had in the back of my mind was this is nothing compared to Mystere so maybe it would of been better seeing it first. However we still had a very good night and returned to our hotel for what would be our last night in Vegas which was ended listening to two guys playing piano in one of the hotel bars.
So all that was left was to get in some last minute gambling and make our way back to the airport ready for a flight to San Diego.

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