Day 9 - Las Vegas, walking the Strip

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We had a fairly leisurely start today; we went across to the Luxor (the pyramid-shaped hotel next door) for the Pharaoh’s buffet breakfast (those Egyptians could eat!) and then went to the pool for a couple of hours to catch the sun before the clouds arrived. At lunchtime we decided to do a bit more exploring on the strip and caught the monorail to the end of the line at the Sahara Hotel. From there we walked to the Stratosphere and then spent the afternoon walking the 4 miles back to our hotel, stopping at the most famous hotels as we went.

We didn’t get to all of the hotels or see half of the free shows and we’re going to visit more tomorrow, but those we did visit were all very impressive; I thought our hotel was massive but a couple of those today were bigger. The casinos are all lit in a similar manner with subdued lighting and no natural light, and there isn’t a clock in sight; I would think it’s easy to lose track of time while sat at the tables or slot machines because they look the same day or night.

I brought some smart clothes for the casinos but apart from a few who get dressed up (some really, really, bad outfits) the majority just wear shorts and tee shirts. It’s much more casual in the casinos than I’d imagined (think James Bond) but there are some high stakes areas where better dress is expected and going to see a show would probably call for something smarter.

Some of the highlights today were: The Stratosphere, it’s the highest building in Las Vegas and has 3 rides at the very top. Two of them were closed due to high winds but Sam went on X Scream, which is a seesaw ride over the edge of the tower where you hang in mid air 300m above the ground. The Sahara has a very fast roller coaster with a 360 loop. The Venetian has canals and gondola rides inside the hotel. Circus, Circus, as the name suggests, has a circus as a centrepiece. We visited the Shark Reef in our hotel, it was as good as any aquarium I’ve seen and Sam enjoyed it (despite the educational content). We also looked around the other levels in the Luxor. The rooms are all on the outside walls and the hollow middle is filled with all sorts of attractions including a replica of Tutankhamen’s tomb complete with artefacts.

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