Day 6

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DAY 6 - Wednesday 26 November 2008
Bette Day - Woke up in sub-degree temperatures - and after a lengthy search of the hotel room found the thermo stat - which the maids delighted in returning to Arctic temperatures on a daily basis. Decided today was a day to have a buffet breakfast - Vegas Style. On my adventures last night had discovered Harrahs had a reasonably priced buffet ($15) so went there. Good lord - you should have seen this buffet. Not only was it serving breakfast - it was also serving lunch, dinner and 24 hour cocktails. To quote Rita ‘Vegas is the only place you will hear some say at 3am - I’m going to lunch”. As I munched my way through a hot breakfast, chicken dinner and a couple of doughnuts and ice cream - I perused the huge collection of tourist brochure paraphernalia and decided the best thing to do was to buy a new outfit at the outlet centre - actually it’s more socks and underwear I wanted so I didn’t have to keep washing every 4 days . I should also mention that it is now raining - in the desert. Vegas gets less than 5 inches of rain ever year which is why they call it desert. Something else to note - Vegas isn’t really designed for rain so unless you are inside, you just get wet. I’m taking this as a good omen and catch the Deuce Bus to the outlet mall. The Deuce bus travels up and down the strip and at $2 it’s the cheapest way to see the strip.
After a half hour ride I arrive at the mall, along with a thousand others, and get busy. 2 ans a half hours later I exit for the bus with about 10 pairs of socks, 4 pairs of underwear, 2 pairs of pants - which took 1 hour to try on a hundred different sizes and a Calvin Klein long sleeve top. Exhausted after my efforts, I return to the Hotel for a nanna nap before the show.
First of all, the seat I had for the show was perfect. 3 rows from the front (the stage was about 4 metres away) and right on the centre isle. The Colosseum Theatre was enormous and packed. Before the show started, I stuck up a conversation with the ladies sitting beside me - actually it was just the daughter (she was in her forties from Florida but had just moved to Vegas) - her mother bless her soul, was almost all there - but she mainly smiled and nodded when I asked her any questions. Oddly, we had a conversation about the American civil war and Obama - a topic that everyone has something to say about here. Still yet to meet a McCain supporter - maybe I just don’t give off that vibe.
The show was phenomenal - I can’t even begin to tell you how fantastic it was. 3 standing ovations later it was all over. She did everything - Soph (Great Legs and Great Big Knockers), Dolores Delargo and the obligitory The Rose and Wind Beneath my Wings. The stand out moment was her rendition of When a Man Loves a Woman - which left me and everyone else in the theatre speechless. She was on fire that night - even added an extra encore for the audience. She worked her ass off - don’t think she was off stage more than about 2 and a half minutes.
After the show I decided I wanted to check out the club scene in Vegas and decided to walk to 8.5 Piranha Bar - this was my first mistake of this kind and certainly not my last. 1 hour later after trekking deserted streets, I arrived. The club when I got there had 4 people in it. One of which was the bar man. The guy on the front door said the club would pick up about 1am, and true to his word, the club was packed. During the couple of hours in between, I met a guy from New York and got him to spill the beans on the places to go when I got there. Also met another couple a people that night, who I went to the Hard Rock hotel at about 4am for more drinking and playing pokies cos it seemed like the right thing to do. Plus I got a lift back to my hotel after to sweeten the deal. Tired at 6am I fell into bed.

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