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Published: June 24th 2006
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Vegas Baby yeah!
The New York New York hotel, this was our favourite casino. As we approached Las Vegas, daylight was quickly fading, the lights from the Vegas Strip illuminated the evening sky and we were able to identify some of the larger more unique hotels. We eventually located our own hotel just a short 5-min walk from the MGM grand off the strip. Ben, tired from the days hiking and travelling, headed to bed but I decided that Vegas on a Saturday night could not be missed.
The strip at night, with all the lights, hotels and attractions is a beautiful vibrant place and lives up to the images you see on the TV. I started by explored the New York New York hotel. As I entered all I could see were rows upon rows of gaming tables and slot machines all filled with people. I watched some of the gaming and listened to some live music originating from one of the many bars located inside the hotel.
After I had soaked in some of the atmosphere I decided to move on, locating the exits was incredibly difficult. Obviously deliberate, exits were not marked and were generally hidden around corners. Each hotel was like a mini city complete with restaurants, shops, bars
Fountains at the Bellagio
The fountain display at the Bellagio was stunning. and clubs. All designed so that you never leave.
I walked a little further down the strip. Vegas is a giant adults playground, it would be difficult to not have a good time in this city. That evening was a bustling hive of activity, the lights and sounds from the casinos seducing you to enter them and part with your money with a smile. I eventually stopped outside the Bellagio and watched in amazement the free fountain and light show that originate from the hotels massive man-made lake. I decided that the Bellagio fountain show was a good way to finish the evening so after it finished I headed back to the hotel.
The next morning we returned the hire car and started to explore the strip. One of the first hotels we visited was the Venetian. Inside the hotel was a network of Venetian streets and shops, above us the roof was painted with light sky blue and moving clouds were projected on to this. The centrepiece of the hotel was a mock-up of St Marcos Square, complete with canals and gondolas. The Treasure Island hotel opposite had a couple of pirate ships outside the front and
The Parisian Hotel
This hotel had a half size replica of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. generally stuck with the nautical theme. Caesar’s palace was perhaps the biggest hotel and was a really good replica of old style Roman palace. A few other notable hotels and casinos were; the New York New York, which had a frontage made to look like the New York skyline and a roller coaster running through the centre of the hotel; Excalibur, which was in the style of a medieval castle; and the Luxor, which was in the shape of a pyramid and contained a life size replica of Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Walking the strip took-up the entire day, and was a really interesting experience.
For our second night we decided to get into the Vegas spirit and we headed to the New York New York hotel and casino. After watching some live music we headed upstairs to the Coyote Ugly Bar for happy hour. Just like in the film, pretty girls dance on the bar and poor free shots to the people below. As happy hour drew to a close we headed to the gaming floor for a little flutter, lasting all of about 10 minutes until I had lost my initial stake, we then decided to head down the
Excalibur
This hotel was in the shape of a medieval castle. strip. We came across a really cool bar located outdoors. Live music was being played on the stage next to us but it was the bartenders that were being the most entertaining. The bar was a flair bar, whereby they throw the bottles and glasses and shakers into the air and basically juggle with them and perform neat little tricks. They were amazing at this well surpassing any flairing I have ever seen before. The affect of this flairing was that the shots were not accurately measured and Ben and I got extremely drunk, extremely quickly. At midnight Ben got up to head to the toilet, he came back 15 minutes later to tell me he was heading back as he had just been sick. I decided to stay a little longer as sitting down I felt fine. It wasn’t until I stood up some 30 minutes later that I started to feel the negative affects. Staggering home, focusing on my breathing and trying not to be sick, I eventually arrived back at the hotel some 40 minutes later, where by I waited a further 2 hours outside before risking lying down. Fortunately I was not sick, I was so
Stratosphere
The view from the stratosphere was great. At the top there are a series of roller coasters and thrill rides. proud.
The next day neither of us felt particularly bad, so we headed to the Harley Davidson Café for some lunch. Afterwards we explored a few more of the hotels that we failed to visit the day before, including the Parisian, and the MGM grand, which featured outside two giant golden lion statutes and inside two actual lions in a walk through glass cage.
For the finally evening we had a lot to pack in, we wanted to see as many of the free experiences as possible, we started with the Sirens of Treasure Island, a 20 minute show about pirates and lady sirens who seduce them. The shows dramatic climax was the firing of cannon balls at one another and the sinking of the pirate ship. An excellently choreographed show with some spectacular special affects.
Next we headed downtown to Fremont Street to see the Fremont Street experience, a large overhead computer screen that covered the street over a five-block distance. This was also a mind-blowing experience. The screen lit up on the hour with a light to sound show. Whilst we were there we explored some of the original downtown casinos and hotels, including the Golden Nugget
The Coyote Ugly bar
The Coyote Ugly bar was based in the New York hotel, was just like the film. which houses one of the worlds largest, …you guest it, …Golden Nuggets. We also saw the famous Marlboro man, seen in so many of those old style Vegas films.
The bus back from Fremont Street was incredibly slow. Travelling at less then 10 miles an hour we initial thought that the driver was trying to extend the gap between himself and the bus in front and regulate the service. He would slow down at every junction in the hope of the lights changing to red. However shortly after departure the driver started to invent his own songs, and started to sing them over the microphone. By this point he was receiving a torrent of abuse from the other passengers. When another bus pulled up alongside, the driver stopped singing and told the passengers “shhhh, I don’t want the other driver to know I’m drunk as I would get fired.”
That’s right the driver was pissed. Next the driver thought it was a neat idea to use the curb as a kind of track to keep him straight. He bumped into the curb and scrapped along it.
As we were in a rush to see the finally eruption of the Mirage
Drunk
Taken at the flair bar after a considerable amount of drink. volcano we saw our chance to get off this bus and board what was now the third bus which had passed us as it stopped ahead of us. We ran from the drunk bus and successfully boarded the other. The mirage volcano eruption was well worth it a spectacular display of fire, water and lights to create a false stream of lava.
The next day we awoke early to catch our flight to DC. This was not without it’s own drama however. On the first leg of the two-part journey we headed though a severe patch of turbulence. Suddenly there was a huge bang accompanied by a flash of light that filled the cabin. Gasps and a chorus of ‘oh my god what was that’ followed. When looking out the window a large black mark appeared on the wing of the plane. We had been struck with lightning. When we landed the plane, which was due to be flying on to New York, was taken out of service for engineers to examine the damage.
At the time it was a frightening experience, not one I would like to repeat any time soon.
The second leg of thee journey was
The Fremont Street Experience
The Fremont street experience is a light extravaganza that covers the street over 5 blocks. almost as hair-raising; the descent into DC is more like a thrill ride at a theme park. Twisting and turning right up until touch down. It literally makes a huge bank to the right about 10-15 seconds before touch down, it feels as though the wing can almost touch the ground. Despite all the thrills we had made it in one piece to the nations capital, Washington DC.
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