Viva Las Vegas!

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Bright light city gunner set my soul, gunner set my soul on fire!!! Viva Las Vegas! Listening to ZZ Tops version while driving through the desert and seeing the skyline appear was quite something!

It is mad totally MAD! But very exciting! We managed to find the hotel (the Gold Coast) without too much trouble but the traffic was unbelievable they have 4 or 5 lanes on either side of the road generally and 6 on either side on the Interstate Highway and they all drive at top speed!

We checked in, nice room, had a look round, sussed out how to get our B Connected cards so we could get 10% off the buffet and free entries into the American Football Scores Competition (yeah right!). We then spent a couple of hours frying ourselves out by the very nice pool and then decided to have a quick drive out down The Strip. It was packed with people and cars and a general air of high excitement, but it convinced us to park the car up at the hotel for the whole stay and just use the free shuttle bus instead!

We had the buffet at the hotel for tea and it was very good but the puddings were a bit of a let down – there were loads of them but they just weren’t that good (unfortunately or maybe that should be fortunately!!!). Then we caught the shuttle down for our first taste of The Strip, what a sight all lit up at night it was amazing and we walked for miles! Right from our drop off at Bill’s Saloon all the way down to Luxor/Mandalay Palace and back. The place was heaving!, the casino fronts were very impressive and all themed – Paris, New York New York, Luxor, Excalibur all do what they say, we kept missing the fountain show at The Bellagio which was a shame because the bits we did spot looked amazing.

We called in to the very bizzare M & M World and had the dubious pleasure of seeing the staff, visitors and a giant blue M&M doing the Macarena! – very surreal and as funny as hell!! Absolutely knackered we got the shuttle back and then went gambling……. On the 1 cent slots!! The first 2 machines we tried were rubbish and then we found a brilliant one and I couldn’t stop, Howard dragged me off to bed about 12.30 am with me saying ‘just one more dollar’ - I could have stayed on all night and had just got in the swing of it!!! However we won nowt!

The next morning we woke up late and decided to go out and cook ourselves at the pool some more and when we got back we decided to invest in the internet for 24 hours (at $15 for 24 hours it was a dear do!). So glad we did as we found some really exciting emails off Mum and the Solicitor!! The house contracts have been signed by them and the Aziz’s so its just Deb and Billy to go now and fingers crossed come 30th September we will be officially homeless! Cool!

Oh yes more about the Strip, there are all these people dressed up along the road and you can get your photo taken with them – from Spiderman to Sponge Bob to show girls in full glitz and head dresses to various assorted Elvis’s not forgetting Homer Simpson – a big fat bloke in a rubber mask with a pair of dirty underpants on!!!!!!!!!!

They were all funny, what wasn’t so funny were all the men and women (could have been Mexican or fillipino or both) who were constantly flicking packs of cards of naked women – who could come right to your door if you rang …. Yeah right!! And trying to force them onto all the blokes who walked by and then there were cars and vans driving up and down with great big adverts for the same thing – soooooooooooooo seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddddddddddddddyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!
Then on the shuttle on the way back we sat down and a great big fat Mexican guy sat in front of us and put his arm along the back of the seat and he staaaank! He then proceeded to sing along to all the songs on the radio. He got off at our hotel and staggered and weaved his way inside!

The next night we went to the strip we properly visited some of the hotel/casinos we went in Ceasar’s Palace which was incredible – big huge fountains with massive statues and carvings, all the ceilings looked like they had frescoes on them and there were huge colums everywhere, they even had a curving escalator which was really something!

We also went in the Venetian which even had a canal going through it complete with gondolas and gondoliers who serenaded their passengers.

We watched the volcano erupt outside the Mirage, which was a fab show with really loud drumming, lit torches in the lake and then exploding fire and water! We walked down to Treasure Island where Howard had told me there was a free pirate show, it turned out to be a Sirens of Treasure Island show, which meant stupid scantily dressed tarts doing disco routines on a replica pirate ship – it was packed with people (surprise surprise) and after a few minutes of this banal sleazy show I decided we were leaving!! – we were not the only ones, but the Koreans who elbowed their way to the front with their cameras seemed to be really enjoying it! Howard just grinned.

We also came across Vince Neil’s Tattoo Shop! Now that was kind of exciting!!

We found one casino which had machines out on the street that you could have 2 free go’s on and we both won $100 dollars each in free play! So in we went to get our vouchers and play!!! There was a few machines you could use and 2 free seats so I sat down and began and won nothing, but a lad who sat down on the other free seat (which I could have had) won big time! Damn it and the guy on the other side of me won $100 dollars! Never mind the next night we found another have a free pull machine and Howard won $20 dollars free dining at Barrista and I won a free souvenir, we spent ages trying to find the redeem your voucher kiosk and eventually spotted 4 women waving theirs around so we followed them. Once we had been signed up as members and given our free $5 of slot play the guy told Howard the restaurant was well off the strip and as we were leaving the next day he would be better off with the souvenir so …. I got a free Hangover the movie Las Vegas tote bag and he got a free Hangover the movie t shirt – you have to see the photo, words can not express how awful it was! We left it for the maid as a tip!
Finally got to see the dancing fountains at the Bellagio and they were amazing, I am so glad I saw this as for me it was the best part of our visit, if you get the chance go and see this!

So we left Vegas several pounds heavier, several dollars lighter and several shades browner!

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Photos

Las Vegas
Dancing M&M!

Las Vegas
New York New York

Las Vegas
Caesar's Palace - inside

Las Vegas
Inside the Venetian

Las Vegas
Dancing fountains at the Bellagio