Advertisement
Published: November 5th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Make Believe Italian kitsch wedding
Can't afford a fancy wedding in Italy? Rent a dress and elope at the Venetian Hotel. LAS VEGAS: Returning to SIN CITY
A LITTLE HISTORY: Yes, even Sin City has some history. Most interesting is its past relating to its very early days. The oasis in the middle of the Mojave Desert was discovered by a Mexican teenager in 1830 and was colonized by Mormons in 1855. The Mormons, however, didn’t last more than 3 years in the oasis on a sea of sand, returning to Salt Lake City as their crops fell. Fast forwarding to 1903, the railroad came and the town was created, 30 years later the Hoover Dam was built. By 1945, the town was already known as the gambling oasis in the desert. Fast forward to 1990s, there was a campaign focusing on turning the now known”luxury-minded playground for adults” into a family-friendly resort town. Luxury palace-hotels began to pop on the strip, and the rest is current history still being made… despite the world economic crises.
VISITING LV While living in California, I took an annual trip to Vegas and surrounding area every October. Now, it has been a decade since I spent days in the land of sin.
Tons of new grandiose hotels line the famous strip,
Aria Hotel
Fancy, beautiful modern architectural details, and good food. many with overpriced designer shops. Cirque Du Soleil rules, when it comes to shows, with 6 (or 7) permanent ones. This time I picked to watch the spectacular KA, at the MGM.
Surprisingly, not a single dinosaur Pop star in town. Rod Stewart arrives the day I leave.
David Copperfield is still around, but I heard his show is horrible.
There isn’t as much glamour as in the past. Some young women with mile high high-heels and inches long mini-dresses seem to be the only ones spending time on their apparel these days. Lots of jeans and flip-flops around. Obesity presence is definitely felt… Well, this is America.
TAXI MAFIA: Without them (taxis), you can’t move, unless you are on the heart of the strip and can walk. Boy they control the city! They prevented that the mono-rail connected the airport o the city, they can’t stop to pick you up on the streets (it has to be on a hotel/casino), they take the longest way to get everywhere, and you have to wait for them on lines that take forever.
What about the economic crisis? Well, it doesn't seem to have any impact on the major
casinos at all. They are packed and profiting. On the other hand, the house market was hit the worst here, and 20 million fewer people visited the city last year, making unemployment rate one of the worse ones in the USA.
WHY NOT A CONVENTIONAL VEGAS TRIP? Not a single cent spent on gambling and we stayed at the Platinum Hotel, which is a non-gambling, non-smoking hotel, off the strip. As for shopping, zilch, “nada”, zero. Just not worth, since I can find same merchandize elsewhere, at cheaper prices. Ah! And buffet, ventured to one only once for lunch.
You must be thinking: “No fun at all! What a waste!” Not really. My taste buds were very pleased with the great food we had, like delicious Thai cuisine at The Lemongrass at the Aria, besides fine Japanese, Italian and American. I did a lot of window shopping and people watching, besides watching the superb productions of the Cirque du Solei.
Now. Four days in Vegas is more than plenty, and to home I go.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.1s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 10; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0591s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb