Day 2 - Viva Las Vegas

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Day 2 Las Vegas, Distance Travelled - 200 metres (bed - food - pool - food - gamble - bed!)

After an exhausting first day it was time to chill...first came the breakfast buffet which appeared to be exactly the same buffet as the previous night but with omelettes, bacon and toast added. This was confirmed when the Japanese couple next to us appeared to sit down to a full roast beef dinner with yorkshire pud for him and a crab and prawn shellfish platter for her, at 9-30 in the morning! Only in the USA! Still a bargain at $19 and the gym work is a distant memory!

After that we hit the pool avoiding expensive sunbeds and cabanas and having carefully worked out the trajectory of the sun so Shas would get maximum tanning time...we settled in and used the day to 'people watch'...Safe to say in Vegas you see all shapes and sizes and the afternoon game between us was quickly named 'Fake or Real'. Have to say not a lot of 'real' on show apart from mine!

Towards the end of the afternoon my head was filled with strange voices saying'gamble, gamble' so I obeyed, leaving her ladyship snoring firmly on her sunbed, just like the old days in India.

After an unsuccessfull gambling session ( theme developing here already) it was time to shower and hit the strip. The walk up to the Venitian hotel, our chosen dinner destination, allowed us to see the wide variety of people that Vegas have to offer. From the homeless, wounded and disabled begging for change, the cartoon characters dressed as Mickey, Minnie, Woody and Spiderman charging for pictures, the stag do complete with beer keg, gas and pump loaded into a wheelchair and the thousands of holiday makers just out to have fun.

Wherever you go there are touts advertising 'girls to your door in 20 minutes' or similar....The most interesting points about this are that they are some of the most ugly and dirty people you have ever seen handing out the cards so as a marketing exercise it's not that successfull! Secondly they are not allowed to talk so the only sound they can make is flicking the wads of cards in their hand, so the air is filled with a blizzard sound of hundreds of cards flicking on each street corner! Las Vegas does have that sleazy side I guess but it's still safe and fun to walk around and watch.

The Venitian hotel is immense and twice the size than when we were here last...in the middle is an indoor 'replica' of Venice...on the second floor complete with canals, gondoliers and a painted blue sky on the ceiling...it has to be seen to be believed and we love it. The streets(canals) are lined with expensive shops and it required a short lead at all times to stop Shas wandering into Gucci, Armani, Manolo, but sadly she slipped off and made it into Jimmy Choos whilst I wasn't looking! We settled for a lovely Itallian in 'St Mark's Square' with a great atmosphere, wandering musicians and a chance to people watch some more.

After dinner it was a short hop over Las Vegas boulevard to The Mirage, a hotel where we have stayed before....it has changed a lot as well and thankfully the sad small white tiger enclosure at the front of the hotel has gone, so no suffering animals in the heat (there anyway) We we're here to see 'Love', an award winning Cirque du Soleil show set to the music of the Beatles. I have to say it was a great show but probably not as good as 'O' in the Bellagio which we saw last time. As with all CdS shows, the artistic director has some weird and vivid imagination or is on some of the 60's hallucinogens that the show portrays! The show is in 'the round' and performers appear from everywhere...aisles, under the floor, from the ceiling and all very spectacularly. The Beatles music is superb and all the seats have built in stereo speakers so it is very clear sound. Apart from the drunk college kids behind us Who were 'slapped down' by one of the ushers at one point, it was a great way to spend an evening.

After that it was a cool stroll back to the hotel for a bit of late night gambling...sharan on her 25c poker machines and me back to the 3 card poker table....still chasing the $10,000 jackpot. At about 1am, Sharan came to say goodnight as the bloke sitting next to me exploded with excitement. His mates had been standing behind him for 20minutes trying to get him to stop gambling and go clubbing but he had refused.... Good job because he hit the Q, K, A of spades and that royal flush earned him the $10250 jackpot plus a further $800 for his hand. Even better, for sitting at the table of the jackpot winner I got a $100 'envy bonus! Unfortunately you have to sit there for nearly an hour whilst cards are counted, he is 'crb' checked, videos of the game are checked etc. bloody long winded process and then at the end of it all they appeared to pay him short! He explained that the winnings are taxable and it is easier for him if the casino collect the tax rather than having to fill it out in his end of year return....god knows what happens if a foreigner wins!

So normal service was resumed, I went back to playing, lost it all and headed for bed at 2-00 am! Only to find that the music out on the strip was still thumping very hard and even 19 floors up with double glazing, the Bellagio is not immune to noise pollution. So it took a while to drop off only for what can be described as an air raid klaxon to go off above the bed at 4 am followed by an automated voice message repeating that a Fire alarm had been triggered and they were in the process of exploring if it was valid! This went on for a deafening 10 minutes and some people started to evacuate, others (like me) were dressed and ready to go, standing in the corridors raising sleepy eyebrows at each other...and some just choose to put 4 pillows over their heads and try and sleep it out! (no names).

So it was a rough end to a good day....only one more in Vegas till we hit the road!

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