What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas

Monday 16th April 2012

The less gullible readers probably guessed that there would indeed be a blog today.

So, Vegas...

We arrived in Vegas yesterday to 75 degree heat, listening to Radio Elvis. Yes, he has a whole station dedicated to his greatest (and not so greatest) hits. I mostly enjoyed the tunes, apart from the Elvis rendition of Hey Jude, which was almost as bad as the original.

I think we were both imagining seeing a lush green oasis when we approached Vegas from the desert road. We were a bit disappointed to see what looked like a pretty bog standard city surrounded by a heat haze (or possibly smog).

Once we got into the city though, my second impression was very different.
We had to try and blinker ourselves whilst driving in, as there were so many distractions, we would surely have either crashed or got lost. Up close, Vegas is like a very tacky lush green oasis. The city is very clean, probably the cleanest city I've ever been to. There's hardly any litter (not surprising when theres a $2,000 fine for littering). Most of the pavements are varnished. Everything that can be polished, is. There are a huge amount of water features, which would be impressive anywhere, but in a city in the middle of the desert are incredibly extravagant. You could say that the fountains sum up the whole city pretty well.

Most of the buildings here are centred on gambling with other activities tacked on. Each casino has its own theme e.g. The Venetian (Venice, obviously), Bellagio (the mother of all fountains), Caesar's Palace (Roman stuff), Treasure Island (pirates and islands I think). Each main casino has a hotel, restaurants and shops attached, which are, once again, incredibly grand. Polished marble, statues, pirate ships, indoor canals etc. you're probably getting the picture by now.
Take the Venetian for example. Outside, there's a canal with gondolas. As with all the resorts, you have to walk through the casino to get to the other bits. Then you go upstairs to the first floor, and then all of a sudden you're inside the building but outside in Venice. There's a canal, shops, bridges, gondolas with singing gondoliers, and a blue sky with clouds that seem to move like real clouds. Then you go back outside, or inside, to the casino before going back outside to the street. It's confusing.

Then there's the casinos themselves. The first one we went in was Bellagio. The first section was the slot machines. It's hard to describe the scale, but there are slot machines as far as the eye can see. Then there's the card tables, again, as far as the eye can see. Every card game imaginable, and every stake imaginable. I've seen stakes ranging from $5 to $10,000.
If you're gambling then waitresses bring you free drinks. My first glimpse left me lost for words, but I've become used to it now, and it seems strangely normal.

There are three main times of day in Vegas. Daylight, dusk and night. I prefer dusk, because everything looks pretty, with subtle lighting. In the day all the buildings look so fake, and at night everything is lit up like a fairground.

We thought that we would either love or hate Vegas. And we do, but it changes on an hourly basis. When we first step out of the hotel, I love the excitement of what's going on and all the grandeur. But after a while (anything from 5 minutes upwards), it all starts to get too much. The crowds, the noise, and the whole fakeness about everything. There's no history to any of the buildings, and when I walk around, I start wondering why I'm bothering to fight my way through the crowds to go somewhere fake.
We're glad we've been but probably won't come again.

So that's what we think of Vegas. And no, I'm not telling you anything about what happened. Thats between us and Vegas.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Las Vegas