We didnt have to get up early today so was nice to sleep until 7.45am and take our time. We got ready and went for a wander to get our bearings. The V'dara where we are staying is right behind the Aria in the middle of the strip, so we walked through to its huge lobby and casino- so much louder in other hotels as ours is casino free and smoke free! The Bellagio next door is massive and has Murano glass chandeliers in its lobby.We found the Planet Hollywood shoppping mall which is pretty much over the road - they have this freaky ceiling that looks like it is the sky, its kinda surreal. Had breakfast at the La Salsa Cantina there.
Bellagio foyer
"Sky" ceiling in the Hard Rock mall
We walked the strip for some hours quite a way along. Man-anything goes here, there are so many contrasts of people....people in singlets and shorts, people in Prada and it seems very normal to walk along with these long plastic drinks glasses you get from some of the hotel with your drink. But no-one is obnoxious at all, its all very relaxed. There are casino's for Africa!!! A lot of the big hotels have upwards of 6 casinos and lobbies that are like shopping malls. Everything is on a gigantic scale and excess is the theme - opulence everywhere and hawkers trying to give you stuff on most corners. Took heaps of photos then we came back and put our feet up for a while before returning back to it for another walk in the other direction! You cant cross the road here apart from at walkways that go up and over the roads above the strip, so its quite a walk to be able to cross if you dont plan it!
Bought bits and pieces for home, stopped for a drink at another Maragaritaville. Same as the one we visited in Cozumel, Mexico for margaritas! Then wandered to the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant as we had visited the one at Sanata Monica and liked it. Got coconut crumbed shrimp this time - they are more like prawns and so yum. They have memorabilia everywhere from the Forrest Gump movie.
We staggered back after walking over 10kms today, to have a lovely hot bath and soak our tootsies!
Day 34-
Had good sleeps as usual - walking over 10k steps a day tends to help with that!! We had bought some yoghurt and fruit last night, so we had that for breakfast this morning and caught a cab up to the old part of Vegas. The driver pointed out Elvis Presleys vegas mansion which he left to his gardeners and house staff and some of them still love there apparently.
It can get a bit dodgy up this end of the strip we have been told at night, so you dont walk around drunk up here or you find your wallet gone! Its prefectly safe though during the day and we got the taxi to drop us a couple of kms short of Freemont st as we wanted to visit the place of the tv show Pawn Stars, where the Old Man, Rick, his son Corey and Chumlee, who made it famous. Its actually not a big shop at all and apparently the stars 'family' arent seen much anymore. Probably dont need to with their fame! They had some nice stuff in there though.
Then we walked about half an hour over to the Mob museum and spent an hour or two there. Pretty interesting how it all got started, laundering or skimming money off casino incomes and how politicians, judges and lawyers ended up being involved. The museum is actually in the court house where a lot of the mob were brought to justice, but sheez so many people were muurdered on both sides.
Freemont st is just down the road so we went there to have a look around and do the Zipline experience, where you get strapped into a harness and zip down the line over the st. Its pretty cool, it was a bit disorganised and omg they harnesses are tight between your legs haha! But we did that then walked around looking in the stores as the prices are a lot better than downtown in the newer part of Vegas. We bought a cabin bag as our luggage is growing and everyone over here seems to take on a backpack and a roller bag - some are massive and they seem to get away with it, so hopefully we will.
We went to an Irish pub for a late lunch/early dinner with a pint of guiness for Graeme and a raspberry beer for me- rather nice. There are a lot of beggars who do not seem to be destitute here, including one guy who had a sign saying "Not gonna lie- want $$ for drinks and ciggys"!!
Walked back through the Hard Rock mall again and bought a few things then back to relax!
1 comment:
So you didn't lose on the tables or one-armed bandits, hey!
Las Vegas sounds like it sure is some extravaganza in the desert. Funnily enough there was a "memory" pic posted on FB of Becky (Debbie's daughter)and the Grand Canyon the day you went there. She & Paul went there for their honeymoon in 2014 (we attended their wedding in England).
Post a Comment