USA Trip Days 14, 15 & 16 - Las Vegas & Homeward Bound
I’m currently in that weird place where it’s not quite bedtime where I started and it’s not quite getting up time where I’m going. Sleep, while definitely advisable from an overcoming jetlag point-of-view, is not forthcoming and the movies on this plane aren’t as good as on the way here (watched Hancock, but no opportunity to find out if dayglo good conquers neon evil on the final 20 minutes of Speed Racer) so I figured I’d use the chance to write up Vegas.
I didn’t take many photos over the last few days - night shots haven’t been coming out so well this holiday, even with a tripod and I was uncomfortable carting a DSLR round the hectic Strip at night. I did, however, experiment with my newly-purchased Flip Mino and shot a couple of short video clips.
We spent Saturday afternoon on the Strip, catching the monorail to Imperial Palace and walking up to the Venetian, where we took a gondola ride. We had one of the few lady gondoliers, Isabella, who was funny and gave us some sound advice about what to do in the evening. She also knew that Solihull is the posh bit of Birmingham and has sung ‘That’s Amore’ for Bruce Forsythe on BBC telly. She sang that and the Cornetto song for us.
We then wandered south on the Strip to the Bellagio to watch the dancing fountains and then picked up the monorail from Paris. Of all the hotel / casinos we explored, I think this one was my favourite. The themed décor works really well and the fake sky is more effective than the one in The Venetian, which really feels like a big shopping arcade.
That evening we went to the old strip for the Fremont Street Experience, and this was my favourite part of our stay in Vegas. Less busy and hectic than the Strip, the casinos have retained their old-school charm and feel less threatening than their newer counterparts. We had dinner at the Italian restaurant in the oldest one, The Golden Nugget, and then found ourselves some seats at a blackjack table across the road in the Fremont. After a good couple of hours, I managed to only lose $18, while K made her $20 stake last an improbably long time.
This was by far the best evening we spent in Vegas. I suppose I should mention the giant ceiling screen video presentation thing (Don Mclean’s American Pie), which was diverting but didn’t add much to the evening for me.
Sunday was our last full day, so we resolved to do something I hadn’t done all holiday - lounge by the pool and read. I’ve now finished the book I had been carrying with me all holiday but hadn’t cracked open - The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher, an intriguing combination of historical investigation, literary criticism and detective story which covers the murder at Road Hill House in the 1830s, the case that was the start of the English obsession with country-house murders and the airing of dirty linen in public.
For our last evening we headed back to Paris for dinner in one of the little bistros there. K won again, choosing the Bouillabaisse. We then hit the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood to snag some last-minute bargains (although perhaps I should wait and see what the exchange rate was like before calling them that).
We headed back through New York New York, whose brownstone buildings and Irish pub didn’t impress us as much as the cobbles of Paris or the canals of Venice. Definitely one to enjoy more from the outside, for my money.
We’re about 3 hours from landing at Gatwick as I type this and it’s sinking in that 24 hours on from that I’ll be back at bloody work. This has, without question, been the best holiday I have ever had - 2 very different cities sandwiching some of the most amazing scenery I’ll ever see, with great food, drink and, above all, company.
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