Most people think of Las Vegas like this:-
Stereotypical Las Vegas visitors
This not always correct.
Yes, the hotels are full of slot machines and casinos.
Slot machines in a Las Vegas hotel - this is Caesar's Palace
But you wouldn’t get people to come to the place if that was all there is.
You come for the fun! And that comes in many forms. You can travel the world without leaving the USA.
Paris Las Vegas - the Eifel Tower
Visit Paris.
The Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas
Venice – and the canals don’t smell!
Caesars Palace Hotel, Las Vegas
Rome of the Caesars – a jump not only of distance but of time.
You can go shopping.
A shop in Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas
I rather fancy the jumper, but was advised against it.
Every hotel has a vast array of shops – usually upmarket – and Chris managed to find a couple of items.
There is a buzz about the streets which you do not get in most other US cities. There are lots of people just gawping at the sights (that included us) and people trying to get you to go to shows. One of these asked Chris if she was Marylin Monroe. This pleased her immensely but I think he was trying to sell her something.
But you don’t need to pay to be entertained. In the Venetian Hotel the Gondoliers will sing for you.
Gondolas and Gondoliers in The Venetian, Las Vegas
The Bellagio Hotel has a rather nice greenhouse.
In the greenhouse, Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas
And most of the other hotels have some free entertainment available. And many of them are just interesting.
Caesars Palace has curving escalators.
Curving escalator in Caesars Palace
I thought that was exclusive to Hogwarts!
There is some nice tiling in the Venetian.
Fancy tiles in the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas
And the Bellagio has wonderful decorative glass.
Decorative glass in the Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas
But you can pay for entertainment and there is lots of it about. We decided to go to the Cirque du Soleil. There are about six different Cirque shows around Vegas. We went to see Ka and were mightily impressed. Artistry, athleticism and showmanship all in full measure. The little video below gives you a flavour.
All this going on requires a large number of people to pay for it – in the usual way, but also by losing at the gaming tables. And all these people need some place to stay. The hotels in Las Vegas are huge.
Paris, Las Vegas, the accommodation block
The photo above is of the hotel we stayed at. There are just under 3,000 rooms in the place and it is not the largest hotel. They can be surprisingly cheap to stay in, considering the quality of the service. The aim is to fill the hotel all the time, so at quiet periods rooms are reasonably cheap. At busy times this is not so! At the time of writing you can get a room for 3 nights for £186. The “usual” price would be £660!
But time to end this post. Las Vegas surprised us by being much more to our taste than we thought. And we did not gamble one single cent!
Then we went off to Arizona, which will be the next post.
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