(Reflection in the glass of the Luxor)
18 Sep 2012 (Tuesday) Las Vegas, Nevada - 0 miles
For those that don't know, Las Vegas Boulevard is commonly known as 'The Strip' on account of the fact that this very wide street runs dead straight for about 2 miles and is lined by numerous huge hotels. Each hotel consists of a huge casino with accommodation attached. Many of the hotels have thousands of rooms and most on 'The Strip' are themed in order to drag the gamblers in. The Venitian, looks like a minature St Marks Square on the outside and internally has canals with full sized gondolas punting up and down. New York, New York looks like the skyline of the city, Paris includes many iconic french buildings including the Eiffel Tower. Excaliber looks like a fairytale castle, Luxor is a gleaming black 20 storey high pyramid, Caesars Places looks like the Roman Forum and Bellagios has a huge lagoon with a huge fountain display outside. This is just a taster of the various hotels/casinos in the city.
We had a long lie-in this morning and finally made it up in time to go out for Brunch. We walked down the 'strip' as far as the Excalibur and then crossed to the southern side. We strolled along and got the usual hassle from street vendors and dived into Dennys for brunch. Service was not good, so we ate and left without leaving a tip. Continuing, we walked up as far as Paris, Las Vegas. It still seems strange to see the Eiffel tower and the Arc du Triomphe in the middle of Vegas.
At this stage we'd had enough so tried to find the monorail to get back towards the Luxor. In true Vegas casino style, we got directed throught he middle of the casino at Paris Las Vegas and then Ballys, a torturous route. The we found it was $5 for a single journey, which for us was just one stop. At the end of the line at the MGM Grand, we had to cross the road again and take the free monorail from Excalibur down to the Mandalay Bay, passing the Luxor en route, then take a second monorail back the Luxor. All part of the scheme to make sure you get inside as many casinos as possible.
Las Vegas casinos are famous for having no clocks visible and very few signs to exits to the surround streets - even inside there are no direct routes to lifts or other services. It is neccessary to weave your way between one-arm bandits and gaming tables to get anywhere!
In the evening we ate in the hotel food court and aftewards wandered around the casino watching other people gambling. Neither of us understand how the machines work so there was no temptation for us!
Hotel - Luxor
Weather - Clear skies, sunny and hot 96F
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