Sin City

Before I start the post Id just like to quickly apologize for the delay. Ive not had much Internet for the last week so Ive mainly been using it to send out messages advising I'm alive and well (which of course, I am). Anyways, this ones been ready for a while, and Ill most likely post another tomorrow to make up for it.

I'm going to make a deal with you - I'm not gonna talk about Vegas like its the most amazing place on earth. I'm also not going to go on like its the end of the earth. There's nowhere like that, and from the bulk of the stuff written about the place its easy to feel one way or the other about it. So what is it then? Well, its one very big tourist resort...


Its really hard to explain the size of the casinos, and the strip. The photo above is from outside one casino - Gondola's outside a casino! They have the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and a giant Coke bottle. they have Cesar's Palace, and Treasure Island. I spent four hours walking along the strip and back taking it all in. Inside the casino's its the same - in the MGM grand they have Lions on display right next to the machines! For me this is the highlight of Vegas - the spectacle. You see I'm not much of a gambler, on my own I get bored really quickly, so it was nice to have so much stuff to look at to keep me entertained. I didn't see any of the problems associated with Las Vegas either, nobody walking around asking for money for a bet or being thrown out by the security guards. My instincts suggest this could be to do with the efficiency of the security rather than the gambling issue itself, but I didn't see any problems. That is, apart from the drinks system. If you go to the bar, its around $7 a beer, whereas if you're gambling and a waitress comes up to you, its free. This can be extremely annoying if a waitress doesn't pass you by. Damn waitresses.


The other Vegas stereotype is weddings. I saw half a dozen newly wedded couples in a day and a half. This may have had something to do with my room view, but its still impressive. The place next to me had Elvis weddings as standard, and theme weddings optional. A place a few minutes up the road had drive in weddings, also by Elvis. The couples varied quite a lot too, from those surrounded by family to those who had clearly met 2 hours earlier. Still, who can blame them? Whats more romantic than getting married over the road from this place:



That's Las Vegas. Glamorous, dangerous, exciting, and above all else tacky.