Freakin’ big Vegas

After a fairly sporadic night’s sleep Peter got up early and went for a run - he needs to keep his training regime going for the NY marathon (no way he’s getting out of that one). When he returned I thought I probably should get up and face the day. Coming and going from the rooms you need to walk through the casino and at 9.30am there are people everywhere gambling and drinking.

We decided to explore the strip for breakfast - even at this time the crowds are still huge and walking around with drinks in hand. It’s Saturday morning and everywhere you look there are groups of people with matching t-shirts - someone’s birthday, bachelor or bachelorette party etc and every restaurant has a queue. I am very surprised that there aren’t more restaurants and bars with balconies where you can sit eat and drink while watching the crowds below - the only ones we’ve seen are Denny’s or MAC Donald’s - what a bloody waste of prime real estate.

We finally settle on a restaurant opposite Bellagio (where they have the big fountain display) - there’s a 30 minutes wait for an outside table but I’m getting hangry...."any bloody table will do. Food and drink is quite expensive here - the meal servings are huge, the drinks not so much. We are  next to Paris, a fairly impressive replica of the Eiffel Tower and a hot air ballon (whatever that’s all about).

We can’t get over how BIG everything is here - the hotels go for blocks each way and the billboards on the side of the buildings......bet none of those people would be happy if they had a pimple - it would be massive! The traffic is relentless and so are the people out on the street.

Walked through some of the smaller casinos - funnily enough they are still 10 times bigger than Wagga RSL! Neither of us are shoppers but we did walk through the Miracle Mile shopping centre - just a notch above DFO - and we then hit the cut price show tix stand to see what was on offer.  We have bought tickets in advance for Cirque de Soleil “Love” the Beatles show so we thought we would try something for the afternoon. Settled on comedian/magician Mac King in a small theatre in the Bally.  The audience was small but all very entertaining.  By the way - some of you crazy country music fans may be appalled but we were offered tickets for that night but we weren’t interested......  Brooks and Dunn with Reba McIntyre, whoever they are...........

After the Mac King Show we went to the Venetian to check out the Gondalas (not as good as the real thing) and had a great laugh crossing the replica Rialto Bridge - on a travelator! 

The roof inside the VenetIan was surreal - painted blue skies with a few scattered white clouds - when you looked up you were sure that they were moving and it was hard to believe that you were actually inside.

 A quick snack, drinks and shower before off to see Love............the best show I have ever seen. More dancing and aerials then other Cirque de Soleil shows but combined with music from the Beatles it was the bestest! 

Dinner at an Italian seafood restaurant and the off to bed for a 6am pick up to see the Grand Canyon.