Visiting Las Vegas
Visiting Las VegasWith a planned stay of three days, the visit couldn’t include not much more than the top hotels and shows. We visited:
Caesar’s Palace Hotel & Casino
Caesar’s Palace
Really impressive, the top of luxury and art reproduction, with good taste and imagination.
The pool, the fountains, the shopping mall, everything is top class.
However, my dear Americans, the Trojan horse in Rome?
Address: 3570 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Atlantis Water Show
Imagine a colourful fountain surrounded by music. Suddenly the stone figures give place to living people, and a small theatre is performed in the fountain, with lots of special effects.
After the climax, the actors are replaced by the statues and the soft music recovers its place.
It’s american show business. It’s Vegas. IT’S FREE in Ceasar’s Palace.
Address: 3570 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Bellagio
Bellagio Fountains
I must confess that now, from the distance, I don’t remember much from the interior of Bellagio. I remember the astonishing work of Dale Chihuly in the roof of the lobby, with thousands of glass flowers, and… No! We were already too tired to appreciate it.
My memories of Bellagio rely in the dancing fountains. A delicate, and somehow refreshing performance in the heat of the afternoon.
Address: 3600 S. Las Vegas Blvd
Flamingo Hilton
Flamingo
I looked at the flamingos and thought: – They must be suffering under these 42 degrees Celsius in the shade. Then I looked further and saw… the penguins!
Well done dolls, I thought! But… they were moving. They were real. Looking closer, the inevitable: all the lake and rocks were refrigerated.
Indeed, the real animals give life to a well-conceived garden, surrounding the several pools, to provide a pleasant stay.
Address: 3555 S. Las Vegas Blvd
Directions: The Flamingo is located on the East side of Las Vegas Blvd., between Barbary Coast & Imperial Palace.
The Venetian Hotel
Venetian
What an extraordinary ambiance! Venice itself couldn’t do better.
The quality of the animation and the live music, leave me no doubt. This is my favourite hotel in Las Vegas.
Besides, this is the only hotel where I don’t remember the slot machines. Of course, they were there, thousands of them everywhere, but… vanished from my memories. And what a good sign that is!
Address: 3355 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Gondola
I’ve been in Venice and in the Venetian, and I didn’t take a gondola in any of them.
As a matter of fact, it is beautiful in the movies and pictures, but it is expensive, and it’s far to be a good way to see the city. If I had to, I think I would choose Venetian, for all the reasons:
• It’s cheaper – $16 per hour in Venetian, 80€ per 40 minutes in Venice
• It’s more comfortable – there’s no rain or wind inside Venetian.
• There’s no extra payment for music
• It’s better for the inevitable picture – there are no degraded facades in background, and with a good flash the colours will glow in Venetian
Of course, Venice is unique, and no hotel or imitation will come closer. But gondolas are now a show for tourists, and that is possible everywhere.
Romantic Animation
If you need to spend money, then go and search for a show – there are dozens everywhere, all with great names. But if you only want to listen to good live music, save your dollars.
The animation in Venetian, has a superb performance of Italian music, with such a good ambiance, that I asked myself how someone could turn his back to that, and go… gambling
Aladdin Hotel, now Planet Hollywood
Alladin
Would it be because we were tired?
Would it be because the mixture between Arabic and Indian look didn’t work well?
I don’t know, but Aladdin was, for us, the least appealing of all the big hotels. Anyway, it also justified the time, and the performed storm seemed real.
Address: 3667 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Directions: Center Strip next to Paris-Las Vegas and across from the Bellagio
Fremont Street Experience
Technology and imagination
It’s something new, the show performed in the ceiling upon Fremont Street.
Discreet publicity to Vegas and the American way of life, mixed with some national symbols, were the themes of the two spots that we saw. But I guess that there’s a reasonable variety for all tastes.
Of course, being in Las Vegas it would be a “crime” loosing that show, that takes place in the street, several times each night and… is free.
Address: Downtown on Fremont Street
Treasure Island
Las Vegas is a town that “sleeps” in the heat of the day, by the pools or in the cool gambling rooms, and comes out at night, with the streets crowded of people, seeing the lights and enjoying the less warm breeze of the night. Each hotel, each corner, each club try to grab visitors, by all means, the most attractive of all being the outdoor live show. The best of all is the battle at Treasure Island. Difficult to see properly, because there is always a crowd around it (it’s free!) it’s funny, well-conceived, mixing technology, music, dance, special effects, and… imagination. Easy to locate (Treasure Island hotel), you may check locally the scheduling of the performances.
Directions: Walk over the strip and you will end up some place you like.
Lights kaleidoscope
You don’t need an objective. You don’t need a reason.
The strip, at night, is a lively show, with, lights, sounds, and lots of people, just wandering around, looking like looking for something to look at.
Confused? No, the kaleidoscopes have those confusing repetitions…The strip is a giant vacuum cleaner, with music, shows and touts sucking you inside… anything!
Directions: Walk over the strip and you will end up some place you like.
Monte Carlo
This was off MY path!
I really can’t say if it is worth a visit or not because we were so tired when we arrived there that, having not this hotel highlighted in our guide … we skipped it.
Well, there’s always a second time, and Luxor, Stratosphere, and… Monte Carlo may have its turn.
Flamingo
Flamingo
The challenge in Las Vegas was:
1- To find a hotel well located, to allow us to see the strip by foot.
2- To choose a hotel with enough tradition and size, to feel like really being at Las Vegas.
3- To assure a quiet room.
4- Reasonably priced.
I choose Flamingo, and I think I did right. The hotel matched everything I expected, and the price was excellent, specially since I decided to spend the weekend in the Grand Canyon, returning on Monday.
Address: 3555 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109
A flight over Grand Canyon
It’s impossible to feel the imposing size of the Grand Canyon, and the strength of nature carving it, without a flight over the place.
You may take a short flight from Las Vegas but I preferred a different solution: since the prices in Las Vegas hotels raise a lot in weekends, I took an overnight flight on Friday.
With two nights sleeping in the Grand Canyon, I had the chance to see it under storm and sunny weather, and furthermore, to fly over Lake Powel and Rainbow Bridge, and a land tour in Monument Valley.
The trip was not cheap (about $500, including lunch and two nights sleep), but with the savings in Vegas hotel it really justified the price.
Refreshing times
In Las Vegas, all the cities… I mean, hotels, do care about gardens and pool areas.
The weather is aggressive, and the air-conditioning is not all.
Several pools and water games, open all the opportunities for a refreshing break.
Grand Canyon day trip
A flight over the city
We did take a plane to Grand Canyon, and, for those coming irregularly to Las Vegas we strongly recommend that trip.
Even for those not wishing to go so far, a short flight over the city and Hoover dam is available, and the sight form the air is useful to see how “lost” in the desert is the city.
There are several companies; we choose Scenic Airlines for its two overnight package, that allowed a memorable trip to Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, and didn’t repent.
How we did gamble in Vegas
Las Vegas is built to “call your money”.
No matter where you are, you will be listening to the music of coins dropping from electronic machines, amidst other appellative sounds inviting you to risk.
Wherever you go, you will see people betting that “that” machine will be the one to supply the dreamed fortune.
Whatever you see, everything is planned to surround you with the euphoria that disables cautions and controls.
It is possible to enjoy Las Vegas – you just have to understand the city and be prepared to it.
Gambling is no crime, nor necessarily the way to disgrace. You just have to control yourself.
Everything in gambling places all over the world is prepared to, at the end of a large time, define a winner, and only one – the owner.
The machines are programmed to give back only one percentage of the received coins, in a random plan – if it happens that you are there in the happy moment, then… congratulations. If you spend much time (and money) trying to increase the chances to be the one in the right place in the right moment, then you risk to be one of the thousands supplying the coins, that, one day, will give happiness to a stranger in a close machine.
In all other games, statistics favor the house, which means that regular players are obvious regular losers.
So, why to gamble?
Why to dive? Why to climb mountains? Why to paragliding? Why to skate?
Because it is fun, and stimulates adrenaline. So does gambling, so there is no reason to refuse to, one day, without any illusion and with full emotional control, spend some minutes… gambling.
That’s what we did.
We decided that, each day, we would spend a defined amount gambling, and we did. Without hassle, without anxiety, when we saw (or listen) to a funny machine, we risked one or two coins, and moved away. Once reaching the defined budget, gambling was over. If, returning to the hotel, we still had free budget, it was used (quickly) in the hotel’s machines.
We both gambled each day, and no one spent a dime more than planned before starting. It was fun… and not expensive.
Collecting cards
I collect stamps, coins and postcards. In Las Vegas I almost decided to start a new collection – girl’s cards.
Each minute, in each corner, discreetly, a guy slipped to my hand a card with a beautiful woman as naked as allowed, with friendly suggestions.
In a couple of nights, with full pockets, I only received five repetitions – 4 blonds and one oriental.
Who wants to exchange?
Street shops
I must confess that I’m so must pushed into shops by… you know who… that I always try to skip them, with two exceptions: Dubai, where shopping meant freshness, and Las Vegas.
Of course, tourist is the target to almost all those shops, but, trying to match the references of town, imagination is everywhere, turning many shops into something that we see with interest even when the selling gadgets have no interest at all.
A nice alternative to the smashing size of the hotels.
