What Happens in Vegas

The heat and travel stresses of the previous few days have finally taken their toll, the consequence is we don't awake until 09:00.

It may also have something to do with being up after midnight putting out the blog!

After making a couple of Skype calls home, we finally get downstairs into the Casino by around 10:45 and we head towards the 'America Cafe for a late breakfast.

The cafe is interesting in that it has a gigantic 3d mural of the United states suspended from the ceiling.

We read that the mural was put together in fibre glass at the New York Navy yards before being transported by road across the US to this display location.

David orders a smoked salmon and toasted bagel dish, I settle for a simple omelette with sausage, peppers, cheese and spinach added to the mix. The waiter brings a flask of coffee which we both use.

One interesting aside regarding the Hotel accommodation, is that the room neither contains a Fridge, mini bar or any coffee making facilities, clearly that is what the casino is for, this despite the room rate varying from $79 to $2799 per night.

We discover during our stay that in addition to this technique to get you to use the casino floor, the hotels have a propensity for making it easy to enter them but then have a confusing array of signs to enable you to discover the exit, hence protracting any visit to the casino floor.

Fortified by breakfast we head over the link bridge between New York New York and the MGM grand in the hope of finding the Mono rail station.

We have a map that indicates that the terminal station of the monorail is at the rear of the MGM grand and the occasional sign within the Casino confirms this. After a long trek we discover the monorail ticket machines and procure a full day pass for $12 each rather than the single use ticket at $5.

The monorail is similar to the ones in use at Disney in Florida and smoothly glides us behind the casinos on Las Vegas Boulevard, we alight at the Harrah station which is the closest to our required destination of the Venetian and Madam Tussauds.

Stepping out of the Harrah Casino onto the strip the heat once again blasts into us and we snap a few pictures of Treasure Island and The Mirage before stepping onto a travelator which whisks us up towards the lobby of Madam Tussauds just prior to the Venetian.

We hand over our $10 per person discount coupon extracted from our strip map and settle the balance of $40, the attendant tells us to take as many pictures we like and to interact as much as possible with the exhibits, David for one makes the most of the offer.

The exhibit also includes a walking experience in which you are invited to take part in a tour of an secret facility in which human experimentation has been taking place. As you walk through the darkened tunnels of the facility attempts are made to frighten the wits out of you, basically a fresh spin on the old haunted house exhibit.

We went in with six people, only five of us returned, I think the sixth was either part of the act or the exhibit was a little too real.

David makes a quick call from a red phone before we finally depart Tussauds much to the chagrin of its owner, who we think may have been Tiger Woods although I'm not so sure, something about an Oval office.

We exit through the gift shop where David try's on a new pair of sunglasses.

I repeat the exercise much to the apparent irritation of a true fan of the 'King' who states loudly; 'Real funny, ain't they', the funny part I think is how things which are surely meant to be humorous can fail to touch the fans funny bone.

Moving on into the Venetian we do our bit for Anglo-American relations by taking a picture of an elderly American couple in front of a giant flag of the United states, they return the favour for us.

One thing we can commend this country for is its strength of identity, you can't walk 10 yards without seeing the flag and although we are approaching independence day this is also our previous experience and we hold it generally to be true.

The large flag in this instance forms the centre piece of an American themed area prior to the Casino floor, which celebrates Veterans and Americans.

We head back to the Monorail via St. Marks square, pausing briefly to take in a pocket operatic performance by a group of troubadours. We grab a water and soda at a vendor in Harrahs and consume these before disembarking the monorail at the MGM Grand.

Now we have a date with The Mob at the Tropicana, which is connected by overhead walkway to the MGM Grand, so we head in the appropriate direction.

This interactive exhibit is a history of the Mob and its links with Las vegas. It consists of a number of set pieces in which actors interact with you (Mainly David) and you make decisions which ultimately affect the outcome.

Davids decisions included taking an unofficial cut of a package he was required to deliver to the mob boss, not spilling the beans to the New york Irish cop and ultimately electing to have a Casino cheat introduced to a hole in the Desert.

Our reward for these decisions (oh and failing to flinch when being shot at) was entry into the 'family', although we never got to kiss the Don's ring! Not a metaphor rather a new mob custom following the release of 'The Godfather'.

The central portion of this exhibit is a mob museum which contains descriptions of the famous mobsters that ran las vegas and their casinos. In the museum a documentary film plays on a loop relating the production story of 'The Godfather' and the deals that where done between the studios and the Mob in the making of it.

The narration is in english english and we both laugh as we exit as its a Channel 4 production and the closing audio is the Channel 4 anchor stating that 'coming up are two back to back episodes of the Sopranos'. (Do you think Channel 4 know? Still what happens in Vegas...)

David aches from walking and my knees are done in, so we swing by the room for a break consisting of a couple of Ben & Jerry's ice cream dishes.

The break is short and we soon head downstairs to the Coney Island area of the hotel, where David try's his hand at games of mechanical chance, attempting to win a new ipod mini, iPod Touch and finally in desperation Angry Birds. Eight dollars poorly invested if you ask me.(But then you won't).

Finally we walk across to The Excalibur and through into the pyramid shaped Lexor, the architecture within this casino hotel is striking, the main buildings pyramid shape forms a series of stepped corridors off which the guest rooms are accessed.

In attempting to leave the Luxor the way we entered we find it impossibly to identify the route and end up walking back and forth across the Casino floor attempting various levels and always appearing to be able to see our destination but not reach it.

We end up skirting the building before re-entering it and discovering a subterranean route in which travelators bring guests in but narrow walkways allow them to leave if they can be found. This is almost sinister in its appearance and David is thoroughly unimpressed, mainly due to weariness and aching limbs.

We make one stop at a store in our hotel where David invests in a fridge Magnet for one of his sisters before finally heading back to the room to write it up.

Posted in: travel