Vegas/Indy Trip - Part 1
The time has come to try and sum up the week and a half karanina and I spent in the US. I'm doing this entirely from memory, so I may leave things out, but I'm sure there are people out there who can either correct me or fill in the blanks. This first part covers our time in Vegas, while the second is GenCon Indy. There is a third part, more of a rant, which I wrote during a bout of insomnia in Vegas.
Planes, Shuttle Buses, and the airport from Hell
There's one big problem with being a Kiwi and holidaying in the United States - getting there. This time we got a little lucky and out flight only took 11 hours. Add to this friendly service from the Air NZ cabin crew and in-seat entertainment loaded with movies, TV shows, and music, and the trip isn't nearly as arduous. I was disappointed to see only one Simpson's episode on the line-up this time, but I was able to console myself with Peter's Friends, Star Trek, and a few good albums.
Arrival at LAX was pretty standard. I introduced karanina to the joys of the American Immigration Service and it's many, many layers of security. I managed to get through without issue, but karanina flirted with danger when she tried to wipe down the fingerprint scanner before using it. To be fair, she had asked the officer if she could and he had said it was okay. No harm was done, and she was soon on her way... to sit and wait for our luggage to arrive. It didn't take too long, but it was enough time for another flight to arrive behind us, turning the limited space of the immigration area into a rather busy place indeed. It was about this time I decided that air travel is like working in television - neither should involve children or animals. Sure, there weren't too many kids around, but it only takes one or two infants running away from their parents to hold everyone else up.
With the 'joy' of immigration behind us, we thought it would be a simple matter of handing over our luggage to United (who were handling our internal flights) then checking back in for our flight to Vegas. In the past I've been lucky and had everything in the same terminal, but this time was different. It turns out the United terminal about as far away from Air NZ's as is possible. We asked one of the roaming airport staffers how to get there and were given the most generic of directions. This would have been fine if we had any idea of where we were going, but 'go downstairs, across the car park, then up a level' was simply to vague for us. With time running out - we had only an hour or so till our next flight - we ended up turning to the Air NZ check-in desk for help. The kiwi guy behind the counter was much more descriptive, and soon had us going in the right direction.
We managed to get rushed through check-in at United, and ended up making it to the plane with minutes to spare. It was then that we discovered the fun of traveling as a couple. We initially received our boarding passes when we checked in at Auckland Airport, but weren't assigned seats due to 'technical reasons'. We were told that we could get that sorted out when we arrived in LAX. This sounded fine at the time, but when we got to United we were given non-adjacent seats. This being karanina's first time flying in 10 years she was understandably nervous. United's solution: ask if you can get the seats changed when you board the plane. Not a problem with a partially empty flight, but when the plane is full, as ours was, it meant having the stewardess asking someone very nicely if they would swap. In the end we got lucky, and a window seat in the bargain.
Normally I don't care too much about whether I'm sitting next to a window or not. There isn't much to see between Auckland and LAX, although they can be good if you want to sleep. Flying from LAX to Las Vegas, however, sounded a lot more interesting. Sadly, it wasn't to be. I've flown over LA before, so I'm familiar with it's delightfully 2D terrain. What I had forgotten was how similar the terrain was once you get past the San Antonio mountains. There really wasn't much to see until we got close to Vegas. It is quite a remarkable sight, first seeing the pre-planned neighborhoods, then the green of a golf course and the more heavily built up suburban areas, and finally the Strip and downtown areas themselves. It really is an oasis in the middle of the desert wasteland. It wouldn't take too many years if abandonment for nature to reclaim this town - I guess Resident Evil 3 did get something right after all.
If I had any doubt that we were flying into the wrong airport, they were cast aside the moment we walked off the plane and out of the air bridge. Right there, in the middle of the departure terminal, was row upon row of One Armed Bandits. I was a little surprised at first, then remembered where we were. More concerned with getting to our hotel than anything else, we hurried through the terminal, traveling a considerable distance, eventually arriving at a large bank of escalators. We figured that these would take us to the baggage retrieval area, but instead we found ourselves waiting for a tram which took us to the main terminal. There we found our carousel and waited. And waited. After a while there was announcement over the tannoy that our baggage had been delayed, but would be with us soon. Apparently it didn't get to tram like we did.
It was now that the high-intensity advertising started. Almost every flat surface had been taken up by large posters promoting the many shows on offer on, and off, the Strip. That was fine, Vegas is all about selling you things you don't want. The only downside to this is that Carrotop appears to be the big draw in Vegas, so it was hard to travel anywhere without seeing his grimacing visage leering out at you. As you might have guessed, I'm not a big fan of his. I don't find him that funny. The bags eventually arrived, and we were able to trade in the delightful 90+ degree heat for the relative comfort of our hotel room.
Okay, this is getting pretty long, so I'll be cutting it up into 1-2 day segments.
Viva Las Vegas, not so viva the heat
It was late afternoon when we arrived in Vegas. After showering we realised that it had been almost a full day since we'd had a non-airplane meal, so we headed back downstairs and went wandering in search of food. A circuit of the Excalibur's main floor was not a success, so we headed upstairs to the food court and shoppes. We continued to wander, in and out of tourist trap stores and past some more unappealing fast food eateries with no real idea of where we were heading. A few minutes, and a couple of moving walkways later we found ourselves in the Luxor casino. We decided that this would probably be a good time to make some kind of a decision, so ended up at the Pyramid Cafe for giant sandwiches, bottomless cola and root beer, and free pickles. Mmm... pickles.
After the meal we headed out the front door of the Luxor and back to the Excalibur via the sidewalk. I must admit that the Luxor is a rather impressive place, both inside and out. Sure, it probably has a few ancient Egyptian pharaohs spinning in their sarcophagi, but it does look good. I was especially amused to see that they had incorporated panels from the Book of the Dead into the artwork as well. It's a bit like someone built a casino from those Chinese tattoos that never mean what the tweens who have them think they mean. karanina had her camera on her and spent a fair bit of time learning how to take night photographs, with varying levels of success. Once she gets around to moving them off her camera and upload them I'll be sure to post a link.
On our way back to the hotel I realised two things about Vegas. Firstly, it's really hot there all of the time. It was nearing midnight and still felt hotter than it ever gets in Auckland. Sure, there was no humidity, but there was also no large body of water nearby to cool it down at night. This is great if you want to make a 24-hour party town, but not so much if you're adverse to such conditions. The other thing I noticed was that Vegas is somewhat more accepting of sex and nudity. Case in point: many towns in America have sidewalk containers which hold local newspapers, Las Vegas has sidewalk containers which hold what I call 'Las Vegas Personals' - magazines which, based on their covers, are filled with contact numbers for escorts and or services. Sure, prostitution is illegal in Clark County, but that doesn't seem to stop them, nor does it stop the cars plastered in similar advertising cruising up and down the Strip.
Back at the hotel we finally crashed, a day and half after flying out of Auckland, only to get up a few hours later. See, on our way into the hotel we'd been, I guess you could say, suckered into attending a time share proposal at a resort on the far south end of the Strip. Sure, this may sound like a waste of time, but it was taking part in the hot part of the day, and we were getting a pile of vouchers out of the deal. Having never attended one of these things before I had no idea what to expect, but I soon caught up. The concept was sound, in theory, and the rooms at the resort were indeed nice, but I had no interest in putting down US$3000+ to get the place for a week. Yes, there was this whole theory about 'swapping' our time in Vegas for time somewhere else in the world, but there was just far too much theory and management to make it properly work. What really clinched it for me was that there were no available locations in Indianapolis. Had there been a hotel there, especially one conveniently close to the convention centre, I would have seriously thought about it.
I do admire their tenacity, however. The two guys we talked to were good salesmen, and were able to talk at great length about their product. Sadly for them, we're just the wrong market. If we were to return to Vegas it wouldn't be to sit around in a resort for a week, it would be to spend time on the Strip (15 minutes away by car) and Downtown. They really were barking up the wrong tree. In the end we strung them along for a while, made all the right noises, but ultimately decided not to sign up to their deal. We said our goodbyes and headed downstairs to collect our vouchers and board the shuttle back to our casino. In the end, we exchanged a little over three hours of our time for two tickets to Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden, $25 in gambling vouchers for the Luxor and $100 in vouchers for food.
After a quick rest in hotel we headed out again in search of some dinner. We decided to just skip Excalibur altogether and headed straight to the Luxor. We looked around the rest of the eateries there (at least the ones on the ground floor) and didn't find anything to our liking - that wasn't horribly overpriced - so we kept going through to Mandalay Bay. There were some more shops in between, though these were a little more high class than the Excalibur's shoppes, so we took our time to see if there was anything that caught our eye. The only thing that caught my eye, however, was a poster promoting The House of Blues. It was at that exact point I knew where we would be going for dinner.
I'd heard stories about The House of Blues (or HOB) and it certainly lived up to them. Sure, it was on the casino floor, right next to one armed bandits, but once you're inside the doors you forget all that. The inside of the restaurant was decorated to make you feel like you were sitting out on the back lawn of an old Cajun house, under the eaves of a large tree festooned with lanterns. In the far corner was a stage where blues bands could perform. Considering the setting, I had to order the jambalaya, though karanina went for a more 'normal' choice. She did try something new for dessert, however, and ordered some key lime pie. Neither of us knew what to expect, but the result was a very pleasant surprise. The pie was so large, in fact, that I had to give her a hand finishing it. After dinner we checked out the HOB shop and picked up a couple of Blues Brothers bowling shirts.
We spent the rest of the evening checking out Mandalay Bay, which was quite a nice casino all-in-all. You could just about see a progression of increasing quality from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay. I'm not trying to make a point about proximity to the Strip and tackiness of casinos, it was just kinda interesting to see. Once we were satisfied that we'd seen enough to whet our curiosity, we headed back to our room via the Luxor again. I'd quickly come to realise the true benefit of air conditioning and staying indoors.
Weekend Foursome
The following day saw the arrival of two of karanina's American friends. This was her first time meeting them in meatspace, so there was a lot of trepidation on her part. Luckily enough, there was no reason to fret, they got on like the proverbial house on fire. We spent the rest of the day shopping and exploring the Strip, stopping at the Pyramid Cafe for lunch. The girls spent a lot of time chatting, I was mostly along for the ride and to act as navigator. That evening the girls decided to hit the Strip, but karanina was feeling a little queasy (possibly from improperly chilled milk) so we let them go on ahead. We caught up with them at Paris where we had a drink and took in the sights before heading up to Caesar's Palace. We looked around a little and karanina spend some money on the tables. It is a most impressive casino, and what you see in The Hangover is only a very, very small section. After Caesar's we headed back to the hotel for a well earned rest.
The next day we headed out shopping again, this time the destination the eastern side of the Strip, starting with MGM and working our way up to the Miracle Mile (part of Planet Hollywood). The Hawaiian Market was especially nice - and filled with large fans providing cooling breezes. Miracle Mile itself was rather daunting. We went in not realising how vast it actually was, and only when we were about to leave did we find a map. We did make a couple of surprising discoveries while we were in there tho. The Bettie Page Shop, which was filled with 50's style garments and Bettie Page artwork, and Ben & Jerry's Icecream. I've heard many good stories about these guys, and the actual product certainly lived up to the hype. The only problem is I can't get it here in NZ.
After the shopping was done we decided to head back to Caesar's Palace to try and find some dinner and a casino shop (for the obligatory touristy items). I must profess a degree of ignorance to the workings of Las Vegas casinos. Most of the ones I had been in thus far had been laid out in a rather compact manner, with a central gaming area surrounded by shops and restaurants. The Palace is a little different. It's more linear in design, with the casino shop and most of the eateries located at the very rear of the building. This wouldn't have been too bad had I not already spent most of the day on my feet. By the time we got to the shop I was ready for a nice sit down. Fortunately, we found somewhere to eat nearby, so we were all able to take a load of for a while before heading back.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at the Bellagio fountain. It was just as I'd seen it in movies like Oceans 11, except that there were a lot more people around.To get a good view of the show we had to sit through one performance then, once that finished, moved up to the front as soon as a space opened up and camp there. Luckily for us, the shows were only 15 minutes apart at that point, so it wasn't too long to wait. The performances themselves were pretty spectacular, with each one featuring a different piece of music. After a couple of performances we decided that we had seen enough for the night and returned to the hotel. As karanina's friends were flying out in the morning she decided to stay up a little later and hang out with them. I opted for a relatively early night, mostly for the benefit of back and feet, both of which were complaining rather loudly at this point.
The Moment You've All Been Waiting For
The next day, karanina> and I continued our exploration of the north end of the Strip. We started at Paris, with a trip up the Eiffel Tower. The view from the top was pretty spectacular, even if it did ram home how flat Vegas is. We were also well placed to watch a day performance of the Bellagio fountains, conveniently located across the road. We could also see the working of the machines behind (well, beneath) the display. We could also make out divers making adjustments in between shows. If I ever had to work in Vegas, that would be the job for me. Spending all day in nice cool water would be the perfect way to combat the 100+ degree heat.
From Paris we kept venturing up the Strip, making our way up to the Mirage. We still had the two tickets to the Secret Garden, and wanted to use them before we ran out of time. The Garden consists of two main parts: the dolphin pools and the animal enclosures. The dolphins seem to have a pretty good deal going, with two large pools and regular interactions with the staff. The animals, on the other hand, aren't so well off. Their cages are pretty small, with little room to do anything other than lay about or pace back and forth. It's hardly ideal, but there might possibly be additional space out back that we couldn't see.
Next up was Treasure Island. We'd heard about their free show, and I was interested at the prospect of a little swashbuckling action. I should have realised that Vegas would have other plans for me. Apparently, the old show had been replaced some time ago with one featuring scantily clad women singing and seducing the crew of a rival pirate ship. There was a little sword play, but it was pretty bad. The show did manage to redeem itself slightly with some big explosions and jets of flame, but it was still closer to a softcore version of Pirates of the Caribbean than anything else.
Once the show was done we crossed the road to The Venetian. We'd been told they had gondola rides on offer and they sounded like the perfect way to get off our feet for a few minutes. We ended up sharing a gondola with another couple and a [guy who controls the gondola] who was more of a talker than a singer. It wasn't quite as nice as we had been told it was, but it was still a lovely way to spend a few minutes. We discovered another gondola ride inside The Venetian, though this one ran through the middle of the shopping promenade and was a little less intimate than the one we were on. We also found a rather unique shop, one which sold antiques (like coins emblazoned from the time of Alexander the Great) set into jewellery. They also had a first printing of the King James Bible inside a glass case and a small cannon from a pirate ship. Fun for the whole famliy.
As time was getting on we had a quick dinner in the food court before heading back outside and across to Madame Tussuad's. We balked at the prices for entry, but <lj user= still posed for a photo with The Rock, who was on display outside the entrance. From there we crossed the Strip to the Mirage, hoping to see their volcano show. Apparently we had just missed it, so we decided to keep going and ended up in front of the Bellagio again for their fountain show. Unlike the night before where the musical accompaniment had been classical pieces, tonight we were treated to more contemporary songs, including Viva Las Vegas - the first time I had heard the song since arriving in the city. At the end of the song I decided that the time was right, dropped to one knee, and proposed to karanina.
I'll give you a moment to let that last part sink in....
She was struck dumb for a couple of seconds, then accepted. Before you ask, there aren't any photos. There was someone filming the performance with a handycam, but she was gone before we could ask if she'd also caught the proposal. We listened to one more performance, then headed back to the hotel to call family back home and sleep.
Leaving Las Vegas
The next day we decided to take things easy. We cruised over to the Luxor to spend the rest of our food vouchers on lunch then spent the evening at the Excalibur's dinner show Tournament of Kings. For those who don't know what this is, King Arthur holds a feast in honour of his son, inviting the kings of Europe to take part in a series of medieval events. The real fun starts when Mordred crashes the party and vicious (fake) sword fighting breaks out. The theatre is divided up into sections, each one cheering for a different king. We didn't realise it at the time, but we booked tickets for the section who support Mordred, so we got to cheer for the bad guys and boo all the good guys. It was a whole lot of fun, and I was pretty hoarse by the end of the evening. It was a little cheesy, but not more so than the rest of Vegas.
Planes, Shuttle Buses, and the airport from Hell
There's one big problem with being a Kiwi and holidaying in the United States - getting there. This time we got a little lucky and out flight only took 11 hours. Add to this friendly service from the Air NZ cabin crew and in-seat entertainment loaded with movies, TV shows, and music, and the trip isn't nearly as arduous. I was disappointed to see only one Simpson's episode on the line-up this time, but I was able to console myself with Peter's Friends, Star Trek, and a few good albums.
Arrival at LAX was pretty standard. I introduced karanina to the joys of the American Immigration Service and it's many, many layers of security. I managed to get through without issue, but karanina flirted with danger when she tried to wipe down the fingerprint scanner before using it. To be fair, she had asked the officer if she could and he had said it was okay. No harm was done, and she was soon on her way... to sit and wait for our luggage to arrive. It didn't take too long, but it was enough time for another flight to arrive behind us, turning the limited space of the immigration area into a rather busy place indeed. It was about this time I decided that air travel is like working in television - neither should involve children or animals. Sure, there weren't too many kids around, but it only takes one or two infants running away from their parents to hold everyone else up.
With the 'joy' of immigration behind us, we thought it would be a simple matter of handing over our luggage to United (who were handling our internal flights) then checking back in for our flight to Vegas. In the past I've been lucky and had everything in the same terminal, but this time was different. It turns out the United terminal about as far away from Air NZ's as is possible. We asked one of the roaming airport staffers how to get there and were given the most generic of directions. This would have been fine if we had any idea of where we were going, but 'go downstairs, across the car park, then up a level' was simply to vague for us. With time running out - we had only an hour or so till our next flight - we ended up turning to the Air NZ check-in desk for help. The kiwi guy behind the counter was much more descriptive, and soon had us going in the right direction.
We managed to get rushed through check-in at United, and ended up making it to the plane with minutes to spare. It was then that we discovered the fun of traveling as a couple. We initially received our boarding passes when we checked in at Auckland Airport, but weren't assigned seats due to 'technical reasons'. We were told that we could get that sorted out when we arrived in LAX. This sounded fine at the time, but when we got to United we were given non-adjacent seats. This being karanina's first time flying in 10 years she was understandably nervous. United's solution: ask if you can get the seats changed when you board the plane. Not a problem with a partially empty flight, but when the plane is full, as ours was, it meant having the stewardess asking someone very nicely if they would swap. In the end we got lucky, and a window seat in the bargain.
Normally I don't care too much about whether I'm sitting next to a window or not. There isn't much to see between Auckland and LAX, although they can be good if you want to sleep. Flying from LAX to Las Vegas, however, sounded a lot more interesting. Sadly, it wasn't to be. I've flown over LA before, so I'm familiar with it's delightfully 2D terrain. What I had forgotten was how similar the terrain was once you get past the San Antonio mountains. There really wasn't much to see until we got close to Vegas. It is quite a remarkable sight, first seeing the pre-planned neighborhoods, then the green of a golf course and the more heavily built up suburban areas, and finally the Strip and downtown areas themselves. It really is an oasis in the middle of the desert wasteland. It wouldn't take too many years if abandonment for nature to reclaim this town - I guess Resident Evil 3 did get something right after all.
If I had any doubt that we were flying into the wrong airport, they were cast aside the moment we walked off the plane and out of the air bridge. Right there, in the middle of the departure terminal, was row upon row of One Armed Bandits. I was a little surprised at first, then remembered where we were. More concerned with getting to our hotel than anything else, we hurried through the terminal, traveling a considerable distance, eventually arriving at a large bank of escalators. We figured that these would take us to the baggage retrieval area, but instead we found ourselves waiting for a tram which took us to the main terminal. There we found our carousel and waited. And waited. After a while there was announcement over the tannoy that our baggage had been delayed, but would be with us soon. Apparently it didn't get to tram like we did.
It was now that the high-intensity advertising started. Almost every flat surface had been taken up by large posters promoting the many shows on offer on, and off, the Strip. That was fine, Vegas is all about selling you things you don't want. The only downside to this is that Carrotop appears to be the big draw in Vegas, so it was hard to travel anywhere without seeing his grimacing visage leering out at you. As you might have guessed, I'm not a big fan of his. I don't find him that funny. The bags eventually arrived, and we were able to trade in the delightful 90+ degree heat for the relative comfort of our hotel room.
Okay, this is getting pretty long, so I'll be cutting it up into 1-2 day segments.
Viva Las Vegas, not so viva the heat
It was late afternoon when we arrived in Vegas. After showering we realised that it had been almost a full day since we'd had a non-airplane meal, so we headed back downstairs and went wandering in search of food. A circuit of the Excalibur's main floor was not a success, so we headed upstairs to the food court and shoppes. We continued to wander, in and out of tourist trap stores and past some more unappealing fast food eateries with no real idea of where we were heading. A few minutes, and a couple of moving walkways later we found ourselves in the Luxor casino. We decided that this would probably be a good time to make some kind of a decision, so ended up at the Pyramid Cafe for giant sandwiches, bottomless cola and root beer, and free pickles. Mmm... pickles.
After the meal we headed out the front door of the Luxor and back to the Excalibur via the sidewalk. I must admit that the Luxor is a rather impressive place, both inside and out. Sure, it probably has a few ancient Egyptian pharaohs spinning in their sarcophagi, but it does look good. I was especially amused to see that they had incorporated panels from the Book of the Dead into the artwork as well. It's a bit like someone built a casino from those Chinese tattoos that never mean what the tweens who have them think they mean. karanina had her camera on her and spent a fair bit of time learning how to take night photographs, with varying levels of success. Once she gets around to moving them off her camera and upload them I'll be sure to post a link.
On our way back to the hotel I realised two things about Vegas. Firstly, it's really hot there all of the time. It was nearing midnight and still felt hotter than it ever gets in Auckland. Sure, there was no humidity, but there was also no large body of water nearby to cool it down at night. This is great if you want to make a 24-hour party town, but not so much if you're adverse to such conditions. The other thing I noticed was that Vegas is somewhat more accepting of sex and nudity. Case in point: many towns in America have sidewalk containers which hold local newspapers, Las Vegas has sidewalk containers which hold what I call 'Las Vegas Personals' - magazines which, based on their covers, are filled with contact numbers for escorts and or services. Sure, prostitution is illegal in Clark County, but that doesn't seem to stop them, nor does it stop the cars plastered in similar advertising cruising up and down the Strip.
Back at the hotel we finally crashed, a day and half after flying out of Auckland, only to get up a few hours later. See, on our way into the hotel we'd been, I guess you could say, suckered into attending a time share proposal at a resort on the far south end of the Strip. Sure, this may sound like a waste of time, but it was taking part in the hot part of the day, and we were getting a pile of vouchers out of the deal. Having never attended one of these things before I had no idea what to expect, but I soon caught up. The concept was sound, in theory, and the rooms at the resort were indeed nice, but I had no interest in putting down US$3000+ to get the place for a week. Yes, there was this whole theory about 'swapping' our time in Vegas for time somewhere else in the world, but there was just far too much theory and management to make it properly work. What really clinched it for me was that there were no available locations in Indianapolis. Had there been a hotel there, especially one conveniently close to the convention centre, I would have seriously thought about it.
I do admire their tenacity, however. The two guys we talked to were good salesmen, and were able to talk at great length about their product. Sadly for them, we're just the wrong market. If we were to return to Vegas it wouldn't be to sit around in a resort for a week, it would be to spend time on the Strip (15 minutes away by car) and Downtown. They really were barking up the wrong tree. In the end we strung them along for a while, made all the right noises, but ultimately decided not to sign up to their deal. We said our goodbyes and headed downstairs to collect our vouchers and board the shuttle back to our casino. In the end, we exchanged a little over three hours of our time for two tickets to Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden, $25 in gambling vouchers for the Luxor and $100 in vouchers for food.
After a quick rest in hotel we headed out again in search of some dinner. We decided to just skip Excalibur altogether and headed straight to the Luxor. We looked around the rest of the eateries there (at least the ones on the ground floor) and didn't find anything to our liking - that wasn't horribly overpriced - so we kept going through to Mandalay Bay. There were some more shops in between, though these were a little more high class than the Excalibur's shoppes, so we took our time to see if there was anything that caught our eye. The only thing that caught my eye, however, was a poster promoting The House of Blues. It was at that exact point I knew where we would be going for dinner.
I'd heard stories about The House of Blues (or HOB) and it certainly lived up to them. Sure, it was on the casino floor, right next to one armed bandits, but once you're inside the doors you forget all that. The inside of the restaurant was decorated to make you feel like you were sitting out on the back lawn of an old Cajun house, under the eaves of a large tree festooned with lanterns. In the far corner was a stage where blues bands could perform. Considering the setting, I had to order the jambalaya, though karanina went for a more 'normal' choice. She did try something new for dessert, however, and ordered some key lime pie. Neither of us knew what to expect, but the result was a very pleasant surprise. The pie was so large, in fact, that I had to give her a hand finishing it. After dinner we checked out the HOB shop and picked up a couple of Blues Brothers bowling shirts.
We spent the rest of the evening checking out Mandalay Bay, which was quite a nice casino all-in-all. You could just about see a progression of increasing quality from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay. I'm not trying to make a point about proximity to the Strip and tackiness of casinos, it was just kinda interesting to see. Once we were satisfied that we'd seen enough to whet our curiosity, we headed back to our room via the Luxor again. I'd quickly come to realise the true benefit of air conditioning and staying indoors.
Weekend Foursome
The following day saw the arrival of two of karanina's American friends. This was her first time meeting them in meatspace, so there was a lot of trepidation on her part. Luckily enough, there was no reason to fret, they got on like the proverbial house on fire. We spent the rest of the day shopping and exploring the Strip, stopping at the Pyramid Cafe for lunch. The girls spent a lot of time chatting, I was mostly along for the ride and to act as navigator. That evening the girls decided to hit the Strip, but karanina was feeling a little queasy (possibly from improperly chilled milk) so we let them go on ahead. We caught up with them at Paris where we had a drink and took in the sights before heading up to Caesar's Palace. We looked around a little and karanina spend some money on the tables. It is a most impressive casino, and what you see in The Hangover is only a very, very small section. After Caesar's we headed back to the hotel for a well earned rest.
The next day we headed out shopping again, this time the destination the eastern side of the Strip, starting with MGM and working our way up to the Miracle Mile (part of Planet Hollywood). The Hawaiian Market was especially nice - and filled with large fans providing cooling breezes. Miracle Mile itself was rather daunting. We went in not realising how vast it actually was, and only when we were about to leave did we find a map. We did make a couple of surprising discoveries while we were in there tho. The Bettie Page Shop, which was filled with 50's style garments and Bettie Page artwork, and Ben & Jerry's Icecream. I've heard many good stories about these guys, and the actual product certainly lived up to the hype. The only problem is I can't get it here in NZ.
After the shopping was done we decided to head back to Caesar's Palace to try and find some dinner and a casino shop (for the obligatory touristy items). I must profess a degree of ignorance to the workings of Las Vegas casinos. Most of the ones I had been in thus far had been laid out in a rather compact manner, with a central gaming area surrounded by shops and restaurants. The Palace is a little different. It's more linear in design, with the casino shop and most of the eateries located at the very rear of the building. This wouldn't have been too bad had I not already spent most of the day on my feet. By the time we got to the shop I was ready for a nice sit down. Fortunately, we found somewhere to eat nearby, so we were all able to take a load of for a while before heading back.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at the Bellagio fountain. It was just as I'd seen it in movies like Oceans 11, except that there were a lot more people around.To get a good view of the show we had to sit through one performance then, once that finished, moved up to the front as soon as a space opened up and camp there. Luckily for us, the shows were only 15 minutes apart at that point, so it wasn't too long to wait. The performances themselves were pretty spectacular, with each one featuring a different piece of music. After a couple of performances we decided that we had seen enough for the night and returned to the hotel. As karanina's friends were flying out in the morning she decided to stay up a little later and hang out with them. I opted for a relatively early night, mostly for the benefit of back and feet, both of which were complaining rather loudly at this point.
The Moment You've All Been Waiting For
The next day, karanina> and I continued our exploration of the north end of the Strip. We started at Paris, with a trip up the Eiffel Tower. The view from the top was pretty spectacular, even if it did ram home how flat Vegas is. We were also well placed to watch a day performance of the Bellagio fountains, conveniently located across the road. We could also see the working of the machines behind (well, beneath) the display. We could also make out divers making adjustments in between shows. If I ever had to work in Vegas, that would be the job for me. Spending all day in nice cool water would be the perfect way to combat the 100+ degree heat.
From Paris we kept venturing up the Strip, making our way up to the Mirage. We still had the two tickets to the Secret Garden, and wanted to use them before we ran out of time. The Garden consists of two main parts: the dolphin pools and the animal enclosures. The dolphins seem to have a pretty good deal going, with two large pools and regular interactions with the staff. The animals, on the other hand, aren't so well off. Their cages are pretty small, with little room to do anything other than lay about or pace back and forth. It's hardly ideal, but there might possibly be additional space out back that we couldn't see.
Next up was Treasure Island. We'd heard about their free show, and I was interested at the prospect of a little swashbuckling action. I should have realised that Vegas would have other plans for me. Apparently, the old show had been replaced some time ago with one featuring scantily clad women singing and seducing the crew of a rival pirate ship. There was a little sword play, but it was pretty bad. The show did manage to redeem itself slightly with some big explosions and jets of flame, but it was still closer to a softcore version of Pirates of the Caribbean than anything else.
Once the show was done we crossed the road to The Venetian. We'd been told they had gondola rides on offer and they sounded like the perfect way to get off our feet for a few minutes. We ended up sharing a gondola with another couple and a [guy who controls the gondola] who was more of a talker than a singer. It wasn't quite as nice as we had been told it was, but it was still a lovely way to spend a few minutes. We discovered another gondola ride inside The Venetian, though this one ran through the middle of the shopping promenade and was a little less intimate than the one we were on. We also found a rather unique shop, one which sold antiques (like coins emblazoned from the time of Alexander the Great) set into jewellery. They also had a first printing of the King James Bible inside a glass case and a small cannon from a pirate ship. Fun for the whole famliy.
As time was getting on we had a quick dinner in the food court before heading back outside and across to Madame Tussuad's. We balked at the prices for entry, but <lj user= still posed for a photo with The Rock, who was on display outside the entrance. From there we crossed the Strip to the Mirage, hoping to see their volcano show. Apparently we had just missed it, so we decided to keep going and ended up in front of the Bellagio again for their fountain show. Unlike the night before where the musical accompaniment had been classical pieces, tonight we were treated to more contemporary songs, including Viva Las Vegas - the first time I had heard the song since arriving in the city. At the end of the song I decided that the time was right, dropped to one knee, and proposed to karanina.
I'll give you a moment to let that last part sink in....
She was struck dumb for a couple of seconds, then accepted. Before you ask, there aren't any photos. There was someone filming the performance with a handycam, but she was gone before we could ask if she'd also caught the proposal. We listened to one more performance, then headed back to the hotel to call family back home and sleep.
Leaving Las Vegas
The next day we decided to take things easy. We cruised over to the Luxor to spend the rest of our food vouchers on lunch then spent the evening at the Excalibur's dinner show Tournament of Kings. For those who don't know what this is, King Arthur holds a feast in honour of his son, inviting the kings of Europe to take part in a series of medieval events. The real fun starts when Mordred crashes the party and vicious (fake) sword fighting breaks out. The theatre is divided up into sections, each one cheering for a different king. We didn't realise it at the time, but we booked tickets for the section who support Mordred, so we got to cheer for the bad guys and boo all the good guys. It was a whole lot of fun, and I was pretty hoarse by the end of the evening. It was a little cheesy, but not more so than the rest of Vegas.