Pages

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Viva Las Vegas!


Well, what other title could I use for our only full day in Vegas?!

We started our day with breakfast in the food court of the hotel – cheap and cheerful, but very tasty! We then took the free mono rail from our hotel to the Bellagio – saved quite a bit of walking, which we appreciated by the end of the day!

The Bellagio – well, what can I say? I had been looking forward to seeing the Conservatory there ever since I had seen Gail’s photos from her visits. I was not disappointed! The display was fantastic.




 The ceiling in reception was to be seen to be believed too!


We ambled through the Bellagio and then out to Caesars Palace. What I couldn’t get over was how the hotels are actually resorts – they are HUGE. You just walk in and out and basically go where you like! They have huge shopping malls and then there are the casinos and the restaurants – unbelievable really.

In Caesars Palace we had a nice amble through the shopping mall area, enjoying the scenery and the ceiling painted to look as if you are outside!




There is an animated statue show, but unfortunately we were an hour too early to see it, but we did take some photos of the fish in the aquarium that surrounded the statues!


Finishing at Caesars, we braved the heat outside and walked across the road to the Venetian. Wow! St Mark’s Square, canals and gondolas, all on the first floor – the strength of these buildings must be immense!





I bought a beautiful Morano glass necklace from one of the shops there with some birthday spending money that the girls at work had given me. Took me ages to decide which one to buy – they were all so lovely!

Hugh liked this spiral escalator.



We then walked back towards our hotel, outside! It was so hot and so crowded! We detoured off into the Casino Royale – not to bet, but to go to the food court at the back for a nice cool drink! Having cooled down – so much actually that I got goose bumps – we walked back to and through the Bellagio to get the mono rail back to our hotel.
And we saw this!



How we had managed to miss her on our first trip I don’t know – she was beautiful, as were the cakes here too!

Arriving back at the hotel we bought a snack and took it up to our room to eat for lunch and to rest our weary legs. Hugh actually fell asleep for an hour! When he woke we decided to go down to the pool for a swim. No photos here I’m afraid – we didn’t want to take the camera down to the pool area as it was so crowded and we wouldn’t have wanted to leave it with our towels whilst we swam. However, here is the view of the pool from our room!

Having refreshed ourselves and got dressed again, we set out to explore the other end of the ‘Strip’. A walk down to New York New York



And then a ride on the other free mono rail to the Luxor. I had to visit here as Brenda, my work colleague had stayed here earlier in the year and I wanted to prove to her that I had been to her hotel!


Having spent a short while here we made our way back up the Strip again, stopping at M&M World for a look around and then to see the M&M 3D Movie – 10 minutes long, but quite good fun! We bought ourselves some M&M’s, but from Walgreens where they were cheaper!

We had our evening meal in the Monte Carlo Buffet – no photos because I was too busy eating! It was really nice! We then got back on the mono rail to the Bellagio again and went to see the fountain show – again recommended by Gail. Gail – you were right – it was wonderful!




And if you want to see a short video of the fountains, here it is!

We watched the show once, taking photos and then, because we had enjoyed it so much, we walked round to the front of the hotel and watched it again, not taking photos this time, but taking it all in. The music was different each time, which was nice as it meant that the fountain display was different each time too.

By this time our energy was completely flagging! The ‘Strip’ doesn’t look that long on a map, but as everyone will tell you, when you try to walk it, which we did, you end up walking miles!! We made our way back to the hotel and gladly collapsed into bed. Our last night in Vegas. We needed to be up early the next morning for our journey to the Grand Canyon.

8 comments:

scrappyjacky said...

It all looks absolutely amazing.

Sian said...

Wow, you packed a lot in! It certainly looks like a once in a lifetime experience

Alison said...

Great pics Becky..we couldn't believe what these hotels were like inside either!
Alison xx

Beverly said...

We walked from one end to the other on a hotter than hades July day with the boys and gladly paid a taxi for the return trip to the hotel. Did the men on the strip slapping their fliers about strip shows accost you?! We still male a joke about the why they slap the papers agt their hands @@

Maria Ontiveros said...

I've only driven through Las Vegas, but I'll be going there at Thanksgiving for a soccer tournament (most likely). Thanks for the ideas about what to see.
Rinda

Karen said...

I think we walked it both ways in 114° heat. It felt hotter than Death Valley, but the architecture, fountains, and sights are certainly memorable! Your photos capture it perfectly.

Anonymous said...

Great pictures Becky. That ceiling is unbelievable isn't it - so hard to believe he's blind. He (Dale Chihuly) had a piece in the V&A when we were there - right at the main entrance. We'll be going down again in October (nice having relatives who live there, lol) - it will be interesting to see if the conservatory will have changed.

alexa said...

Oh my goodness, your eyes must have been quite exhausted by that huge visual feast - the photos are amazing in themselves!