Las Vegas

Tuesday 2007-03-06 Baker, California We landed at LAX yesterday and spent the rest of the day recovering at the LAX Radisson. Today, we picked up our rental car and drove Northeast on I15 to Baker, near the Nevada border, where we stopped for lunch.	We're on our way to Las Vegas to spend a couple of days there.	We "upgraded" our rental car to this Ford Taurus. The seat hurt my back. The slope of the roof line was such that I had to contort myself to get in and out. The boot latch dug into my balding head. The cheap nylon seats continually zapped me. It steered like crap.	Inside there were acres of bland, grey plastic. It was designed by a nanny with numerous shreiking alarms. It didn't have a single redeeming feature; not one nice surprise. The best thing in this car was the sat/nav system which was an add-on, not Ford.
As we approach the Nevada border, the land becomes more arid.	We cross the border and we're immediately welcomed by chintz.	We continue through the wasteland along I15 to Las Vegas.	Tuesday 2007-03-06 Las Vegas, Nevada The outskirts of America's fastest growing city welcome us.
Our sat/nav directs us accurately to our accommodation for the next two nights: the Sahara, a 50 year old original.	The Sahara is good value at $50 a night.	Inside the Sahara is typical Las Vegas.	The location, at the northern end of the strip, is excellent. A monorail station adjoins the resort.
We walk down the strip (Las Vegas Boulevarde S). Already we've been offered free gambling money, free shows and free drinks.	There's something odd about an internet cafe that does wedding ceremonies.	New building continues at a frantic pace.	Sands Ave is 2.1 kms from our hotel.
We call in to Treasure Island to collect our tickets for tomorrow night's Cirque du Soleil show - Mystere.	Treasure Island has a free show every hour or so. It's quite silly but good fun.	Wynn has its own golf course.	The pirate ship at the Treasure Island free show.
The most stunning of the resorts is the Venetian. These are the gondolas.	Gondolas at the Venetian.	The courtyard of the Venetian.	The Venetian canals.
Inside the Venetian.	Human Statue inside the Venetian.	High class stores inside the Venetian sell expensive crystal.	Inside the Venetian.
This is an entirely different canal system to the one downstairs in the courtyard.	A town square inside the Venetian.	A Gondola ready for passengers.	Inside the Venetian.
Caesar's Palace. It seems to have become much larger since our previous visit here in 1993.	Caesar's Palace.	The Flamingo is one of the oldest resorts in Las Vegas. However, it is completely new but retains it's well-known neon theme.	Neon is sort of old-fashioned in Vegas now but this was a Las Vegas landmark.
We have dinner in the Paris.	Fountains in the Paris courtyard.	The fountains.	Inside the Paris riding the Eiffel Tower's elevator.
Inside the Paris. I get a senior's discount for the elevator ride.	From the top of the Eiffel Tower. The search light comes from the Luxor which is shaped like a pyramid.	After dinner in the Paris ($11 for a hamburger - cheap) we catch the monorail back to our room and call it a night.	The next morning, looking from our room we can see the mountains to the west. The road is W Sahara Blvd.
Inside the Sahara - what an odd mixture of casual functions.	The Sahara sponsors a NASCAR team.	We walk to the north - Chapel of the Bells is world famous it would appear.	What a deal.
Crass.	A happy couple have just tied the knot.	Fremont Street in North Las Vegas. This is probably the world's largest TV screen. It has millions of green, red and blue lamps and displays swirling patterns of colour at night time.	Fremont Street is interesting in a gaudy sort of way.
Fremont Street contains the usual Las Vegas attractions.	We visit a nearby "Outlet" which is crap. After this we catch a taxi back to our room.	From our hotel room, the mountains to the west are very attractive.	The Sahara is the end of the line for the monorail service.
It's the best way to get around. We decide to go to the MGM resort at the southern end of the strip.	Inside the foyer of the MGM.	The lion enclosure in MGM.	One of the two young male lions.
New York resort is opposite the MGM. It has a fairly impressive roller coaster.	There are four separate Cirque Du Soleil shows running in Las Vegas at the time.	We finished our tour last night at the Paris. We're farther south at the moment.	We cross the road to the Excalibur. This is a casino with an Olde Worlde theme.
We catch the tram to Mandalay Bay. It's amazing that the three resorts, Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay take up a 1.6 km block. That is, three resorts totally occupy all of the space in one mile.	We decide to visit the Shark Reef in Mandalay. It took about ten minutes walk from the tram stop to get here.	It wasn't cheap at $15.95 each but it was very good.	It had huge tanks full of fish.
Headsets described the exhibits.	It was very well done. This is the piranha tank.	The shark aquarium is superb.	The shark aquarium had what was supposed to be the remains of an old wooden boat decaying at the bottom of the sea. It looked to be made of concrete.
The area was enchanting and the water was beautifully clean and clear.	We decide to walk from the Mandalay to Treasure Island where we are booked in to see the 7 pm Cirque Du Soleil show. All three resorts are joined with a continuous walkway between them.	We didn't realise that it was 1.6 kms just to get back to the corner. We leave the Mandalay and enter the Luxor.	The Luxor has an ancient Egyptian theme. The Luxor is shaped like a pyramid and the guest suites angle up the inside of the pyramid.
We continue back through the Excalibur . . .	. . . and emerge back at the MGM where we'd started. We're surprised to see that night has fallen.	The Excalibur looks very colourful at night.	The Statue of Liberty at New York, New York looks fantastic.
We have to hurry as time's running out. It's still 800 metres from the Excalibur to Treasure Island. The scale of Las Vegas continually confounds you - everything is so huge.	Anyhow, we make it with 5 minutes to spare and the show is great. Then we go back outside for the free show.	The story (for want of a better word) is that a ship full of bikini-babes attacks a pirate ship full of muscley hunks.	The babes blast the pirate's village . . .
. . . and then the pirate ship. From here we catch a monorail back to our room and call it a night.

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