Two Go Mad In Vegas

Well not as mad as all that.

I pointed out to Megan the irony of honeymooning in Sin City, where you can scratch any itch you care to mention, when putting her and I together is like joining "home" and "body".

We aren't really stay out all night partying people, but we did our fair share of gawping.

Impressions

... the scale of Las Vegas is out of control, we decided not to go into Caesars (sic) Palace as we had been tramping through a good number already... walking around this one casino took 20 minutes of negotiating, which brings me to point 2

... it is teeming with people, apparently second only to Paris in terms of visitors per annum. And they all go to the same places at the same time, night time which makes it a little spooky. They take the same photos of the same subjects in an endless succession, the film companies must be kicking themselves for allowing digital cameras to come along, because they are losing soooo much money here.

... it is the ultimate in bling, I have never seen so much neon in my life, when we emerged from the New York New York casino (whose facade consists of several buildings and the statue of Liberty and mini Brooklyn Bridge) through the front entrance, we felt a palpable heat from the thousands of lights in it's sign. It was like being under a heat lamp.

... it is full of sad people, sitting like robots playing slot machines, which don't even have handles to crank these days, mindlessly pressing a button, mostly putting a dollar (or a quarter, or $5) into the casinos coffers with each press every 20 seconds. Megan was quite sad watching one lady sitting at her pokey machine shaking uncontrollably, I think she was experiencing the DT's. You can tell the casinos most valued customers (addicts), they are the ones who are given free drinks at their posts, so that they aren't distracted from the button pushing.

... it isn't all bad, The Bellagio for instance was a seriously classy joint, with a stunning glass artwork hanging over its foyer, and it's full of fresh flowers, smelling deliciously perfumed, with the most stunning water fountain display showing very 15 minutes in the 8 hectare man made lake out the front. Absolutely mesmerising, absolutely surprisingly tasteful and beautiful.

... the old Vegas is very different from the new, downtown around Freemont St, the original Casinos of yesteryear are still going strong, oozing serious credibility and not as many frills, this area was our preference (and everything is much cheaper down there to try and lure trade). The Poker room at the Binions Casino spawned the World Series of Poker and is seriously old school and extremely cool. Apparently very few visitors go down there which is a bad mistake.

We loved the Freemont St Experience which happens every half an hour in the old district, it is an overwhelmingly impressive sound and visual extravaganza which played in the roof above our gawping upturned heads.

We played Poker, in a tournament at the Stratosphere where we stayed, $60 buy in, and loved it. Megan did better than I did placing 10th and earning a seat at the final table! She was the only woman in a field of 26, and her play drew many compliments. I came 13th, and found it a fantastic learning experience. In the two hours I survived in the Tournie we would have played twice as many hands than in my monthly 4 hour game. There is little banter, and never at the expense of play, everyone is very disciplined and aggressive. It feels great to win a hand or two in Vegas I gotta say.

That's about it for Vegas, Megan and I concluded that we weren't really Vegas people, but that is not to say we didn't like it, just that it would most suit crazy younger single people. But anybody thinking of going should. You gotta see it to believe it.

Hudsie