Part 13 of our holiday - an afternoon in Las Vegas

Please note this blog has moved to
http://mylifeinthecharente2.blogspot.com

Firstly, I would like to say thank you for all the comments on the last post which I have not answered!  We were away for the whole of February  having fun in South Africa and Botswana, and although I did read all the comments, I did not have time (with limited satellite coverage) to answer all of them.   After this post we will return to France for a few posts; this blog is after all supposed to be about my life in the Charente! .

We stayed overnight in a hotel off the "Strip" (Las Vegas Boulevard) so as to catch a 6 a.m. flight the next day, but arrived early to spend a few hours seeing what LV has to offer! With outside temperatures at a body-melting 46 degrees C, and not being gamblers, a few hours was enough for us!!

The famous Roman-themed Caesars Palace hotel (now with about 3,350 bedrooms) and casino is now 50 years old, but they've been adding to it ever since! Elton John, Mariah Carey, Rod Stewart and Celine Dion have all appeared here. Note the replica London bus at the right of the photo.

This jolly Disney-style castle encloses, I believe, the Mandalay Bay monorail train station. The Las Vegas Boulevard is served by an elevated monorail system 3.9 mile  (6.3km) long, on which you can invest $12 for an unlimited daily pass, a mere drop in the ocean compared with what everything else costs here!

David Copperfield the illusionist, resident at the MGM Grand hotel and casino. The MGM Grand is the largest single hotel in the world, with over 5,100 rooms! Some penthouse suites are 110 square metres (the size of a small house!) in area with one king size bed, all for about $750 per night!

A typical slot machine area. Plush carpets and the incessant sounds of payout bells ringing in the ears! Outside it's scorching, but in here it feels over 25 degrees cooler! A sweater perhaps?

One of a huge number of magnificent ladies loos (or "rest rooms" as the Amercans euphemistically call them) in a casino! All marble and granite; and where else did you see so many basins in a row?

The stylised but still impressive Sphinx at the Luxor hotel and casino. It did cast a welcome bit of shade as we passed by!

The Pharaoh in the entrance lobby of the Luxor complex, which was opened in 1993. It has over 4,400 rooms in the almost full-size replica of the Cheops pyramid and in two additional towers added in 2001. You can judge the size of the statue from the height of the people at the bottom of the photo!

An extension of the Luxor theme, this obelisk is presumably modelled from similar features in Paris, London and New York.

This Statue of Liberty at the New York-New York hotel and casino is a half size replica of the original in New York harbour. When the US Post Office issued a stamp commemorating the Statue, they used a photo of this replica and not of the original! One of those "Oh ****" moments!

Am amazing re-creation of a Venice canal scene. It's hard to believe, but this is INDOORS!! They even have singing gondoliers poling around, taking tourists on little trips.

Another view. Yes, it's real water - you can't forge that!

And another. There are shops absolutely everywhere, selling almost anything you can imagine. It's very easy to get lost, too!

And to finish, I thought it appropriate to show the American version of France! This half-scale Eiffel Tower is outside the Paris hotel and casino. The original plan was for a full scale Tower, but it was said that would have interfered with planes at the nearby McCullan airport. Pity! If you're a Barry Manilow fan, the Paris is (was?) the place to see him perform.

Inside the building, this is the lavish-looking Napoleon's Piano Bar. I don't know who painted all the skies, but they look pretty good!

All in all, a great experience of this OTT city and a tick, perhaps, on your personal bucket list! If you do intend to visit, check the ambient temperatures before planning your travel date and consider staying at hotels a block or so off the "Strip". We found them really amazing value in return for just a little extra walking.

Also see my daily diary HERE

and My Life Before Charente (updated  25 September 2016) I will get back to this eventually! 

PLEASE NOTE THAT BECAUSE THIS BLOG IS LOADING VERY SLOWLY FOR ME NOW - WE HAVE A SLOW CONNECTION - THE NEXT POST WILL MOVE TO A NEW ADDRESS 
http://mylifeinthecharente2.blogspot.com