Catch Up - Vegas baby!

Time to catch you up on Vegas... We left this morning (Friday) and got there on Wednesday evening, after a very long drive (8 hours).

We had to go round the block three times (and two U-turns) til we managed to locate the Paris, Las Vegas RV park. It's the most stressed I've ever seen Mark, but he did us proud. We found Winston a wee spot and then checked in at Paris - which has a 1/2 size Eiffel Tower and entry via a 3/4 size Arc de Triomphe. The Hotel itself resembles the Louvre from the outside and the swimming pool looks like the Versailles fountains.

The rest of the time flew. On Wednesday night we visited Caesar's Palace (which is amazing from the outside - although the ersatz Colosseum is a bit off) and tried out some really, really potent rum cocktails, the Mirage (more later) and the Venetian, which has a mini Bridge of Sighs, internal St Mark's Sq etc etc. At the Venetian we got suckered in to going on a "two hour" trip the next day to look at an "amazing" new hotel to tell our friends about back home. In return, we'd get free passes to a bunch of stuff we wanted to do anyway- at a value of $230 US. Then home to Paris exhausted (and hungry).

Thursday - we headed to the Mirage at 10am for Siegfried and Roy's secret garden - complete with dolphins, white tigers, leopards (the black one was really pretty), white lions, alpacas and a goose. We were spell bound - particularly by the baby dolphin Bella. Then to the Venetian. Well, we knew this would happen - the "two hour" trip was more like four, and the "hotel" was an attempt to sell us a timeshare. Not only us, but about another 400 people. It was full on - and really hilarious to see the US sales techniques. It was evangelical realty. We tried to explain that we weren't the timeshare type - more the RV across the US type! - but they decided it was about the money. So they halved the price, halved the deposit and halved the value - kept reducing until the $41k they wanted originally became $999. The accountant who came over to cut us the deal was the creepiest dude we have ever seen. Mark wrote this on the feedback form.

Anyway, back at The Strip, we went to the Aquarium at Mandalay Bay (crocodiles, kimodo dragon - a deadly bite with 7 lethal bacteria in its mouth to boot - pirhanas, SO MANY sharks, an octopus - did you know they are really smart and can do puzzles and undo jars? - two giant turtles etc etc Very cool). The Luxor's massive King Tut tomb and giant pyramid were impressive. New York New York - once again a one person lunch split between two and we could barely finish. Then back to the Venetian to pick up our prizes. The Madame Tussaud's waxworks museum (the generic horror theme scream ride freaked me out). A 'romantic gondola ride' (that we shared with two rugged chaps from New Orleans (they asked us if NZ was where the erupting volcano was). The gondolier serenaded all four of us... then free dinner at a trattoria 9this time just for two). We also got gambling dollars... but we lost them all... but only lost $21 of our money. Treasure Island, Bellagio, home at about 1:30am - we tried to find an ice cream parlour before bed, but only slot machines and bars are still open at that time in Vegas.

This morning - a spell in the hotel pool and jacuzzi, brunch at Planet Hollywood, Eiffel Tower ride and on the road.

Vegas was awesome - hard to explain the buzz and the entertainment. Never thought I'd say I loved Vegas but I really, really did. The place is insane.