Day 7: Las Vegas

Las Vegas in the day looks kind of out of place.

I don't know what I expected Las Vegas to be like. Some kind of hyperreal wonderland for adults where everything happens perhaps? I have to say that on the whole, Alex and I were fairly underwhelmed by it. How could we not be by a city that is constantly talking itself up? That's not to say that we didn't enjoy ourselves, just that on the whole it wasn't the unique experience we expected it to be.

We arrived in town mid-afternoon, and after cruising the strip, we checked into a $30 hotel at the MGM Grand end. A hotel would be wise, given that apparently no one can go out in Las Vegas without getting absolutely blotto. We will see. The day almost turned bad when Alex twisted her ankle in the hotel parking lot. It's incredible that she made it this far without injuring herself (not counting constantly smacking her head on Ruby's ceiling). Luckily a little cry, some ice, and a nap made everything better. That and Alex planned ahead and packed an ankle brace. We were soon off to explore.

The very first thing we noticed as we walked out onto the street were newspaper boxes filled with “introductions” magazines. I can't imagine anywhere else in the world where that would be OK, but I guess we were in Las Vegas. We walked on and in the MGM Grand, where we came face to face with lions. Yes, real lions. The casino has three or four in a giant habitat like a zoo. To be honest, they didn't seem too happy, but the tens of people standing around taking pictures sure were.

We went out the front door and continued down the street. On the way into town we had seen an Outback Steakhouse, and thought we might give it a shot. I had been there before, but I wanted Alex to experience the cringe. So we began our way down the strip. Neon cities look bland during the day, and although we saw a replica of the Statue of Liberty, The Eiffel Tower, the Sphinx, and even Venice, none of those things were as awe inspiring as the real thing. It was all too much laid on too thick. Everyone was trying too hard to impress.

Alex at what I think is supposed to be the Trevi Fountain

The most uncomfortable part though, were the rows upon rows of southern immigrants lining the streets handing out cards for girls. I don't mean one or two. I mean literally ten or twenty at a time slapping their cards and shoving them in your face. I don't like this kind of advertising at the best of times, so I really didn't like this. In fact, it was the worst part of Las Vegas, and if I did happen to be in the market, I wouldn't be calling any of these on principle. Oh well, I guess it's legal here, and people can do what they like.

The same shot as above, but at night. As you can see, it looks a bit better.

Pushing our way through the throng, we made it to the Outback Steakhouse. I drank a kind of Coopers I hadn't seen before. It was a Lager made purely for export. Tasted like it too. The steak we had was absolutely phenomenal, the best steak I have had in a long time. Afterwards we went downstairs and had a look around. Really all it was, and this is true for every casino we visited that night, was row upon row of pokies, and a couple of table games. The gaming floors were generally pretty small too. Think of how impressive the interior of Star City in Sydney is, and imagine somewhere less impressive. That is Las Vegas. All style and no substance. The saving grace were the $1 drinks and the lack of bouncers. Responsible service of alcohol doesn't exist here, but that's OK because there are no tough guy bouncers out to prove something. You can wander in and out with your drinks.

Who do you think won this fight in Cesars Palace? We only lost $30 at this roulette table, but it took us half an hour.

From then on, the night got a bit blurry. We played to some roulette in O'Sheas, but of course we didn't win anything. We wandered in and out of Casinos for a while having a look before deciding to cut our losses and head back to the motel to get some sleep. Of course we got lost though, and headed in the wrong direction for about 15 minutes, before realising that our landmark of the Hooters hotel was behind us. Finally we got back, and apparently I snored my loudest yet.