29 September: north side of the Strip

Breakfast was at the Venetian. It wasn’t touted as a buffet, since they wanted to be posh. sniggers Sometimes Americans trying to be posh end up being pretentious. $13.95 wasn’t bad though. The “buffet-that-tried-to-pass-off-as-non-buffet” was basically bacon, sausages, hash browns, and a made-to-order omelette. I had ham and mushroom and mistakenly had cheese added too. Made it too heavy. But tasted very nice. Had some really great fruit too, was going to make birchermuseli but was too full, so I just stuck with skimmed milk with the cereal.

The Venetian was another impressive hotel. Yes, there was a replica of St Mark’s Square, the Bridge of Sighs and even canals. Gondolas and singing boatmen too. Made me laugh because the real ones in Venice don’t sing as much. Lots of shops and the family ended up spending time at a Lladró store. The lighting inside the pretend Venice was surprisingly dim, even with the pretend blue skies overhead.

From the Venetian we walked in the blazing sun to the Wynn. It’s the newest hotel on the strip and probably has the most stars. It truly deserved them, I really liked it. There was no specific theme, unless “unbridled luxury” is a theme. There was an understated, carefully designed feel to it, with the use of warm colours and natural light. Definitely not one for brash families with loud children, it has… class. From the garden to the water features to the general décor nothing was out of place. Man, a tiny part of me wished we could have booked that suite, but remembering the price difference (almost twice the Aladdin) was enough to make me feel like we made the right decision to go for the Aladdin.

From the Wynn, we crossed the road to a completely different world — the Frontier. From the 1950s style signage in front, to the old, old, old one-arm bandits at the entrance, it was an embodiment of times past. We played the slots there, like we did at each casino we visited. Surprisingly, the Texas Tea machines were very fun to play and we even won a few odd dollars.

Time for a change, as we headed to the Fashion Show Mall for a spot of shopping. While Car’s Mom and Gram explored Baby Gap, we went off to look for a bookstore. Amazingly it was only a Borders Express (ie tiny) and didn’t have the book we were looking for. It was a good break from the casino hopping though I didn’t buy anything.

We took a free train back to Caesar’s Palace which saved on a lot of walking. Retired back to the room to rest. Watched the Food Network! How I’ve missed it. Dinner was an easy choice — Spice Market at the Aladdin. It was the #1 (not sure which survey) buffet in town. But may be it was the renovation that moved the restaurant, or something else, but we didn’t feel like it was a #1. Top 5 may be, but we were unanimous in saying the Bellagio was better. It wasn’t bad, by no means, just not #1. There were prawns, crab legs, Greek food, Chinese food, Indian (I think), fried food, a very nice lamb kebab and the usual roasts. I was suffering from overindulgence and decided on as many veg dishes as possible. Still, an enjoyable meal.

We stayed at the hotel. Went shopping and visited the casino, had a really good time with the penny slots again.

30 September: weddings and beavers

The other vegas specialty is weddings. There was a chapel at the Aladdin, just outside the lifts, and seems like each hotel had one too. But north of the Stratosphere were the small chapels. Weddings are big business and the side of the road was lined full of them, with names like Viva Las Vegas, Candlelight and of course Graceland Wedding Chapel. The Wedding Wonderland offered drive-thru services so the happy couple don’t even need to get out of their car. We visited the Little Chapel of the Flowers, which was a traditional chapel with garden. Despite all the whiteness and flowers and lace, it wasn’t stuck in the middle ages. Friends and relatives who were unable to attend in person could watch the proceedings over the internet, live. Then later they could purchase a copy of the ceremony. It’s all very slickly planned, packaged and commercial.

From the chapel we took a taxi to the Hilton. It was off the Strip, but just as busy. One of its main attractions was the Star Trek Experience exhibition. One thing I found out though, is how not a trekkie I am — I didn’t have much clue about the characters and vessels on display there. To enter the exhibition was $38, and we decided we had far better things to do for that, since all I’d be doing is asking “what’s that?” throughout our visit. Did see this awesome (read: dorky) bowling shirt, but it was $60. Man, they were out to milk every dollar. Did spend a very nice half hour or so exploring the shop and outside displays. Must say the models of the Enterprise was very impressive.

Stayed at the Hilton for a while, then took the monorail all the day to the end — MGM Grand. Nice trip for $5. The monorail ran parallel to the Strip but we could see all the hotels from the windows. Went back to the souvenir shop to get some more keychains and a couple of fridge magnets. Dinner was at the Zanzibar Café back at the Aladdin. I had guacamole hot dog (what the menu called the Ozzy Osbourne) and Car had an Extreme burrito. Both were very good, though I got teased for combining guacamole with hot dog.

The rest of the evening was spent at the penny slots, specifically the Lumberjack Beavers machine that was our favourite. It gave great value too, with just a small outlay we played for more than an hour. When we met up with her mom and gram, they had dinner at the Zanzibar too, while we just had dessert.

1 October: goodbye to Vegas

We checked out early and left our bags at the hotel. Breakfast was at Paris, right next doors. Original plan was to go to the buffet but it was way too crowded, so we settled for the café. Still good value, and I gotta laugh at how unFrench-like the breakfast items were. Not a continental breakfast in sight. We had French toast (and we all know that’s not French) with bacon / ham and shared a portion of pancakes (American style, ie what I know as hotcakes) between us. I was stuffed!

The Paris wanted very badly to be French, but was actually full of tourists. Some of their signs were in franglaise, like Le Car Rental. Pretty funny actually. After breakfast and the obligatory play at the penny slots we were off to Caesars Palace. Again, very crowded, but plenty of space for everyone to walk around. Waited for about 15 minutes at the fountain for the show, only to be disappointed that it consisted of a couple of mechanical statues with moving parts. Not impressed. The size of the hotel was impressive, though by this time I couldn’t tell one hotel-casino from another, they were all blurred. Before going back to the Aladdin we hung out a little at the Bellagio shop. Then it was time to leave.

Taxi to the airport was quick, and a little sad. Time to say good-bye to Las Vegas. I really enjoyed this first visit, it was nothing and everything like I imagined. Because I was here with my friend’s family, we did mainly family styled activities. Didn’t see any shows or gambled big (I wouldn’t have anyway) or had the time for an excursion or spa. Plenty to do for future visits, which is what I like about going to a new place — can never do everything first time.

And here’s the flickr set