This was our view from our room at Paris Casino and pretty much set the scene for our four nights in this hyper-real oasis of consumption in the middle of the desert. Where else can you get a cab from Paris to Luxor in 5 minutes and pass New York on the way? We arrived on a Sunday afternoon which happened to coincide with a major boxing match which had swelled the numbers on the streets enormously. After the orderliness and calm of Disney we took a little bit of time to adjust to chaotic footpaths and people drinking booze as they walked along the street as if it were soft drink.
Luckily neither Steve nor us has the slightest bit of interest in gambling so not a cent was spent - that way at least - but the casinos were certainly fascinating places to walk through and watch. Of course the only way in or out our hotel was through the casino - all the casinos are at ground level so that the punters can be swept into them easily - and in keeping with the Parisian theme, the entire casino was themed to look like Parisian streets right down to a Parisian summer sky.
The Bellagio, probably the most upmarket and expensive of the casino hotel properties was just across the road from Paris. Every 15 minutes the fountains in front of the Bellagio would come alive and dance to music.
This gives a bit of an understanding of the geography of Vegas and how close the city is to the desert.
And to the desert we went when we took a helicopter flight to the Grand Canyon. This was fabulous. There were two other couples in our chopper - one young couple from Brisbane, the other from Montreal. Our pilot, Shane, was very friendly and chatty so he gave us a great commentary on the way out. It took about 45 minutes to reach the Grand Canyon from the airport we took off from which was about an hour from Vegas.
I didn't mean to include this shot but at least it gives you an idea of the arid landscape.
Flying along the Colorado River and seeing the weathered sides of the canyons like this was just awesome.
Colorado River
So part of our flight was a 30 minute stop at the base of the Canyon where we had a champagne lunch and had the opportunity to put our feet on the ground and get some sense of the massive scale of this place. It was very hot - around 40 degrees - but it can get much hotter.
Then back on the street again at night. Although we didn't add to the gaming economy we certainly gave plenty to the live entertainment economy, seeing five shows in four nights, which isn't a bad effort. Donny and Marie (Osmond) was the first show we saw - they were great actually and had one the Best Vegas Show for the past three years running; we saw two Circe du Soleil shows: Mystere and Zumanity; Divas Las Vegas, a 'female impersonator' show which had been running 29 years and which was excellent; and Human Nature.
On our last night we bought this monstrosity which was some kind of mojito filled with dry ice...but it was very delicious - and we shared it, as it cost close to $40.00!
And so yeah, on our final night we had front row seats to Human Nature. They were fine about taking pics provided you didn't use flash or filmed them so I took a bunch. They were very very good...very slick but lots of fun.
We also took a four wheel drive trip to another canyon, Red Rock Canyon, which is about an hour or so from Las Vegas which was also a fantastic experience. So from a beginning when we were wondering how we would fill four days in Vegas, we found plenty to do and see. It's a crazy place and I couldn't cope with more than four days there at a time but yeah I'd go back.
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