2/8/22 More of Vegas

I survived the walk out last night along the strip. It had some similarities to Times Square but more spread out and longer.  Still heaving with people, barely dressed ladies trying to get guys to have their photo taken with them. They are just doing their job but it is kind of fun to come up with new and interesting ways to say no; “no thanks, I’m driving”, “I’m a local” (which I so clearly am not) and a hand up and just a “ma’am” which leaves them confused. I did have some sort of gnome come up to me while I was stopped and asked how my night was going and then thrust a gaudy golden ring towards my hand that had a $ sign on it. I gather if I take it she can then demand a donation of something, but it doesn’t work if that person neatly side steps and walks on. My gambling for the night broke even so the juju power of the cheap tat was not very strong. Also I didn’t gamble, but that’s beside the point. That’s about the extent of the wildlife on display mid-evening, pretty pedestrian really. There’s a pretty big security presence around and there didn’t seem to be any trouble or trouble-makers.  As I was heading back I was walking near a guy who seemed particularly disturbed about the state of the welding trade currently, especially the current cost of acetylene and how some degree holding glasses wearing engineer was screwing up the industry. I had no unique points of view on the topic so I left him to it.

At the Walgreens (a pharmacy that sells everything bad for you including junk food, alcohol of every type and tobacco) I got some fresh fruit - my body desperately needed some sort of nutrition after two weeks of cheese and breaded chicken. So good!

My first view of Vegas after stepping out of the hotel

The Park MGM Casino. They pretty much all look the same apart from the roofs which tend to be themed.

The Coca Cola store.

They take their service workers seriously here, this seems to be a shrine to an usher. I’m sure they do a useful job, showing people to their seats.  Well done them. 

Cake Boss Carlos - a vending machine for slices of his cake.  I’m not sure which took me aback more, this or the woman who was standing in front of it smoking.  It was inside!  You can’t do that! But you can here and now I’ve got a crusty feeling at the back of my nose from having to go through casinos with people smoking in them. Thankfully my hotel is a no smoking one.

A sandwich, that’s healthy and usually has green leafy stuff in it.

No, not it does not.  I did choose whole meal bread though which kind of makes it better. 

This was the Original 1762 which was mostly roast beef and of course orange cheese.

The Bellagio Hotel and fountain, plus a smattering of other people and a portable sign advertising prostitutes (sorry, escorts) that come to your place, sort of like Uber eats I guess. 

The fountain show.  I think it does its thing to music but I couldn’t hear it. In the meantime someone just off the left of the screen was being loaded into an ambulance, probably from too much booze.

Paris, the hotel not the city.

Bellagio and Caesars Place, hosts to some Gordon Ramsay restaurants.  None of which I’m going to because they are all booked out and eye wateringly expensive. They don’t let people like me in anyway, with all the shouting and cries of “how much for chips?”

The women trying to get feathers into the photo were aimed at me. Oh all the attention and adoration!

The top of the Luxor Hotel pyramid being very bright. Google says the brightest beam of light in the world, which is nice for it.  Not sure why but there you go.

This was so good. So, so good. Bit melon heavy but who doesn’t like heavy melons.

Today was about exploring more of Las Vegas and all it’s wonderful delights. I started about 9:30 down Fremont St and it was a bit different from the strip. Definitely a little more squalid and far more people flogging their tat. All credit for them for actually doing something rather than just asking for money and I gave a couple of them some money. I don’t think NZ Customs would look kindly on a flower made from some flax pulled up from the side of a Nevada road so I declined their wares.

A fair few people were out drinking at this hour, and the range of brightly coloured cocktail mixers is huge.

The Sky Flight, flying fox thing.  It wasn’t running so I wasn’t able to test the limits of engineering by giving it a go.

A horribly realistic movie prop in the collectible toy store. It was supposedly the one used in the movie.

I did note that if I had left a bunch of my Star Wars toys in their original package I’d be a couple of hundreds of dollars better off.  I think I made the right choice.

A bloody big screen running the length of the place.  There wasn’t much on.

I finally had a Vegas Buffet for lunch - one more thing ticked off. It was inside a casino that had smoking inside so that was pretty gross.

Scrambled eggs (because breakfast), polish sausage (so good), chicken fried steak with country gravy (nope, not really that good), some bloody spicy little sausage and a bit of ham.

Salad! A chopped steak (which meant a steak shaped thing made from mince) and pizza.  The mince steak was surprisingly good.

More ham, corned beef hash (much better than the last one I had in NYC), a Southern fried chicken leg (that was a bit pink inside so that was left uneaten), mac n cheese and potatoes

Apple pie and vanilla ice cream.  This was really good, I got the no added sugar pie and loved it because it wasn’t overly sweet. The ice cream was French vanilla I think and pretty good.

It wasn’t the Bellagio or Bacchanal buffet but at least I had a shot at identifying what each thing was. 

Well you know what you’re getting I guess. Stay classy Vegas.

Rick and Morty featured a lot in the Fremont St, not sure why but here it is.

Either a car vending machine or a elaborate parking garage.  At least you can see where your car is.

Another off the list - the Titanic exhibition.  Absolutely amazing to see real life objects that were on it and recovered from the bottom of the sea.  They did have some semi-themed photos based on the movie but it was generally free from that particular licence. My request for one of the staff to draw me like one of the French girls went over his head but a guy in the queue nearby laughed. He also offered to hold me in the front of the ship scene but his girlfriend hit him and told him to stop making a scene.

Retaining the dignity and solemnity of the exhibition.And yes, that’s a phone in my pocket.

Excuse the shaky cam but they do not allow photos to be taken in this area. Although there is a lady to the right who will take your photo and you can give them some money at the end for it.  In your face! Saved myself an easy $20.

You get given a card at the start with a boarding pass and it has details about one of the passengers. You scan it at the end to see if you lived or not. I died.

Trying to get back to my hotel from the Luxor meant having to go through that to the Excalibur then over a bridge to the New York, New York and finally to Park MGM.  I got lost several times, and this is one of them,

Historically accurate I’m sure.  Also notable is that on this bridge the soles of my feet were uncomfortably hot because the surface was hot.  I HAD SHOES ON! You have to watch out for metal hand rails because they can be burning hot to touch. Even ones that aren’t in the sun are hot because the air is so warm.

I don’t remember seeing a roller coaster in New York last time but I’ll be sure to check in a week or so.

Don’t know why I’m bothering to go to NY, it’s just like being there,

Brooklyn Bridge, another one off the list and time saved!

Enough rambling, it’s now 8pm and I’m going to go and find something for dinner, hopefully not spicy and has some nutritional value.