Laaaaaaaas Vegas

What a contrast from camping! We went from the banks of the Colorado river with no showers and only starlight to the Las Vegas boulevard, a shower with two heads, and not a star in sight. We stayed at the MGM, which was pretty nice, although aside from the room and the lion exhibit, we didn't really spend much time there.

We managed to see most of the major hotels/casinos on the strip, gambled a little at most of them (although that was mostly penny slots...) and enjoyed people-watching from a few pretty decent strip restaurants. By Wednesday night, we seemed to really hit our stride - delicious dinner at the Venetian (in our rush we didn't realize until we were seated that we were next door to the restaurant that had been recommended to us. Oops. But the bartender was the best waiter we've had the entire trip), really amazing Cirque du Soleil show, and some big returns on the roulette table and the slots for Erica. (By that point, Rory had given up making bets - reminds us of the joke: you want to know how to play craps? you just put your money on the table and they pick it up, that's how you play craps.)

The show we were treated to was a water-themed extravaganza called "O." The stage was basically an enormous pool - which must have been pretty deep given the height of some of the diving - but they were also able to raise solid platforms of various shapes to provide tumbling/cotortion/dance/etc. platforms. There were flying horses and boats, a floating house with clowns, fire dancers, high divers, trapeze artists and plenty more. Completely riveting.

Accompanying the show was a display of Cirque-du-Soleil-inspired sculpture by the artist Richard MacDonald. The figures captured the dynamism of the performers and the beauty of the human body in motion in stunning ways.

Afterwards we went to New York, New York intending to put our loose change into the only (giant) slot machine that we had found that actually took coins. The line was too long though, so we did the logical second-best thing and put some money down on the roulette table. Good choice - Erica is the bomb.

Erica also discovered some French language skills while strolling through and dining at the Paris Hotel and Casino. The trick is to put "le" in front of most things! Here is a useful Vegas French-English dictionary....

le cashier - the cashier

le centre de conference - the conference center

le elevator - the elevator

Vegas, mon cheri, Vegas - Vegas, baby, Vegas