Wannabe writer/critic currently selling PCs - and my soul - at PC World. Spent a lot of time crashi...
Wannabe writer/critic currently selling PCs - and my soul - at PC World. Spent a lot of time crashing intellectual parties in Prague. Now being nice on Ciao! UK.
Member since:13.12.2000
Reviews:116
Members who trust:39
I had my gambling stake for my two days in Vegas - $100. Not exactly a fortune, but I felt certain I could make some cash once I got into my groove on the Blackjack tables.
Las Vegas was always going to be the highlight of my American tour. Having escaped the urban hell of LA, we cruised into Vegas at night. We would have arrived early afternoon, but we wanted to see the glittering oasis emerge out of the blackness of the desert. So we hung around in a 'ghost town' and a retail outlet complex all afternoon, killing time.
The manic buzz of Vegas caught us instantly - just like being inside the world's largest pinball machine. The scale and ludicrousness of everything was daunting as we cruised the main strip. We were staying at the Excalibur, chosen because it was the tackiest hotel & casino within our price range. It looked like the Fisher Pricecastle my sister had when she was a baby.
I didn't get onto the tables immediately, but soon learnt that as long as I had two dollars in the video poker machines, the waitress would keep bringing me drinks. This is a very cheap way to get drunk, and I was still knocking back Buds at four in the morning, and the waitress was becoming increasingly hostile toward me. I eventually realised the reason for this - not accustomed to tipping, I had been asking her to bring me beers all night. That must've made her career as a waitress...running backwards and forwards to the bar for some cheapskate bloke in a Hawaiian shirt.
Breakfast, and we ate it in one of the casino's vast food pits. Before we came to the States, everyone who had been there mentioned the food. They assured us we'd eat more than we'd ever eaten before, and come back looking like the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters.
There was an immense array of food to be had, and so many gigantic Yanks stuffing their faces. Meals seemed to be more of an endurance contest rather than something to sate an appetite; food was devoured because it was just THERE, rather than the person being hungry. So many huge men inbaseball caps, T-shirts, shorts, socks pulled up to the knee and sandals, crammed into booths with whole banquets piled up on their plates.
The other casinos were consistently amazing - New York, New York, the Luxor, Cesar's Palace, Bellagio. Each had astonishing features that made them a must-see. New York had replica streets, complete with steam billowing from manhole covers and authentic looking delis and street cafes. Luxor was a pyramid shaped oddity with its own sphinx. Cesar's Palace had an elegant shopping arcade with a painted sky that gradually went from day to night, and back again. Bellagio had an amazing fountain show and a ceiling of glass flowers.
Two days was nowhere near enough time to explore Vegas, but I eventually got chance to play blackjack. It was on a cheapie $1 a hand table in Circus-Circus, and I came out $20 up. I knew I could make my fortune in Vegas...!
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Hotel - 3801 Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89109, USA, 3801 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, Nevada, NV 89109, United States of America - 2 Stars - 1878 Rooms
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Dec 30th, 2000
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