Vegas – again!

This is the 3rd time in 12 months we have been to Vegas, making it 5 in total.  I still can’t get enough of the place.  It was once again different as firstly, we were driving there instead of flying and secondly, it was just the two of us.  We were both thinking if it would be better or worse than our previous times when we were here in a big group.  I’ll let you know!

The drive to Vegas was brilliant.  No other city in the world can you see and name all the hotels in one view.  It was a shame that it was dusk, just as the sun was setting and the bright lights were coming on, so the pictures didn’t come out prefect – but we were happy enough!

We had booked into Planet Hollywood for 4 nights, checking out on Sunday.  It was good as the hotel had oversized parking so we could leave the RV for 4 nights without paying a fortune or worrying about it.  After negotiating a quick upgrade to a suite and getting our complimentary bottle of gin, we got to our room, (the bath was bigger than the bed!) showered and headed straight out.  Our thoughts were to walk up and down the Strip for a bit, have a few beers and get back to the hotel for a gamble.  This didn’t quite go according to plan. We walked as far as Jimmy Buffet’s Margaretville and decided to have one last drink.  Cazzie ordered a long island iced tea and I had a frozen margarita.  An older chap was sitting next to us and was on his phone.  He turned to us and asked where we were from, and then said he was in Vegas on a conference.  We found out his name was Tim and he seemed pretty cool and we liked him even more when he offered to buy us a drink.  I switched to the long island iced teas and kept chatting.  Before we knew it we were engrossed in conversation and finding out that Tim lived near Dallas, sold shoes, was divorced and had a few ladies on the go, 2 of which he got me to ring up and chat with – thankfully they didn't answer. We kept swapping stories and ended up 6 L.I.I.Ts to the good before we realised it was 1am and closing time!  After our customary picture with Tim, who took a real liking to Cazzie, we staggered home to pass out.  By the way, Tim HAS had his teeth whitened!

The next day arrived and we dragged ourselves to the Bellagio for a very late breakfast.  In the queue we met a retired couple from Arizona, who asked if we wanted to sit with them.  We were feeling quite popular with the older generation!  A pleasant brekie passed and we wandered up and down the strip towards the newest hotel, the Encore, which is owned by Steve Wynn.

The inside was immaculate with great attention to detail.  Like the Wynn, the Encore is not a themed hotel, it’s just a bloody nice one! The walk took us up to tea time, so back to PH , a shower, and out again for a meal and a gamble.  As we both felt rough from the night before, we were in bed by 1am!

Friday came round and we wanted to go back to the MGM Grand to visit the cafe where we had been on previous visits.  After a huge breakfast, we headed for the blackjack tables and got 4 large vodka redbulls down us, which sorted us right out!  Then a bit of a pub crawl before ending up at the Paris hotel to buy our tickets to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and these gave us $4 off a souvenir daiquiri – winner. We added our own gin to it back at the hotel.

Dinner was upon us and it was time to try the PH all-you-can-eat buffet.  Every hotel has one and you have to go a long way to beat the ones at the Wynn and the Bellagio. The one here didn’t really meet those high standards, but I did really enjoy the desserts!

After a lot of food, it was Eiffel Tower time, which we managed to coincide with a performance of the Bellagio Fountains – views were very good.

After another 21 session at PH, we were done.

Saturday came round – which also happened to be Halloween. We had booked into see Peep Show that evening, which turned out to be a lot of females taking their tops off trying to sing, which was nice.  Then it was costume time.  Halloween is HUGE in the US and lasts for about 3 weeks.  Everyone apart from us in PH was dressed up with costumes ranging from Dracula to Popeye to a bumble bee. It was brilliant and everyone was having a blast.  We got chatting to a few people and felt really gutted that we weren't in costume. Maybe next year.  I did manage to see Fred Flintstone at one of the tables though!

 

I mentioned at the start of this blog that we were both thinking if Vegas would be any better / worse with just the two of us.  Well it was brilliant as always.

As usual, the pics can be found here.

Stuoobs

xxx

Viva Las Vegas

Let me start off by telling you something that you should already know. Las Vegas is the greatest city on Earth and I will argue this fact with anyone who wants to. This place has everything and lots of it. I not going to bang on anymore about how good it is – but if you only visit one other place in your life, make sure it is Vegas.

This was the 4^th time I have been here. Cazzie and I arrived from Houston on Sunday night and checked into the Bellagio. We wandered around to find something quick to eat before Paulie and Karen arrived from the UK.

We were all set to go at about 8 pm and we headed over to Planet Hollywood Casino. Paulie and Karen grabbed a quick bite to eat while Cazzie and I played the tables. It was fairly clear that this wasn’t going to be a late one as jet-lag and Houston had caught up with us all. After a few gins on the blackjack table, we all called it quits.

So Monday was upon us and the weather was glorious. I have only ever been in Vegas during the winter and therefore never been able to take advantage of any of the wonderful pools that these 5 star hotels have. It was decided to eat at the poolside cafe before spending the next few hours soaking up the sun.

It was now time to get dinner and I have heard that the burgers at the Paris Hotel were the best you can get. I did have my doubts, but I needed to try them for myself. We rocked up to the Burger Brassiere and we were a tad disappointed that it was a sports bar. I was expecting more of a bistro type place. Anyway, we cracked on and ordered the Kobe Beef burger and I have to admit, it was great. I have had plenty of burgers in my time, but this was the best. And not only was this the best burger, we ordered a stack of onion rings, which were right up there too.

This is the beauty of Vegas – 4^th time here and the trip is never the same. In fact, I think the only constant during my 4 trips, apart from the gambling, is the Piano Bar At Times Square in New York New York. This is my fav place in Vegas. 2 duelling pianos, playing requests from the very drunk crowd, but in a way that everyone gets involved. Paulie and I, along with 8 other blokes, ended up in front of a lady on our knees, who was sat on top of the piano having requested “You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling”.

After a few Kamikazes and copious amounts of Vodka Cranberry, we were ready for bed.

Tuesday rolled round and the format was similar to Monday. Bit of breakfast by the pool (well, it was more like lunch by the time we had surfaced) and another sunbathing session. The next place on our list to eat the Bellagio Buffet, rated as the best on the strip. The queue for the buffet was about 70 deep, but I had managed to get us a free line jumping pass, so all 4 of us waltzed straight to the front of the queue, which must have really pissed everyone else off. The buffet itself was amazing. Crabs legs, huge shrimps, Elk, Prime Rib, Italian, Chinese and Indian. There was almost too much to choose from. The best part of this buffet were the desserts.

We all grabbed 2 / 3 each, put them in the centre of the table, took a bit from each one and decided upon our 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd favourite. The results were

1 – Lemon Meringue pie

2 – Chocolate pudding

3 – Strawberry Tart

To be honest, there wasn’t much to choose between them as they were all amazing.

Paulie and I then jumped on the blackjack table while Cazzie and Karen took themselves off to one of the many bars in The Bellagio. Before we knew it we had been sat at the table for 6 hours, had 15 gins and the girls were very drunk! It was about 6 am before we finally called it quits. If my memory serves me correctly, we were the last 21 table still standing!

Wednesday was my birthday and I started it with a hangover. After opening my cards we again headed down to the pool for food and sunbathing. We had booked ourselves into the miX restaurant at The Hote1 (yes, it does end with a 1 not an L) at Mandalay Bay for this evening. It was right at the top of the hotel with fantastic views.

The meal was terrific as was the restaurant. A tad pricey, but hey, it was my birthday. We headed back to the Bellagio where we spent a few more hours and a few more gins on the blackjack table, finally getting to bed at about 3.30 am.

Our last day started like the others with food by the pool. I finished the book I was reading, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, which is very funny. Tonight we had tickets to see The Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Vialli and the Four Seasons. This has been rated at the top show in Vegas and I can’t really argue with that fact. It was brilliant. Really well done and the guy that played Frankie was amazing. When you do go to Vegas next, see this show.

We ended up eating in the Venetian before heading back to the hotel. It was a concisions decision to make this a quiet night as we were up at 6am to catch our flight to Boston.

Again, another wonderful trip to Sin City. As mentioned earlier, it was yet another different Vegas experience. We didn’t really venture out that much. We had done the Grand Canyon, Shopping, walking to all the other Hotels and Casinos, so it was a more relax Vegas trip in the day time. This put us all on good form for the night time activities, not that you can really tell the difference between night and day when you are there.

Anyway, it’s off to Boston. See you there

Love

Stuoobs

xxx