Having reached a milestone birthday at the beginning of this year, some long standing school friends and I decided to celebrate and have a few days in Las Vegas. A big birthday treat to ourselves.
We booked the beautiful 5 Star Venetian Hotel for our 5 night stay and on arrival we were like excited children; what a hotel – everything I expected and more! I couldn’t believe how big The Venetian was – nothing is too over the top in Las Vegas – the bigger the better!!
We had 2 double double rooms which were just huge. The bathroom was a massive all marble affair, with steps leading off the bedroom area into a spacious living area, all of which were beautifully decorated.
First we toured the hotel which was breath taking. We took in the sights of “St Marks’ Square” complete with canals and gondola’s! We did have a ride and even got the gondolier to sing O Sole Mio or was it “Just One Cornetto!” I didn’t quite believe how real it could all be! We lost hours in the extensive shopping malls, restaurants and of course the main attraction – the casino!
Oh my goodness you need to have a degree to play the fruit machines! I was expecting one armed bandits and a pot to collect your winnings in, oh no all computerised gaming machines, I don’t know how I coped! Winnings wise I wasn’t too successful (there is generally only one winner and that’s the house!) and It took a couple of days before I dare play a roulette table. Once I had got into the swing of the rules I have never had so much fun losing so much money. The croupiers were so entertaining and with us being four women of a certain age they were very cheeky and hilariously funny, and of course the more free drinks we were given whilst gambling the lippier we got!!! The rules didn’t even apply after a while as they didn’t want us to leave!
We walked along the strip to other hotels, The Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Treasure Island, Excalibur, The Wynn, The Paris to name a few, all with different themes and of course casinos.
I had pre-booked a helicopter tour over the Grand Canyon, which was amazing and would highly recommend not to miss this fantastic once in a lifetime experience.
We felt we couldn’t visit Las Vegas without taking in a show at the Caesars Palace, so again we had pre-booked to see Elton John. A fabulous show, he can still play the old ivories and his voice didn’t sound too bad either. His backing group are excellent but Elton spoilt it a little bit being such a Diva!! All worth watching though.
We went to Fremont Street in old Las Vegas and saw Elvis, yes I think he was the real one! Here you will find all sorts of street entertainment, even a zip wire the whole length of the street! Two of my friends thought they would like to do this but once reality set in they chickened out … strange really!!
All in all we had a fabulous time. Would I go back? … yes probably for another celebration, I would have to save up for it though!!!
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