We're now almost two days into our stay in Las Vegas and it has been awesome so far. This place is properly crazy and we love it! For a start, it is boiling hot (100 degrees fahrenheit to be precise). It literally feels like you are walking into a sauna out there. Apparently this is cool for the time of year, but we'll happily accept 'cool'. There are water spritzers on the streets, blowing out a fine, cool mist that is very welcome in the heat.
We are staying in the Venetian, which is so huge that we left our room for 3 and a half hours yesterday and didn't actually make it outside, or even half way round the resort. There are 6 pools, we think, perhaps more, a shopping mall, two rivers complete with gondola rides, two museums, a spa, a gym (we're yet to find), 2 casinos and 44 restaurants and bars. On top of that, there is the whole of Venice recreated. You could actually just spend four days here and not need to leave. The only thing we're not too keen on is the casino - the lighting is horrible and it doesn't have a great atmosphere, but last night we went to the other casino, the Palazzo, and it was much nicer so I think we'll stick to that from now on.
Never fear, we have ventured outside of our resort though. Yesterday morning after a leisurely start (it was a luxury to have a whole day with nowhere to drive and no plans) we walked south down the strip, passing various resorts including Hurrahs, the Ling, Caesar's Palace and Paris, where we popped into the casino for my first ever game of roulette. I put in $20 and came away with $40 - brilliant! I'm really not a gambler but I've quite taken to roulette. It's fun!
We carried on walking, popping into M&M world, Sephora, and various other shops. Eventually the heat and hunger overcame us and we picked up a subway and came back to the hotel. We ended up having a 2 hour nap which was complete bliss. The last week and a half have been great but non-stop so to be able to stop for a while was a luxury. After our nap we explored the Venetian, and, as I said, spent about 3 and a half hours wandering around without even leaving the hotel. We did some shopping, spent a fortune in Victoria's Secret, and then got some noodles for dinner and had another game of roulette (this time Claire won and I didn't).
After a quick stop off in our room to get refreshed and changed, we went out to book tickets for the Divas show at 9.30, then wandered around some other parts of the strip - including a trip to Bellagio's. By this time it was dark and slightly cooler, bliss. Plus all the lights were on - this is how you imagine the strip and as expected, Claire was all excited! We saw the fountains twice - they were amazing! Far better than I thought. Then it was time for Divas! This is a famous female impersonation show staring Cher, Madonna, Beyoncé, Shania Twain, Lady Gaga, Tina Turner etc. and it was great fun! We were sat on a table of rowdy Canadians that made it more amusing. After the show we were buzzing so wandered back, watched the volcano erupt at the Mirage, as you do, got some ice cream and then went for another game of roulette in the Palazzo. Claire played, I watched and she walked away with $75. Not bad! By this time it was 1am so we headed back to our room and bed, tired but happy.
This morning we went to coffee bean for breakfast then picked up Sandy and drove to one of the shopping outlet malls here. It was huge and full of designer outlets stores. We had a shopping list and managed to get everything we came for - and more. Between us we came away with 10 big bags of clothes and shoes so we are almost certainly going to have to buy a new case to get everything home. Oops! It was worth it though - things were so much cheaper than back in the UK that even with the cost of a case and excess luggage we will still be better off.
After our shopping trip, we just spent a couple of hours by the pool. That was all we could manage in this heat but we started to get a bit of a tan finally! Now we are heading out to see the rest of the strip (we're going to get the monorail rather than walking) and for some dinner (if Claire wakes up - she has just fallen asleep!).