Las Vegas

Neither me nor my husband are into gambling and our main reason for being in Las Vegas was to use it as a base from which to travel to the Grand Canyon.

We visited a lot of the large, glitzy hotels especially the themed ones. One of my favourites was the Luxor which is shaped like a huge pyramid and has an enormous sphinx outside it. Inside it continues the Egyptian theme with more models of sphinxes, hieroglyphic writing and much more.

The Luxor Hotel.

Another was the Bellagio Hotel because this had a conservatory with a Christmas display featuring polar bears, penguins, elves and a harlequin made of flowers. It also had a glass flower ceiling in the lobby. Outside the hotel there was a huge lake with a frequent fountain show.

Conservatory at the Bellagio Hotel.

We were also impressed with Caesar's Palace which had a fake colloseum, statues and our favourite the very atmospheric forum shops.

Forum at Caesar's Palace.

Another of the hotels that appealed to us was the Flamingo. This one had a bit of history as it was founded by a famous gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel who lived in the penthouse there. He was obsessed with his personal safety and had guards, escape routes and a getaway van at the hotel. However, he was murdered when he visited his girlfriend in Los Angeles. The Flamingo Hotel has pretty gardens filled with birds such as ducks and flamingos.

Flamingoes at the Flamingo Hotel.

As well as the glitzy hotels we really liked the park next to the T-mobile arena with its lego statues and huge dancer sculpture. The sculpture is called Bliss Dance and was created by Marco Cochrane. It really does capture carefree happiness.

The Dancer Statue.

Fremont Street is in downtown Vegas. It is sleazy but fun with its Elvis impersonators, bands, light show, half naked women posing for photos and a bearded dancing man dressed up as Marilyn Monroe. If you come here, take a look in the Golden Nugget Hotel. It has a swimming pool with a tank of sharks in the middle.

Freemont Street.

Las Vegas is brash and fake and in the day much of it is actually ugly. At night it takes on a magical appearance as it is all lit up in a fantastic display of colours.

Caesar's Palace lit up at night.

We did not like Las Vegas as much as we expected to, and some of the hotels were scarcely worth visiting, but we did like Caesar's Palace, both inside and out.

The Parisian Hotel

We just looked at the Parisian Hotel across Bellagio's Lake, because we have already been in a Parisian in Macau. In retrospect we probably should have gone in to compare the two. The Parisian Macau has lots of free and fun entertainment.

Bellagio Fountain Show.

The Bellagio was one of the best hotels in Las Vegas both inside and outside for its lovely fountain show which we saw both by day and by night.

Las Vegas Strip.

Las Vegas strip looked a lot more attractive at night than during the day.

The Excalibur Hotel.

I was not impressed by the Excalibur Hotel inside but it looked magical on the outside all lit up at night.