Viva Las Vegas!

Getting to Vegas wasn't half the fun. The plane was delayed an hour and we had to check in our bag as they still do the crazy check-in stuff - so no toiletries in carry-on baggage. The backpack has now had one of its handles broken by the caring people at Spirit Airlines. Never mind. I'm sure the we will be able to fix it somehow. 

We caught a taxi to the hotel. It is the Luxor. In true Vegas style, it is completely over the top. It is a giant pyramid. While this looks cool from the outside, it is a giant hollow pyramid from the inside. We are on floor 17. 


After checking in, we headed out for a wander down the Strip. It is nice and warm here. T-shirt, shorts and jandals were plenty warm enough at 11pm. The one thing that we learned this afternoon is that the casinos don't make it easy to find your way out. While trying to escape the Luxor, we found ourselves heading next door to the Excalibur. It is a particularly gaudy Arthur-legend themed hotel. Fits in nicely.  After trying in vain to find some lunch in there, we managed to escape onto the street. At 2pm there weren't too many weirdos, but as it is Spring Break, there are lots of college kids around. We managed to find some lunch and wandered through a number of hotels and casinos on our way to Treasure Island to secure tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show Mystere. 

Mission accomplished, we headed back to the Venetian for a wander around the shops, watching the gondoliers make their way around the canals. It was very cool. They project the sky onto the ceiling and somehow make it seem like you are outside when in fact you are inside. 

We then went to the Fashion Show.  It is a massive shopping mall with all sorts of semi-flash shops. No money was parted with but we had a good look around. That filled in time until Mystere started.  Siobhan has been desperate to see one of these Cirque du Soleil shows for ages. I wasn't too fussed. However, it was amazing. The acrobatics and trapeze stuff was incredible. Even that was surpassed though by the costumes and production of the whole thing, with a specially designed stage setting. What really took my breath away though was these two guys who did this act where one of them supported the other doing handstands and incredible balancing stuff. The strength displayed did not seem possible. I'll try and explain the most amazing bit. One guy does a shoulder stand. The other guy does a handstand on the first guy's feet. Pretty cool. The first guy then manages to lie down face first with the second guy all the time remaining in a handstand position on the first guy's feet. That was pretty cool too. Then first guy (lying face down on the ground) lifts his feet up off the floor with the second guy still hand standing away. He eventually gets back up to shoulder stand with the second guy still in place. Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. If you get the chance to see one of these shows they are amazing. 

Our journey back took us through the Bellagio. It is arguably the flashiest hotel in Vegas. Siobhan got a good photo of the amazing glass flowers they have on the ceiling at reception. They also had a huge Dutch themed display with real flowers (mostly tulips) that was also stunning. While everything is just so over the top, it was funny that as we were walking through the Bellagio, they were playing Crowded House's Something so Strong. A little bit of NZ when it really feels a world away.