Day 16: Vegas

So, Las Vegas. What can I say about this city? It’s in the middle of the desert, it’s pretty much always hot and runs at high speed 24/7. This is the 3rd time visiting the City of Lights and I still haven’t figured out what there is to do if you don’t gamble. I had an OK night’s sleep in the Stratosphere, but was very reluctant to get up. Nevertheless I had a date with a new car in McCarran International Airport and had to prepare my stuff for the transfer – this took a lot longer than I’d expected. After a lot of kerfuffling, I finally got on the road to the airport to hand back the Fusion which I was going to miss. After waiting in line for a bit, the lady at the counter offered me a Dodge Journey or a Chevy Impala. I knew the Impala was an inferior car to the Fusion so opted for the Dodge, reluctantly. After getting set up in the car and accepting its immediate flaws (older car, more mileage, noisy brakes, weak power, not very clean) I drove out of the lot to give it a chance. Immediately I regretted doing it but just bit my tongue and kept going.

I went to get some breakfast at the Egg Works by the airport which offered an amazing view of aircraft coming into land as it lay directly under the approach path to LAS. After the benedictine eggs were devoured (in the presence of a woman, her mother and annoying child), I went in search of somewhere to get a haircut – but the heat at this stage was starting to get intolerable. I turned on the A/C for the first time pretty much this entire trip. As the outside temperature breached the 100°F, I scrapped plans to have my scalp tended to, and went toward the Bellagio. Then I realised I should probably stop by the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop – the one from TV’s “Pawn Stars”. After punching in the address and weaving my way through the city (really not enjoying the ride in the Dodge either), I came upon this low-standing building with the recognisable sign, a queue of people outside, an overflowing parking lot and lots of mist spraying over the queuing public. After a few minutes however I was inside and surprised to see just how small the store is. Laid out as you’d expect, the wide-angle lenses of TV cameras made big a very narrow room stuffed with people taking photographs and generally not buying anything – until you get to the back where people seem to be obsessing over the Chumlee t-shirts – but at $22.50 + tax a pop, I said no, and split the scene. Onto Bellagio. Parking up on the roof, I went down into what I believe is the prettiest and most attractive casino floor in Vegas. Outside in the warmth (probably the best word to describe the heat, like a blanket you can’t escape from) were the popping sounds of jets of water forced through nozzles in the lake – the Fountains at Bellagio. These are amazing but funnily enough, once you’ve seen the hell out of them a few times, they lose their lustre. So I kept walking to somewhere I hadn’t been to before, the Fashion Show Mall. Mainly to see the Apple store, but also to see what everyone does during the day in Vegas too – the city is pretty strange during the day.

After all the walking, I decided it was time to check into the hotel. Tonight I’d be staying at a Best Western hotel on the city’s outskirts for about €40 booked with HotelTonight. After a long check in, I took the bags to the room, passing out four cops arresting a latino man from his hotel room and proceeded to have a shower, change and head back in for some supper. After remembering I should have booked a table earlier in the day, I had my now all-too usual battle with OpenTable trying to find a table for one. It seems the loss on not having a two-person table or more is too much for some restaurants to bear. So after a disappointing lap of the restaurant line, I went over the bridge to the other side of Las Vegas Boulevard from the Bellagio and went inside Bill’s gaming hall and into the Steakhouse. After asking if there were any tables I was shown into an empty restaurant. I took a gamble and sat down (pun intended) and was served a rather nice meal to the sound of a racist republican in his 60s with his wife and her friend. All in the presence of a waitress disinterested in her job and water boys who could barely muster two words to say hello. After eating and drinking my fill, I went back out into the night to catch one more fountain performance, before heading back to the hotel – along the way realising that my small driving around stint during the day cost me 1/4 of a tank of gas. I’ve left messages with the airport location to see if they can change it tomorrow – as yet no reply.

All in all a quiet day in Las Vegas.