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Sunday
10th December We
arrived at Gatwick Airport at approx 3am Sunday morning courtesy of my brother. The
aim was to not queue at check in so we got there nice and early and ready to pounce
as soon as check-in opened. The Virgin Atlantic website said it opens at 5.30am
- 6am so we went to get a coffee and put our feet up.
Bondy had a wander round the
airport a few times while I stayed with the cases and bags. He went off at about 4.30am
and came back with a grin on his face soon after "Check-in is open!". He wasn't wrong
- we walked from one end of the terminal to the other and breezed through check-in.
Going through customs was a bit
more of a nightmare though. There were several other airlines already doing check-in
and the queues began to get big. We stood in line and eventually got to the bit where
they scan your hand luggage. "take the laptop out of the case please", "take your
shoes off please", "take cameras and phones out of your bag please", "do you have
any liquids in your bags?" After all of this we finally got through to the departure
lounge. So nice to not have cases to haul around.
The flight was delayed by 45
minutes but we made up time in the air and arrived in Las Vegas only 30 minutes late.
On leaving LV airport I saw Big Brother contestant and winner, Anthony. I walked straight
past him as he was waiting for his (no doubt) limo to take him to his hotel. I touched
him with my arm!! Anyway, that was as much excitement as I could take and we headed
for the taxi line. As our flight was only half full, the queue for taxi wasn't
that bad. Got our taxi, jumped in, told the driver to take us to the Monte Carlo and
to avoid the tunnel. He laughed when he realised he wasn't able to long haul us -
wanker.
We had managed to get a few hours broken sleep on the plane. The other aim about
getting to the airport early was to stay awake and be tired enough to sleep on the
plane. The captain (a woman!) kept hitting turbulence so we were constantly
woken up to put our seatbelts on. We had a whole row each (coz the flight was
half full) and so were able to lie down but without our seatbelts on.
One little tip for anyone flying on a plane where you can watch a movie. DON'T
watch snakes on a plane while you are on a plane! Trust me, just don't.
So once we reached the Monte Carlo I asked for an upgrade. "No upgrades today
madam, but I can give you a strip view on a high floor, but it only has 2 queen beds
and not a King bed like you requested". OK that will do I thought. I then
asked if we could have a room with a King bed the next day for the duration of our
stay, flashed a $20 at her and all was sorted. Got to the room, didn't need
to unpack (woohoo) and went out to the strip.
Initially we walked to the MGM to see the lions, then over to the Tropicana, then
over to the Excalibur and eventually ended up at the Luxor where we had planned to
go and get something to eat. Ordered ourselves a burger each, scoffed it down
and left. The walk back was a little slower, feet are starting to hurt and my
back starts to play up as I slept funny on the plane. NYNY was our next stop
as we planned to spend a lot of time here as we are right next door to it. We
then thought we should take a walk down to the Bellagio to catch a water show.
Slow walk there and we caught one as we arrived. Then we walked over to the
Aladdin. This is not yet called Planet Hollywood.
There is still quite a lot of construction going on inside and out of the Aladdin.
A whole new section is being added on the side and is nowhere near complete.
Inside is a different matter, it is almost completed. There are a few sections
that still have the old Aladdin theme, carpet, machines, decor etc but most of it
has the new decor. Not really sure that we liked it very much. Bit boring.
We couldn't find the poker room. The ceilings have been lowered as well as it
seems they have put another level in. Feels kind of closed in. We
are going to go back though and give it another try as we were starting to get tired
and weren't taking much in.
Had a quick walk through the Dessert passage, got some supplies from the ABC Store
and made our way back to the Monte Carlo.
I had hit quad deuces on a double bonus poker machine after my third spin earlier,
so we were up $80. We plonked ourselves down in front of some machines again
and stuck the winnings, and more, back into the casinos pockets before heading to
bed at about 10pm.
Monday
11th December I
woke at about 10am after more broken sleep. The construction noise from out
front took a while to get used to and sometimes woke me up but I put the heater
on in the room and that pretty much drowns out the noise. You can still hear
it but not as much. Also, having a room with a strip view means you can hear
the music from the nightclub over the road. Not a problem though.
Neil had been up since 2am, been
and played a bit of poker in the Monte Carlo poker room. They take 10% from
every pot - regardless of how much is in it. Bit steep! He played a few
rounds, didn't win a hand and left. Came up stairs with coffee at about 6am
in an attempt to wake me up but I wasn't having any of it and just went back to sleep.
By 10.30am we were in the Bellagio.
Had a quick look in their conservatory which they have almost finished decorating.
I will take the camera out next week sometime to get some piccies once it is complete.
We then went over to Paris.
We found a nice little cafe in the "Parisian back streets" and got coffee and a danish
for breakfast. We then jumped in a taxi and went to the Hard Rock. What
a disappointment this place was. Don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't
that! We were there for about half hour, which was enough. We then
got another taxi to Hooters. This was not here on our last trip, they have not
been open long. We went in so Bondy could ogle the girlies. 30 minutes
of that is enough Bondy! and we walked back to the strip via the Tropicana.
We ended up back in NYNY and got a real good feel for the place. I never liked
it before but once you get to know where everything is it's actually a really nice
place.
We had to be back to our room
by 5pm so that we could change to our new room. I went downstairs to reception
with my passport and they changed our room for us. We only had to move next
door which was very handy. Once I had unpacked we went on the hunt for dinner.
Actually ended up in the CVS store next door (coz I wanted to get a new toothbrush)
and they had sarnies and drinks in there. We weren't too hungry so got a sarnie
each. Went back to the Monte Carlo and sat and ate while we pumped money into
the VP machines. I hit quad Aces for $200 and we are suddenly up on the day.
I then hit quads three more times. So nice to win for a change.
Before we knew it we were being
looked after by a friendly waitress who was more than happy to bring us bottles of
bud for Bondy and corona for me for $2 a time. It was now almost midnight and
we were extremely tipsy :-p Went up to bed soon after and slept like babies.
Tuesday
12th December Today
we woke at 9am. TOO EARLY!! We need to get our sleep pattern changed as
we want to be awake longer in the evening.
We
head downtown today via The Gamblers Book Store. It's not until we ask for a
specific book that we are told to go to The Gamblers Book Store a few blocks away,
that we realise the taxi driver had dropped us at the wrong place!
We
got directions and headed off in search of the correct place. We couldn't find
it. Ended wandering around the streets of downtown - lost!
Try
to find a landmark - eventually see the Plaza in the distance and walk in that direction.
We were walking pretty fast too as we saw some unsavoury people and we wanted to keep
hold of our money!
Got
downtown by about mid-day. Never been so glad to see Fremont Street! We
stopped for coffee and then went into the Fremont cafe and got breakfast. Walked
over to the California and Main Street Station as well. MSS is very nice but
very small. All of the downtown casinos are small compared to those on the strip.
That's not a bad thing though.
We
spend about three hours downtown, we even went in the Gold Spike. OMG!!!
We
thought we would save on taxi fares and got a ride on the Deuce bus. $2 each
gets you there - pretty slowly.
We
got back to the Monte Carlo and had a kip 'til 7.30pm. I am now sat here one
hour later, still writing this report. Time to go out now, will write more later :-)
+++++++++++++++
It's 3am and I just got back
to the room. Been playing poker in the Monte Carlo for the past hour.
Having a nice little run at the $1/$2 NLHE table when I get dealt 44. There's
been a raise mid position, I am on the bb and call the raise. flop is A45.
I check and original raiser bets $15, I re-raise another $45 and he comes over the
top to put me all in for my remaining $120, which I call. Turn A (my heart leaps
- I have a FH!), river T. I show my Full House, and am shown AT from the other
player for a better Full House (WANKER!!!). I get up and walk away, sulking
as I go and muttering under my breath. Bondy was at the other table and apparently
the hand was being discussed in great detail after I left and the guy being told how
lucky he was etc etc. Oh well. Normally I would just re-buy but I am tired
and irritable, especially after that beat. Bondy had just won some sort of high
hand jackpot on his table as well for $100 when he flopped quad aces, so
that makes my loss a little more bearable.
Earlier on in the evening we
went over to the Palms and then walked over to the Rio. Just missed the last
show of the night at the Rio, was looking forward to seeing that too. Got a
cab back to NYNY and sat in there listening to the live band that was playing, whilst
we won a few bux on the video poker machines.
Wednesday
13th December What
is it about Las Vegas (and most likely all of the USA) that you can't get
a decent cup of coffee when you wake up? You see a sign saying "freshly brewed
coffee" get your hopes up and all to be let down when you taste a first sip of your
piss tasting hot liquid. All I want is to be able to actually taste the coffee.
My quest for a decent morning cuppa continues.
We woke at 10am today and I
was ready and raring to go until I realised I had only had 5 hours kip. So I
uploaded some piccies from the camera, resized them and put them on the site for you
to see. I then went back to sleep until 2pm. Finally crawled out of bed,
got ready for the day ahead and went for coffee. Oh dear, my quest for a decent
cuppa continues still.
We walked over to Paris and then
found the walkway to Bally's that I had been looking for. It's amazing how you
find so many different things each time you come to Las Vegas. Because we are
staying down the MGM end of the strip we tend to explore the hotels down this end
more, whereas before at the Wynn we knew those hotels like the back of our hand.
So having found the walkway to
Bally's, we left Bally's through the front entrance. Amazingly the long moving
walkways were working. Makes a change. Our feet still hurt from all the
walking so it's nice to sometimes just stand on a moving walkway and let it take you
to its' final destination.
We wanted to check out the cardroom
at Caesars today. It had only just opened when we last saw it a year ago.
We crossed over the bridge from the Barbary coast to Bellagio. You see a lot
of beggars on these bridges, some more worse for wear than others. We saw a
beggar today with a sign saying "why lie - I need the money for beer". Bondy
told him this was the best sign in vegas and gave him a dollar.
We got to Caesars and walked
through to the card room. We used to get lost in this place, but I think I have
just about got it sussed now. Anyways, the cardroom was heaving. There
must have been over 20 tables on the go in the front - all cash games and a tournament
was still going on in the tournament area. There seemed to be a nice buzz
in there.
We milled around Caesars for
an hour or so making our way to the forum shops and the Cheesecake Factory which I
still haven't eaten in god damn it! You can't eat cheesecake for breakfast.
Can you?? We looked for somewhere to have breakfast, couldn't find anywhere
we fancied so headed back to Paris - via the Bally's walkway. By now it's more
like time for lunch and we stop at a place called La Provencal.
Upon entering and being shown
to our table by a very camp non gay French type bloke, we find out that the place
is in fact an Italian restaurant. WHY?? This is the Paris hotel, shouldn't
it be French? Oh well, never mind, we order a small pizza each and while we
are eating, some woman comes around singing Christmas songs which is quite off-putting.
She was quite good though.
We check out the Eiffel Tower
prices on the way out. Not bad at $9 per adult for a trip to the top.
Not sure when we will go up to the top but hopefully this week.
Having decided to give the Aladdin
another go, we wander in again and I actually kind of like the place. The
decor is very retro. No actual theme as such that you can see. I believe
this theme is mostly in the rooms in the form of stars memorabilia on the walls etc.
We went up to the mezzanine level where we found more slots machines and behind those,
the temporary poker area. Not so much a room as a roped off area in the middle
of the floor. A tournament had just started 20 minutes previously, there were
9 tables - not a bad turnout. There was no cash games going as everyone was
in the tourney so we left and headed back to the Monte Carlo.
By now it's 10pm, can't believe
where the last 12 hours have gone. We drop off some shopping in the room and
head straight back out to the Bellagio as we want to see what time the main event
of their "Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic" starts tomorrow. Satellites have
been running around the clock at the Fontana Bar. Saw a few faces in there:
Joe Hachem, TJ Cloutier, John Duthie, some guy from Luton whose name escapes me (Stuart
something...). The main event starts tomorrow at 2pm so we are going to go back
and check it out some more.
We head back to the Monte Carlo
for the final time - feet killing from all the walking - and end up at the poker
room. Bondy gets a seat at the $2/$4 limit game straight away. I
have to wait over an hour for my seat at the $1/$2 NL game. I finally sit down
and 4 hours later I have doubled my money. $25 an hour - not bad.
Time for bed as it's 4.30am and
we need to rest our feet! On our way back to the room I put $10
for Dazza on # 23/24 on the roulette and match it with $10 of my money on the same
number. Wheel spins, ball drops in at # 29. Sorry Dazza.
Thursday
14th December We
actually managed to find a half decent cup of coffee today - woohoo!! Starbucks
is the place to go for a regular coffee that actually tastes like coffee.
Although, it's not a GREAT coffee, don't get me wrong.
We go straight to the Bellagio
today as the poker has already begun. We get there while the players are on
a break. So many faces in the crowd. The likes of Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson,
Cyndie Violette, The Boatman Brothers, Dutch Boyd, Erik Sagstrom and Marcel Luske
to name but a few.
They were just headed back in
to play when we got there so we walked around taking some photos of Bellagio and Caesars
before coming back at the end of the next level for the next break. We we're
looking for an old friend of Bondy's who is doing some reporting for his website but
couldn't catch sight of him. We will try again tomorrow.
Walked back to Monte Carlo taking
night time pictures on the way and stopping in shops getting ideas for pressies to
bring home.
At 9.30pm we went to the Outback
Steakhouse for dinner. I had a lovely filet steak (a tiny 9oz one compared to the
20oz one Bondy scoffed). We then got the deuce bus back to the Monte Carlo. I noticed
that the progressive on the VP hadn't gone yet and was up to $1350.00 and demanded
we squander $20 each to try and hit it. We, of course, didn't hit it but I did hit
yet another quad aces for $100 which paid for dinner. Bondy then went to the cardroom
to play in the $4/$8 HORSE cash game that they have every Thursday night starting
at 9pm. It turned out to be HOSE as some of the players opted for this instead of
HORSE and turned into HOE some time after. I went upstairs for a lie down after that
monster steak and then went back down to the cardroom a few hours later to find Bondy
half cut (those waitresses kept bringing him beer!) and about $110 down.
I have been feeling a bit ill most of the day, hopefully will feel better tomorrow.
Friday
15th December Woke
up today with a banging headache. Took some pain killers, got a coffee and then walked
down to the Paris where we got the bus. We wanted to go to the Wynn and also
to see how far they had gotten with the new construction next door to the Venetian.
The Wynn was still lovely as ever. I still think it's too far up that end of
the strip. The new casino that is going up next to the Venetian is called Palazzo and
is going to be a 643-foot, 53-story extension of The Venetian. Its' plan is
to coax in passers by as they walk to and from The Wynn. It is due to open November
2007.
My headache was still not letting
up so we took a slow walk back to the Monte Carlo and ended up having a 3 hour nap
when we got back to our room. We woke at 10pm and went downstairs to "The Cafe"
for something to eat. The poker room gave us both complementary tickets, the
last two nights running, to eat in The Cafe so we thought we might as well get a free
meal courtesy of the Monte Carlo. Bondy had a nice big juicy burger and I
kept it light and just had a ham and cheese omlette with toast. Very nice it
was too. We will have to play more poker to get more comps for The Cafe.
Come 3am I was unbelievably tired again. Feeling drained and not quite right,
I went back up to bed while Bondy went to play some $2/$4 limit in the cardroom.
I woke at about 8am and he was still not back yet, so I go straight back to sleep
as my headache (which I now think is a migraine) has still not gone.
Saturday
16th December Well,
the headache still hasn't totally gone, but I will soldier on today. I am in
Vegas after all.
+++++++++++++++
Soldier on I did! First stop today was the CVS 24 hr store right next door to
the Monte Carlo. I went and spoke with the pharmacist as I thought I might need
something to clear my sinuses. He asked if I suffered from high blood pressure
as the tablets that would help my sinuses are bad if you have high BP. I
told him that I have done in the past and so he told me to sit at the BP machine and
take my BP before he would prescribe me with any of the sinus relief pills.
Well my BP was extremely high, which could account for the headache I have had the
past three days. He told me to take some nasal spray (which would not affect
my BP) and to take some painkillers for the headache and he also told me to try and
relax (difficult because I am so excitable when I am here!). Both the spray
and pills taken in conjunction seemed to work and within a few hours I was feeling
80% better.
Thought that we should just chill out by taking some pictures, so went to MGM, Excalibur,
Luxor and NYNY. Then we got back to Monte Carlo and decided to donate to the
casino whilst trying to win the VP Progressive. The waitresses kept bringing
the beers and after 2 hours and 6 bottles later, we thought we should probably
get something to eat. We had more complementary tickets for The Cafe so we went
in there and ordered a couple of burgers to soak up the alcohol. It was quite
late when we came out of there and I was in the mood for some poker. Saturday
nights in all of the poker rooms are always busy, the Monte Carlo is no exception.
They had 7 tables on the go and I got a seat at a $1/$2 NLHE game. I sat
with my $100 and cheerily (and rather drunkenly) said hello to all the American fish
at the table. Not one of them acknowledged me. They were obviously scared
shitless of me - NOT!! I could see them all rubbing their hands together and
wondering which one of them would wipe me out first.
I have gotten my $100 up to approx $125 in the first round. I am now on the button
and have a nice suited AT. I flat call, as do four of the American fish.
Flop brings a rather lovely JQK rainbow. Action before me goes like this:
Bet $10, pass, raise to $30. My blood pressure is about to burst the top
of my head open but I don't care. I re-raise, making it $60 total. They
both call - yippee, come to Ali little fishies. Turn is an offsuit 3 so no flush
possibility available. They both check and I go all in for my remaining $65.
First guy dwells forever, showing the guy next to him what he has. Surely that's
not allowed! I watch him intently, willing him to call and as I look over at
the other guy I catch him looking at me - maybe he is thinking what a stupid
drunk Brit I am. Guy having a dwell finally calls as does the guy giving me
daggers. Last card is a deuce. They both check it down and we turn over
our hands. Guy having the dwell has 9T for the lower straight, other guy has
pocket aces and throws them at the dealer. My lovely flopped straight wins and
I throw a $5 tip to the dealer as I am raking in my $300+ pot. Lots of
muttering and dissections of the hand occurred while I was still stacking
my chips. I love playing with these numpties :-P
Bondy was on the $2/$4 table doing his pieces at the same time. We eventually
finished soon after and when we pooled our winnings/losses, we had won back most of
what we had sunk into the VP machines earlier in the night. Finally got to bed
at 6am just in time to see all the tarts leaving the hotel for the night. Next
time you are in Vegas, just sit and watch the prozzies as they meet their next victim.
It's very entertaining to watch when you've had a few beers. They sit at the
machines near the hotel elevators on their mobile phones, describing what they
look like etc. Then, when their victim arrives, they sit and chat for about
10 minutes (so as not to look too obvious LOL!) before heading up to the victims'
room. Maybe it's just me, but I find it most entertaining, especially on nights
when their pimp is watching them from not so far away.
Sunday
17th December We
woke a little earlier today to let housekeeping come in and do the room. They
don't like it when you don't let them in for days at a time. The previous
few days they had called the room while we were asleep (waking us up) asking when
they could come in. So today we let them in.
We
took a slow walk over to MGM to see the lions (coz I love seeing them) and there
were two different lions in there today. These ones were 18month olds.
We caught the whole introduction this time too, by the guy who walks around outside
the habitat answering questions. The enclosure is sound proof, all the
lions can hear is the running water from the waterfall in there. It is also
scent proof, so they can't smell anyone and think it's lunch time! The temperature
is set at a constant 75 degrees and the humidity is 45 degrees. They used
to have a pair of lions that they brought to the habitat once a week, but they liked
it so much in there that they refused to leave. So they had to stop bringing
them in. All in all there are 36 lions that they rotate. They live on
a huge ranch 12 miles from the strip and are brought into the habitat every morning
at 11am in their bespoke made steel transport cages. No doubt we will be
going to see them again before we leave.
We
went to go and find the Starbucks in the MGM while we were there and while we were
walking round we saw loads of cheerleaders, then more and then hundreds and hundreds
more. You couldn't move for cheerleaders. Bondys tongue was hanging out
so we had to leave hehe. We couldn't get to Starbucks anyways, the
queue was about 70 deep with cheerleaders. Later on at about 11pm, we saw the
team that won, they were carrying their trophy and singing and dancing as they walked
down the strip.
Not
much else to report today, we just went to Bellagio to check out who was left
in the biggie, then went over to the food court for a meal at Panda Express (you gotta
try their orange chicken, it's the best thing ever), then we chilled out at the slots
for a few hours before bed. All in all a nice lazy day.
Monday
18th December We
finally caught up with Bondys mate at the Bellagio today. He has been doing
live updates for a top online website and has been impossible to pin down until now.
There are 27 players left so all has calmed down a bit in the Fontana Bar
where they are currently playing.
The
last few days have been extremely cold. MUCH colder than it was last year.
The wind is making it feel even colder. Most people are walking around
with hats, scarves and gloves on.
As
we were leaving the Bellagio it started to snow. Vegas is pretty when it snows,
I hoped it would settle, but it just stopped after about 10 minutes.
We
walked up to the Tropicana to see "The Bodies Exhibition". This was on my list
of must see's before we left for Vegas. I had seen a few posts on other forums
about it and was intrigued to see it for myself.
The
trip to the Exhibition Centre in the Tropicana is quite a trek. You have to
go upstairs then all the way to the other side of the hotel via the food court and
then down in the elevators again and then follow signs until you finally reach
the Exhibition Centre. They still have the Titanic exhibition going,
which we thought we might go and see after we had seen the Bodies, but the Bodies
is much longer than we originally thought and by the time we came out we just needed
to sit down and chill for a bit.
Here
is a link to The bodies Exhibition for you to get an idea of what we saw as we
were not allowed to take pictures in there: http://www.tropicanalv.com/ent_bodies.asp
I
can sum this exhibition up in one word: Fascinating. It is a must see by anyone
going to Vegas and who wants to see something that little bit different for just $28
each.
We
then caught the deuce bus to the Venetian and walked back to the Outback Steakhouse
for a nice big steak dinner.
Walking
back to the Monte Carlo at about 11pm we decide to stop at the Bellagio on the way
to see who is still in the main event. Joe Hachen, Daniel N and Justin Bonomo
are the only three I really caught site of out of the remaining 12 runners.
The rail is 5 deep of people trying to catch a glimpse. I do spot Gus Hansen
in the crowd though - yum, what a treat :-P Ali likes Gus.
When
we get back to the Monte Carlo it starts to snow again, quite heavily this time and
for about 3 hours, it didn't settle tho.
Wasn't
in the mood to play poker tonight so just did our pieces on the video poker machines
instead. Oh, what fun!
Tuesday
19th December We
have just gotten back from downtown where we went to see the Fremont Street Experience
Las Vegas Bowl Pep Rally involving college football teams BYU and Oregon. Players,
coaches, bands, cheerleaders and mascots join fans from both schools to show
who has the most school spirit. You have never seen such large bands (well, I haven't).
They play alternate songs (about 15 songs each) they are like an army - it's really
kind of scary. The atmosphere was amazing. Their cheerleaders perform
their routines for you to see and the bands play on, while their mascots runs around
trying to entice the crowd to join in. The whole thing lasted two hours, a little
too long in my opinion as it was bloody freezing!
We
went to this Pep Rally because Bondy purchased a ticket to the game before we
left for Vegas. They play on Thursday at the Las Vegas Bowl and he can't wait
to see his first live college football game. I will try and get him to do a
mini trip report when he gets back - might not happen tho!
We
got the deuce bus downtown and then rode it back to the Luxor as we wanted to
go and see The Tomb & Museum of King Tutankhamen. At $9.99 per person,
it's not bad but not great. They re-enact the tomb and talk you through the
history etc. You are in and out in about 20 minutes. You do learn a few
interesting though and is worth a visit.
Straight
afterwards we visited the Luxor IMAX 3D Theatre. The 10pm show that we saw was
called "Haunted Castle". The show lasted about 45 minutes and cost $11.99 per
person. It was really good and we may go back and see a different show before
we leave. I picked up a schedule before we left, they start at 10am and finish
at 11pm daily. There are five different shows to watch. 3D shows have
come a long way in the last few years and we were not disappointed in this one.
Wednesday
20th December I
wanted to try out the shopping, Vegas style, so today we said we would go
to the Boulevard Mall - about 3 blocks from the strip. Before shopping though,
I wanted to walk to Ellis Island Casino which was one block behind Bally's.
It's about a 20 minute walk. We thought that once we got there that
we would get a taxi to the Boulevard Mall. So off we went to Ellis Island, passing
a few yobbo's on the way. Many people don't like to venture off the strip and
sometimes you can see why. The yobbo's leave you alone if you pay them no attention
anyway.
We
got to the casino in about 15 minutes as it was cold and we walked faster to keep
warm as well as avoid trouble. The place looked deserted from outside but once
you open the door the place is heaving. To the left there is a brew pub, full
of people eating and drinking and to the right is the casino. No carpet on the
floor, just nice shiny stone-work. The whole place was humming. We spent
about 30 minutes in there before we went outside to catch a taxi. I had
a feeling that there would be no taxi, I was right. So we walked back a half
block and crossed the road to go to the Westin hotel where we saw there was a line
of taxis outside.
Eventually
got to the
Boulevard Mall at about 3pm. It's your usual mall - lots of shops, lots of department
stores: Macys, JC Penny and Sears, pretty decorations all over the place and most
of all - everything seems like it's half price because of the exchange rate!
I brought myself a new handbag, some DVDs, some pressies for the kids and Bondy brought
a mini digital camera (for the game tomorrow) and some new Nike trainers.
All in all we spent about $150. OMG - much cheapness :-P
Got a taxi back to Monte Carlo after 3 hours of shopping. Dropped off all of
our goodies in the room and headed straight back out to see if we could get tickets
to "The Tournament of Kings" show at the Excalibur. We walked over to the "Tix
4 Tonite" place just over the street. They were all sold out and the guy said
that they were most likely sold out at Excalibur ticket office too. As Excalibur
isn't that far we chanced our luck and walked over there to see if we could catch
the 8.30pm show. After standing in the queue for over 30 minutes we eventually
got served. "Only a few seats left" said the miserable bitch behind the counter.
So we brought two tickets and walked around the Excalibur to kill some time before
the show started seating.
Doors opened at 8pm and we went straight in when they opened. You're not allowed
to take cameras in so I will try and describe what it was like in there...
In the middle there is a large area of mud/horse crap etc. At one end is the
stage and big opening where all the horses and actors appear from. Around the
left and right sides and at the opposite end of the stage there are 6 rows of tables
and seat. Within these rows of seats there are six different countries.
We were sat in the section known as Ireland on the front row.
Considering we got some of the last seats, I thought how lucky we were to get front
row seats. Two things to consider here if you ever go and see this show.
1 - always have a few beers to get you in the shouting/fighting spirit and 2
- NEVER get front row seats.
They serve you with drinks and food as the show starts (this is all included in the
price of $63 each). No utensils are provided, you just tuck in with your fingers.
Each country has its' own "king" and each king must dual until there is a winner.
The crowd for each section goes wild when their king is fighting. Once you get
into it it's fun, but you really do need to have a wee drinkie before you go in.
At one point, a horse was running down the side - right in front of us - and it kicked
up a big lump of s**t which bounced from one end of the table right down to the other
end where we were sitting. Everyone on the front row could not continue their
s**t covered meal, but we did laugh as Bondys roll went flying off behind us having
been propelled by lumps of horse s**t.
The show finished just before 10pm and we walked slowly back to the Monte Carlo in
the still freezing conditions and plonked ourselves down in front of the VP machine
that we are trying to win the progressive jackpot at. It's up to over $1700
now. Ordered a few beers from the waitress and played VP for the rest of the
night. Had a break to go get a burger - as our dinner had been ruined earlier
- and continued to lose more cash to the VP machines. Got a reasonably early
night as Bondy has to be up early-ish tomorrow to go to the college football game.
Thursday 21st
December Bondy
was up at 12.15, jumped in the bath, got dressed and was gone by 12.45. Told
me that he was going to walk to the Stadium. Nutter.
I
went back to sleep and didn't wake until gone 5pm - oops!
Spent
most of the days waking hours talking with Heidi on msn and doing reports and
pictures etc.
Bondy
got back from the football game (having gone to the WRONG stadium!!) at 9.55pm.
He is (hopefully) going to do a trip report and I will add it here at a later
date.
We
walked up to Aladdin as we fancied a nice Chinese for dinner and knew PF Changs
would still be open. We over ordered as usual but managed to eat most of it
anyways. Considering we over ordered and thought the bill was going to be over
$90, we were surprised when we got it to be only $50. For an extremely
well priced Chinese, I recommend this place. We ate here once before last trip and
the food was a bit cold but they now serve everything to you on very hot plates
and it stayed hot the whole time.
We
headed back to the Monte Carlo, unable to walk fast because of our over-eating, and
we finally collapsed at the VP machines. To our disgust, the $1700 jackpot had
gone while we were out!! It was a bit of a relief to be honest. We played
it anyways and went to bed at 4am, losers.
Friday 22nd
December Opened
up the curtains to a mass of cars and people swarming all over the place, in a big
fecking hurry. I wanted to go to the Stratosphere today to get a specific item
(as I don't know anywhere else that does it) but the traffic was a bit of a turn off.
Went down to the strip and saw the Deuce bus already at the stop. A sudden burst
of energy let us run and caught the bus to the Strat. Got everything I wanted
in the shopping area and we walked back to the Sahara and
caught the bus back to the Monte Carlo.
Dropped off
all of the shopping in the room and headed straight back out to the Luxor to catch
the last IMAX show at 11pm. It is called "Fighter Pilot" and is rubbish.
Trust me, don't waste your time or money. It's not even in 3D.
We then stopped off at the Luxor Cafe for something to eat. I had the Halibut
and chips. The Halibut was fried in a beer batter and was yummy. Bondy
had spicy chicken wraps that were also very good.
We took a slow, long, walk back to the Monte Carlo. I hit a small progressive
($42) on some random machine I had never played before - woohoo. Ended up in
bed at about 6am.
Saturday 23rd
December I
woke up today with a sore throat and a hot stabbing pain in my chest. Bondy
felt ok apart from a bit of a headache.
We
walked over to MGM to see the baby lion cubs being fed at 9pm. Milled around
the M&M store for about 10 minutes and then I came over all hot and bothered and
thought I was going to faint. We left the store pretty smartish and came back
to Monte Carlo where I collapsed in a heap.
Bondy
spent the night on the laptop catching up while I died quietly.
Sunday 24th
December Bondy
woke today feeling just as bad as I did yesterday. We both were shivering, had
extremely high temperatures, sore throat, headache, blocked nose and every single
joint in our bodies ached like crazy.
We
had no drinks in the room so I found some energy - I don't know how or where from
- got dressed and went down to the shop and got 3 bottles of water, 3 bottles of orange
juice and 2 bars of chocolate. When I got back to the room I felt physically
sick. The simplest of tasks was almost impossible to do. We stayed in
the room, heads thumping, bodies aching so we couldn't move or even get comfortable
in bed and didn't leave for the rest of the day.
Monday 25th
December Merry
bloody Christmas from Vegas. Still poorly as you can obviously tell!
Woke
at about 12.30am xmas day and we finally got the strength at 5am to go to the pharmacy
next door. That place is a godsend. Got stocked up on drugs galore - from
headache pills to flu relief to antiseptic throat lozenges. You name it, we got it.
We
went for a little walk to NYNY thinking that the fresh air might do us some good and
we got a hot choccie from Starbucks while we were there, as the Starbucks in Monte
Carlo doesn't open until 6am.
We
got back to the room and collapsed again, thinking that we might never feel better.
Had another sleep and woke at 11.30pm. Walked out of our room at 11.59pm, making
it a record TWO TIMES that we managed to leave the room today! We ate at the
Cafe downstairs. Left most of it as we had no appetite, but at least we got
some food inside us - first time in days.
Tuesday 26th
December Feeling
a little better today and it's just as well because I need to go back to the Strat to
get a pressie I wished I had gotten the other day. We got the Deuce bus there
and went straight to the shop, brought what I wanted and headed straight out again.
I had the idea in my head that it might be good to walk back some of they way.
Maybe the fresh, albeit freezing, air might do us some good. You have to walk
to the Sahara to catch the bus back anyways so the extra walk seemed like a good idea.
We got as far as the Fashion Show Mall and that was as much as we could take. Poor
Bondy looked awful and was frozen to the bone. We waited at the Deuce stop
and hopped on the bus back to the Monte Carlo.
We went straight up to our room where Bondy got into bed, shivering. I didn't
feel as bad but got into bed anyway.
A few hours later we woke up and walked to NYNY for another hot choccie and played
a bit of video poker. We didn't play for long and were back in bed not long
after.
Wednesday 27th
December Last
full day today. We were determined not to waste too much of it, like the previous
four days.
I
started doing the packing, which actually took longer than normal because I had to
keep stopping. LOL, what a state to get in. I think it was over two hours
before I was happy that the majority of our stuff was packed.
We
stopped for coffee on the way to Excalibur. Then walked back to the MGM for
a final look at the lions. There were three lionesses in there - all were asleep
on top of the glass tunnel. We stopped for a while and pointed and stared like
everyone else and went back to the Monte Carlo.
A
few hours later we went over to the food court and got a meal from Panda Express.
There was a storm right overhead that had been coming for days and it was pouring
down with freezing cold rain. It hit you like needles stabbing at you.
All the roads flooded and we had problems getting back across to the Monte Carlo.
We, of course, got soaked in the process.
We
stopped by the Monte Carlo cardroom to say goodbye to the manager and her staff.
They are really lovely in there and we would recommend playing here.
We
played for an hour or so on VP and by 2am Bondy said he was tired so we
went up to bed. Come 5am we are both still awake so we walk over to Fatburger.
This is our first time in Fatburger and we had looked at it from afar on several occasions.
You assume, when you go in, that the burgers are gonna be big/fat. Once you
actually buy one, the name becomes more clear as you take your first bite and the
fat literally dribbles at some speed from your lovely burger.
I
didn't have one so cannot comment on the burger, but the look on Bondys face as he
consumed it said that they are good burgers.
It
was now 6.30am and the alarm call was set for 10.30 to kick us out of the hotel room.
We still weren't tired though. Bondy had been given an energy boost from all
the fat he had just taken in and I just wasn't tired.
I
think I finally fell asleep at 8am so managed to get a little over two hours sleep.
Bondy got 30 minutes - oops.
We
were up and out pretty quickly. We used the TV interactive check out so we didn't
have to queue at reception and we waited for our taxi to take us to the airport.
No
real dilemma to report on the journey home. The flight was on time and we landed
at 9.30am UK time. We both got about 4 hours sleep on the plane which helped
no end.
Last
thoughts on the trip: I was worried before we left for Vegas this time as I
had read a lot of reports about how noisy the Monte Carlo was since the construction
site started next door and how noisy it was if you had a strip view because of the
nightclub music.
Well,
we had a room with a view of the strip and the music is not from a nightclub, it is
actually from a karaoke place just across the strip. The music is not that loud
and you can hardly hear it if you turn the fan heater on in your room. The same
goes for construction noise - it didn't bother us at all.
The
walls in the Monte Carlo are also known for being extremely thin. We did have four
20 something's next door to us for about 3 nights and they were really really loud
and we could make out most of what they were saying. The rest of the time though,
we didn't hear the neighbouring rooms. You won't find a hotel room where you
can NEVER hear the people next door. The amount of time you spend in your hotel
room anyway, it doesn't matter.
We
didn't eat at any new places this trip, we actually didn't eat much at all so I can't
comment on nice places to eat. We still love going to the outback for a reasonably
priced steak, just the way you want it to be cooked.
We
also learned that we need to play more poker as it's so easy to win. Problem
is, we go to Vegas to get away from Poker!
Even
though we were poorly towards the end of the trip, we still got a lot done, but there
are still a few shows we would have liked to have seen. Just gives us reason
to go back I guess :-D
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