Las Vegas is a large city in the middle of a barren landscape surrounded by mountains.  It would be uninteresting to say the least except for one thing: The Strip.  The Strip is unique in this world, nothing I can think of could compare to this one Road of lights and glitter and shows and debauchery and dreams.  For first time visitors it can be very daunting, this was my second time and it's still eye opening.  Our first night was wasted in bed due to a 16 hour flight across the Atlantic but this meant that we were rested and raring to go next day.  The problem though is were do you start:  MGM Grand, Excalibur, New York New York, Paris.  Hell I haven't even mentioned Venice, Caesar's Palace, Wynn and the most famous of all, Bellagio.  That's probably the biggest problem you'll have, choosing where to go, because once your inside anywhere you can just soak the atmosphere in.  We chose to just walk along The Strip first to have a look at everything, popping into any Casino that took our fancy and try to adjust to the craziness.  We didn't even play any slots or bet at the tables that first day.  There is one other problem that you will encounter and that is to decide which show you will go and see.  Every Casino has something on, some have 4 things happening and every show that you read about has been judged "Vegas's best 3 years running" so it can be hard to decide based on reviews alone.  We settled on Ka at the MGM Grand, one of the many Circe du Soliel productions that are available, because it said that there was going to be some martial arts involved.  And WOW, what a show.  It's hard to describe in only a few words but if I had to I would say amazing, acrobatic, original, oh-my-god, stunning and speechless.
Our second day say us catch the monorail to the Stratosphere and then walk up to Fremont Street, the original place of sin.  On the way we took our Monorail tickets into the SLS Casino to receive a free chance at $5000 to play on the slots.  We both won $6, hell it paid for the monorail ticket so it was worth it.  I managed to change that $6 into $14.55 on The Hangover while Audrey lost her's on Batman.  Me = winner, Audrey = loser.  Along Las Vegas Boulevard North there are a few famous places to see, namely The Best Little Wedding Chapel and Gold and Silver Pawn Shop (the home to the great show 'Pawn Stars').  The Pawn Shop was a lot smaller than I thought it would be considering that it is part of a successful TV show, half of the store was dedicated to selling merchandise.  We didn't buy anything.  Fremont street is different to The Strip.  It's a lot smaller for starters and the dazzling lights are many up of light bulbs and not neon.  It has that feel of 'old' about it and I like it.  Inside the Casino's here is taking a step back in time. The carpets are old, the smell of tobacco is entrenched in the paneling and the ceilings are a hell of a lot lower.  The people playing here seem to be locals, each one has their own machine that they play whenever they are in and the street food is cheap ... per.  The Outlet Mall wasn't far away so we wandered over to have a look for some bargains.  But I think that these days the outlet malls really aren't that much cheaper than going to a sale at your local store, we didn't find the bargain we were looking for dammit.
Catching the bus back to The Strip, we decided to play something.  First though Lee-Ann asked me to put $5 on 5 at the roulette table for Gracie to kick start her College fund.  Unfortunately I chose either the wrong table or the wrong time as the little ball bobbled onto the number 00.  I still hold out hope that Gracie will get to College even without this windfall.  Audrey has never played Blackjack, or any other game, before so we were trying to find a table with a limit of $5 to learn on.  Even though I was here only 4 and 1/2 years ago all the limits seemed to have risen to a minimum of $15 so we decided that it was a little too much since our budget was only $50.  Instead we sat down at a 1c machine and put $3 in and started to play.  Within 10 seconds a waitress came over and asked us if we wanted a drink.  Of course I said.  When she returned I asked how much and she said nothing.  When you play in Casino's you get your drinks for free (I've heard the rumor but it didn't happen to me last time therefore I thought that that's all it was, a rumor).  We just put $3 in and got $10 worth of drinks.  Winning before we even start.  Needless to say we lost all that money, and the subsequent 30 odd dollars we put in and didn't get another drink.  Karma's a bitch, not you Carma, you're good, the other Karma.
Tomorrow is Tuesday and we are off to get our Camper van for the next 29 days of driving around the Mid-West of America.  Wish us luck ...