Musings

I’m just back from my first trip to Las Vegas Nevada. U-Haul proved to be incompetent assholes, and I’ve discovered my next career cannot be long haul trucker. The bouncing and swaying of the truck left me violently ill. I almost didn’t make the drive, but dramamine saved the day. Of course I slept a bunch of the trip, but all told I probably drove around 300 miles, and I was there to help Carl unpack and get his apartment set up.

We didn’t arrive in Vegas until 9:30 Vegas time, and then we had to drop the trailer and get the car, find the hotel and check in. It was now 10:00 pm and we hadn’t eaten since 11:30. We ended up on the strip thinking restaurants would serve late. No such luck. We finally found a pizza joint that served us some soup fifteen minujtes before they closed at 11:00 pm. I was exhausted, on sensory overload from the lights, and the masses of people wandering up and down the sidewalks as they shuffled from casino to casino — I guess they were pursuing a change in their luck.

To get to the restaurants you always ended up walking through the casino, and they reeked of cigarettes and despair, and the clanging of the slots was like a drill to the head. The people all seemed old or middle aged, overweight and with that look of people trying desperately to have fun. There were a few young couples — honeymooners I’d guess, but they were the exception, and their mood was even more manic than the oldsters.

The next day was spent unloading the truck, unpacking boxes and waiting for cable and phone. We finally ended up at the Bellagio at 3:30 for our first food of the day. Only the cafe was open, but the food was excellent. I ate the best crab cake I’ve ever had. Since we were no longer starving, and had some three hours before my plane left Carl took me off to see the sales office for the MGM City Center.

Much of Vegas is faux and kitch. Paris has the opera house and the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triumph all mushed together. Circus Circus is pure kitch as is Excalibur. The Bellagio is beautifully appointed, but it’s very traditional with stone/stucco and small windows. The same for Venice.

And then there is the City Center. As Carl said it will fundamentally alter the skyline of Las Vegas. It’s going to be 72 acres of proundly modern architecture made up mostly of glass and structural steel. The giant model at the sales center is spectacular, and they have mock ups of the various condos that are available for purchase. The sales force are beautiful young women in black business chic, and handsome young men in black Armani suits. The few customers were an Asian man, and a gentleman from Africa. Many of the units are already sold out even though a 500 sq. ft. studio unit sells for $600,000. The larger codo’s are all millions of dollars. The finishes in the units are exquiste, and you have several color schemes from which to choose. I saw some stone work that I would love to have in the kitchen between the counters and the cabinets.

Overall I found the town creepy, but it does seem to host fabulous shows, and the shopping is very upscale. We just went through the shops at the Bellagio. There was a beatiful Armani ladies suit for a mere $3000.00, and a gorgeous Zena men’s suit that was also $3000.00. I think the gentlemen were making out better. There was definitely more material in the men’s suit. Tiffany’s, Gucci, etc. etc. I settled for a latte and Carl and I split a sinfully rich chocolate dessert.

The most beautiful thing I saw was the foutain at the Bellagio. The sun was just setting so it turned the water to gold and rubies, and the recording was of Pavarotti. (I coudln’t identify the aria, but it was very beautiful). I rather wish I had delayed until Thursday to come home because I would have liked to have seen the fountain under the full moon.

But I had my reservation and it was time to go to the airport and come home.

Melinda

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 10:10 am and is filed under life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.