2014 U.S.Diary ( Part 4 ) - Visiting Places of Tourist Interest

2014 U.S. Diary (Part 4 ) -  Visiting Places of Tourist Interest

P.Natarajan, Camp: Canton, MI

Our U.S. Diary 2014 dated 03 August 2014 records our visit to the “ENTERTAINMENT  CAPITAL OF THE WORLD”. That Sunday (3rd Aug) being a Friendship Day, we remembered all of  you.. We are pleased to share our experience of visiting the internationally renowned major resort, LAS VEGAS, the premier southern state of Nevada in U.S. We are somewhat elated to say here that we have also joined the select group who have visited the top tourist destination in the world. A city known primarily for Casino - the nightlife in Vegas is filled with entertainment as people spend time in gambling, betting, shopping and dining in major Casino hotels.The city’s tolerance for various form of enduring the adult life has earned the title of ‘sin life’

The names of Las Vegas, Vegas are used to indicate the Valley, The Strip, and the City and  are used as a brand by the Las Vegas Convention to denominate the entire region. Las Vegas Strip is filled with outdoor activities. Outdoor lighting displays render an illumined look everywhere. The Strip is famous for the number of Casino Resorts and associated entertainments. Cranes are a constant part of the Skyline as high rise housing units has seen a spike in Las Vegas.

02 August, the Saturday- we had Starbuck coffee in our room , dressed up, and left  by 9.30 a.m. on foot and started walking in Las Vegas Strip. The Statue of Liberty is the first imposing attraction we came across which is adjacent to Excalibur Casino, our place of stay

The Strip is a 4 mile section of Las Vegas Boulevard. 15 of the 25 world’s largest rooms, by room count, are on the Las Vegas Strip with a total of over 62000 rooms offered by various casino hotels. There are several malls in the area, in Downtown and in  Handerson. First Friday of each month exhibits  works of  local artists and musicians in ‘Arts district’.The Aquarium filled with 1. million gallons of seawater in Mandalay features 2000 animals and 1200 species. The $485 million dollar worth Smith Center for Performing Arts is located in the Symphony Park where Broadway Shows and touring attractions, orchestra, dance and opera are held. Dramatic history of atomic age is on show in Smithsonian Institution and Museum.

Transportation in the city is taken care by the monorail, aerial tramways and  by Deuce  (double decker buses).

(  Las Vegas Strip - famous for Casinos )

We crossed the tunnels on the street tops and reached MGM Studio.

                    ( in the sky walk on the way to MGM  casino. with the Transformers)

Viggy opted for the roller-coaster-ride. So we strode in to New york New york an adjacent casino going through shops. Karthik was attracted by a shop selling magical things which reminded us of the Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. We reached the monorail station in MGM and boarded the train.

( Sekhar seen getting into the monorail -  fare $12per head for 24 hours )

Harrah's was three stations after MGM and we got down there. We walked through PARIS casino and reached The Venetian.

                                                    ( Posing in front of Eiffel Tower )

                          

The pool area in the Venetian Casino, where you see us standing, can be crossed by gondola ride. The ride is only for half a mile down the grand canal - we didn't choose it as the charges were exorbitant.

( Skydome gives a spectacular look over the open Food Court )

The Italian Restaurant was housed in an open courtyard. The most attractive feature was a spectacular Skydome - an artificial blue sky but looked one hundred percent real. Another feature, the skydome atmosphere turned the noontime ambience into a feel of late evening show. We only missed the twinkling stars. The food court was crowded with tourists who were seen relishing the food of their choice. We ordered the original italian Pizza delight, soup, bread and salads. It was a fulfilling lunch in an electrifying ambience created by the skydome.

       ( We are waiting for  lunch to be served at  The Venetian )

A musical show was going on near a raised platform where the artists performed on stilettos, singing popular Italian numbers. Another added attraction was a pageant of people painted  like statues depicting italian characters moving among the crowd. In fact Sekhar mistook one painted figure for a statue till he could see the moving eye ball.  The whole atmosphere was cool and pleasant. It was extremely hot when we came out of the Skydome.

We took the monorail back, got down @ Caesar’s Palace and reached the PLANET HOLLYWOOD CASINO RESORT to book tickets for evening 7p.m. live show. Luckily there was no queue and we got the tickets for that evening.  V-the Ultimate Variety Show is voted as the best in Las Vegas and features most talented performers around the world, all on one stage. We had also options of watching David Copperfield the world’s best magician or the Circus Circus. But we chose the ultimate show  ultimately.

We had free time after reserving for the Ultimate Variety Show. We continued the  sightseeing in the Strip walking through the shopping area and food courts.

We visited Hershey's Chocolate World. A flagship store of chocolates of 800 types such as bars, jumbo sized crowns, strawberry syrup bottles, peanut butter cups, Jolly Ranchers and Twizzlers. There is also a colored wall of Hershey’s kisses dispensers for your bag filling pleasure. Mementos and gifts also were on sale. The aroma of chocolates filled our senses  haunting for a long time.

We hired a taxi ( $40 ) to go back to Excalibur Hotel though the hotel was not far away. We thought it would be better to take our car from Excalibur for going to Planet Hollywood for the ultimate variety show so that we would not be inconvenienced for the transport after the show.

We freshened up, changed into lighter clothes as it was very hot and humid and left immediately for the Ultimate Variety Show. We were on time and seated in the center rows inside the auditorium.

The show, $60 per head, which has something for everyone keeps the audience at the edge of the seat, Acts of Acrobats, magic show, the skating Aratas, tossing the hats, balls were all captivating. They played a live show with a parrot which would answer questions, sing songs, and would circle the entire theatre hall going through the rings hanging at  strategic locations in the theatre, this action was set to an instrumental music and return to its original hook hanging in the center of the stage. When it flew over our heads, we at once sensed some thrill. Other variety items include jugglers, body sculptors, gymnastics,roller coaster acts, drum beating and singing with a lot of humorous interactions with the audience- all proved to be ultimate in entertainment.The performing artists were the top winners from  the popular show " America has Talent ".

The show was over at 8.30 p.m. We walked  to Panda Express with in the mall area and ordered noodles veg. rice etc;.

                                          ( Dinner is waiting @ Panda Express )

We returned to Excalibur Casino where the boys played some games.

Viggy and Karthik won a number of coupons which they later exchanged for minions (stuffed toys) of their choice. At 11 pm there was a loud ringing of bells to announce the play time for children was over..

       ( Viggy steering for a win in Excalibur )

After putting the boys to bed we four adults tried our luck at the roulette table. Lady luck smiled only at Sekhar who won a few bucks and we were not tempted to stay further in the casino area and retired to our rooms soon after midnight and it proved to be a day of long outing and entertainment.

( Part 5 - the concluding part of 'Visiting Places in U.S.' would be circulated in due course - in the meanwhile we welcome you to let us know about our visiting places forwarded to you in four instalments. )

Natarajan and Parvathy
Canton, MI.