Anything wicked is always a bit attractive ,that's human nature ,from Eves Apple to the colored chips in a Vegas casino is addictive .
Las Vegas the 28th biggest city of the US of A is also the biggest in its state Nevada and known as entertainment ,Gambling city with its large number of large number of luxury casinos with exotic names like Caesars Palace which really looks like on in its scale and pomp ,Bellagino ,Ventian ,Eiffel tower ,Spinx and many more big and small glittering like a lit up Christmas tree so much so it can be seen from space almost .
the Strip in Las Vegas is one big stretch of casinos and is full of life most of the night and part of the day
there are thousands of tourists gawking at this spectacle of capitalism where profit is celebrated and happiness is unapologetic ,its good living that is celebrated here and I feel fine with that .
It was around 8 pm when our flight landed after more than five hours and a two hour time difference from Cleveland in Ohio .
The airport itself had lot of slot machines and whirling wheels showing up the promises the city offered .
We were eight of us my daughter and her colleagues doing their residency in Paediatrics in Metro park health centre in Cleveland to them it was a much needed break form their hard routine and long nights ,all eight of us were doctors too and we were off to a five day trip of Vegas and surrounding canyons and resorts .
Vegas in Spanish is Meadows ,this part of the valley was a huge meadow ,inhabited by nomadic paleo indian 10000 years back ,later it was an important part of trail to the west with its natural springs ,in1844 John C Freemonts writings lured many to this place and he still has a street named after him ,later in eleven years the LDS church people would build a small store fort called the Mormon fort and its remnants are still seen in the city .It was in 1905 that Las Vegas became a city and by 2011 an official one .
1931 Nevada legalised gambling ,reduced residency requirements for divorce to six weeks and the building of the nearby Hoover dam and thousands of workers stationed nearby gave the city a big boost in 1941 the famous Nellis Air base was established nearby with its acrobat aeronautical heroes the Thunderbirds .
post war the city was flush with lavish casinos and Moulin rogue opened business in 1950
Betty willis designed the famous Welcome to Las vegas sign in 1959
We moved in a shuttle bus from McArran Airport to the rental car area and rented a Chrysler eight seater and sped to our place of stay and slumbered as we were very tired .
The whole rental car business was well oiled and efficient with the rental car complex as big as an airport with many companies having their own shuttles to take us to their areas ,once we reach the company we had booked all we had to do is to document in the counter and get the key and drive off the vehicle made ready beforehand ,Gasoline is full and we need to fill it before returning .
Most Airbnb cottages homestays and rooms were all similar with not a soul nearby but the code to open the door and inside all facilities neatly lined up with instructions too
We went straight from the rental area to our lodging in such a complex ,it was comfortable and practical ,
After a morning cup of coffee we drove out into the city ,Vegas is definitely not a morning place ,the roads looked deserted with few vehicles on it ,after a late night I presumed most would be nursing their hangovers or depressions on losing in the casino or alternatively sleeping fitfully after making a a gamble ,we moved into the city and could see the roof tops of the big casinos in the strip though we did not go to the strip then .
We were going out of the city into the Death valley about two hours drive from Vegas and would return only in the evening to the strip and Vegas itself .
Before that we wanted to take a legendary brunch in casino Wynn
We moved to on the famous Wynn casino for its buffet brunch which at 60 US $ was legendary in having every known international cuisine in it .
The spread was lavish but India was only represented by a sad Basmati rice ,after stuffing ourselves to make us worthy of the costly legendary buffet I moved out into the big casino hall ,there were polite bouncers as in Hollywood films but definitely more human and less menacing ,mostly tourists were in the tables and I think the real professionals were all asleep and would only walk out in the dusk ,there were a lot of branded showrooms some selling exotic suits as seen worn by mafia men in films !
The famous Wynn theatre had a show too but we had no time to linger as were off to death valley for the day and would return in dusk to the strip when things happened .
What does one say about the Las Vegas Strip
even an astronaut can see the glow of the neon's from space for the strip is so brightly lit .
The strip took the crowds away from downtown which became more deserted till 1995 when a revival package was started making the downtown an area of fine museums Symphony park casinos Cleveland centre for Brain health residential areas office complexes in 65 acres of land purchased from the Union Pacific Railways by the city council and the area was called the Freemont Experience
A Las Vegas city hall opened in 2013
art Galleries opened up ,huge malls ,world shopping complexes conventions centres all came up
even Las Vegas own book store called Writers block came up
museums like Mob museum ,Neon museum ,natural history museum
Las Vegas academy of international studies performing and visual Arts and Smith centre for performing Arts
The Golden Gate casino and Hotel once called the Nevada hotel is the oldest amongst casinos in Vegas ,its in Freemont downtown opened in 1906 .
Binions horseshoe now Binion hotel and gambling was one of the earliest starting in 1931 ,many downtown casinos have been renovated now .
the mirage was the first casino to open in the Strip and started in 1989
with a population of 64 lakhs it has an influx of tourists ten times that number and an income of 1.15 billion dollars
Divorce and marriage rules in Nevada state has always been flexible and easy , a quickie divorce with a residency of six weeks is possible in Las Vegas and thus it turned to be the divorce capital
Nellie air force base was started in 1941
The neon lit strip was packed with hotels and casinos fountains like those of Bellagio ,followed by Caesars palace ,Paris Las Vegas ,Stratosphere ,Venetian ,MGM Grand ,Lu xor ,high roller mirage cosmopolitan ,flamingo ,planet Hollywood ,Mandalay bay
the stratosphere has a 1149 foot observation room
We found parking on an edge of Caesara palace and through some mind boggling underpasses manage to reach the Strip after walking for about fifteen minutes .
we went straight to see the fountain show of Bellagio casino which was mind boggling ,the whole strip in neon and the gushing musical fountain took us into a fairy land the chill of the evenin took away our tiredness ,later we walked along the strip seeing most of the famous casinos thronging with people strip dancers on tables rouleete chips poker you name it we found it
it was a gambling paradise it was meant to be
We went to the venetian and saw its upmarket shops its near perfect canals with Gondols in rowing boats and an artificial star studded sky over the whole place
After walking a long distance we plodded back to the parking and got back to our lodgings for a very needed rest
the nest day would see us going to the canyons
No comments:
Post a Comment