MAXIMUM VEGAS!
Here it is, it took two visits to Vegas but I’ve finally managed to steal half an hour to do a Blog. What can I say about Vegas that I didn’t already do in my first Blog of 2009? The place hasn’t changed, it is still a city of magic and excitement, the only difference is that the Wynn has a twin sister and MGM’s City Center complex is taking shape.
I’m unable to treat you to a picture right now but hopefully I’ll have a few next time.
Our journey started in Manchester airport and we enjoyed a seamless flight to Las Vegas Steve McClaren Airport. Upon arrival we checked in to the suites at the MGM Signature and after pestering the dude on the desk for three rooms together with balconies he decided the best way to get rid of us was to upgrade us to the Upper Penthouse Level, a nice start to the trip!
The best was to keep going after shifting time zones so much is to keep drinking and we had planned to see the evening off the best way possible in New York New York’s Piano Bar that we know from experience is the greatest way to beat jetlag. Before we went to NYNY we decided to take advantage of the facilities at the MGM and play a little blackjack. This was a disaster as we lost fairly big on day one however the Piano Bar did its tyhing and we managed to stay up until gone midnight (26 hours awake), jetlag cured.
We thought that we were done with the long days and woke up on Wednesday to celebrate Paulie’s birthday. After a pleasant day of checking out a few hotels, shops and sunbathing it was time for a quick snooze before meeting in the bar en route to Tao Asian restaurant. Stuoobs & Cazzie have been banging on about this since they went to Tao in New York last year and we were all keen to try their Shabu Shabu which is a pot of stock (through lack of a better word) seasoned with soy, chili, ginger etc which is accompanied by a plate of sushi grade Kobe and it’s basically a fondue with bells on. It was fantastic and I could talk for hours about it but this PC is costing me $1 a minute! (That will also account for some dreadful spelling – sorry!)
From then on we took in a cocktail at a bar in the Venetian and witnessed a terrible band that would have been at home on Britain’s Got Talent – it was very camp but not what we were after so we decided to get a cab to the Hard Rock Hotel and see what would happen. We arrived and noticed it was a lot smaller than many of the hotels on the Strip but it was buzzing. The girls took a seat at the bar and the boys took a seat at the blackjack table. Unfortunately I can’t speak for everyone but I had the night of my life – an excellent evening’s entertainment, met loads of people, lots of complimentary booze and to top it off I won $1,000. The girls were letting nice chaps at the bar buy them drinks and Pezza got propositioned by a hooker. We were all exceptionally drunk and it was only when we left the casino we noticed that it was very light and couldn’t believe we stayed there until after 6.00am. Not ones to give up we continued gambling at the MGM and eventually made our way to bed at 9.00am, passing delegates from various conferences on the way. A truly top Vegas night.
Since then we’ve been checking out more of the Strip and as I hurriedly write we’re about to check out the Stratosphere and have dinner at the Top of the World restaurant at the summit of the tower and then we’ll visit Old Vegas and see what happens.
Tomorrow we have tickets to see La Reve at the Wynn and as it’s our last night in Vegas we’ll probably do it justice.
I’ll be back another day with a bit more detail, photographs and unwanted opinion.
Andy, Karen, Stuoobs, Cazzie, Paulie & Karen.
xxxxx
