Christmas Eve

Our holiday started with shopping for some cheap clothes for Jake, because as anticipated, our bags did not arrive...After a couple of hours waiting at Wendy's, mine managed to reach Vegas on the next flight, but his has decided to take a later flight...Eventually though, the next morning we were all happily united and began our first day exploring the city.

It is true what they say about Vegas - you really do lose your sense of time over here.  We stumbled back to our room at 3:30am (quite unintentionally) after a really full first day.  We started it with a little jog up and down the strip to work off the massive burgers with fries we had the night before.  Running past so many interesting sights, dancing fountains and buskers and weaving between party goers on their way home from a big night out, made our run quite amusing and before we realised it, we clocked up 10km.

We got ready to take a trip to the Grand Canyon later in the day, but unfortunately, due to less than ideal weather conditions, the trip was cancelled on the last minute.

So, instead we bought a bus ticket and headed North to the old part of Vegas for a look.
We found it a little underwhelming, to be honest, but Jake did like the historical element as this was the real 'old vegas' that the mobsters made famous. It is a bit of a strip that (to me at least) resembled Surfer's Paradise but less busy and overall pretty boring...

But we did find some treasures though, check out the old slot machines at the Casino famous for hosting Frank Sinatra's performances:

By the time we left at around 4:30pm, it was dark and this is when our night really picked up.  We read somewhere about a place called the Air Bar, which is a rooftop bar on the 108th floor of the Stratosphere Tower (just out of the main strip).  We got off the bus to check it out.  On advise from the hotel lobby workers, we actually settled on the 107th floor lounge bar which was enclosed (so protected from the elements - yes, it is freezing over here), had a happy hour and half price tapas on top of a 360 degree view of Vegas.  A pretty sweet spot to get our party started...

Full and a bit tipsy, we headed back for the Cirque the Soleil 'O' Show (water show) at the Bellagio. Of course!
We had some spare time to explore the hotel a bit.  Usually posting photos of dunnies is not the done thing, but pictures say a thousand words, so let this be an exception:

So...anyway....

after picking my jaw off the floor, we saw the show, which was great although, as I have heard someone tell me before, once you've seen a good circus show they are all much the same...so we are seeing another one tonight.. (and this one comes also highly recommended).

Before hitting the blackjack tables, we did some exploration of other hotels and casinos - some where truly breathtaking (like the Bellagio) and others quite tacky (like the Paris).  There are so many more to see... People smoke inside and bring their dogs inside to play... Australia should really loosen up a bit.

Today is Christmas Day.  We had a well deserved sleep in before heading downstairs for a Buffet Christmas lunch (which is open 12noon - 10pm, all you can eat and drink for $59! Of course it is!!)

Today is also the day our luck is going to turn around at the blackjack tables.

Merry Christmas!