disneydream06

Day 4 September 11th

Checking Out The Strip....

Today we decided, or was it just me, to do the strip. We got up and road the bus clear down to the South end of the strip to get a picture at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Just a little proof that I really did go out there. lol... After I had gotten a couple of pics, a lady with a wee bit of an accent, German maybe, asked me to take her picture in front of the sign. I gladly did it for her. :) We crossed over to the other side of the street to catch a bus and save on our blisters, but we eventually just decided to keep walking. Did I mention how much I didn't care for threir bus services? :p So after a couple of blocks we crossed back over to the other side of the street again to go over and see the Luxor hotel. I think I am more impressed by the outside of the hotel than I am the inside. It's the pyramid shaped one for those not familiar with Vegas. From there we crossed over into Excalibur, the midevil castle hotel. We used the moving walkway, again, the blisters. :p All the way from the Luxor to the Excalibur there was this high pitched screech. People were walking through covering up there ears it was so bad. We wondered around in Excalibur for awhile. Did a little window shopping. When we decided to leave, we headed out a door and found oursleves in the back of the hotel. So we started walking and eventually had to go back inside to find another way out. lol... From there we crossed over into New York New York, and stopped into the Haagan Dazs store. I had a yummy strawberry banana smoothie. From there we crossed over into the MGM Grand. Now that I think about it, we really didn't check out NY NY very much. Over at the MGM there is a glassed in case in the lobby that they have lion cubs on display. So of course that particular day... they had it closed for maintenance. :( So I stopped into the shop next to it and got myself a little stuffed lion. It is soo adorable. The mane looks kind of like a Shirley Temple wig. lol.......... I think from there we went out and walked up to the next bus stop. Only to find out that apparently they don't use that stop any more. A bus drove by and just point up the street. EXCUSE ME??? That went in to my letter of complaint to the bus company. So we just kept walking up the street. So much for the blisters.
Next, I think we came upon the M&M Store. OMg, I was in heaven. Four stories of M&M souveniers. :) Sadly, I walked out of there without anything. I could hear my suitcase screaming all the way down the strip, I HAVE NO ROOM!!! Next we stopped into the Coca Cola Store. Where's the Pepsi Store? Joe's the Coca Cola drinker. It's in the middle of a remodel so everything was up on the second level. The elevator shaft is a two story glass Coca Cola bottle. Very cool.
Okay, the order of things gets a little fuzzy now. Unlike Joe who was smart and brought a journal with him to take notes in back at the hotel, I am just punting with my memory. :o
I think we kept walking up to Margaritaville and had lunch. I was naughty and didn't actually have a margarita at Margaritaville. I did have a License to Chill. I thought, cold and probably sweet. Hmm, not really. It was cold and a very pretty shade of blue, but not very sweet. I am not a big drinker to begin with, but let's just say, that was a lot of alcohol. lol......................... And yes, we actually ate, during the daylight hours. :p I tried a Cuban sandwich with fries. It was REALLY good. It was roast beef wrapped in ham with Swiss cheese and pickles and mustard on a Cuban bun. I would definitely have another one. After lunch Joe did a little shopping in the gift store of the restaurant, again my suitcase was telling me no. :p Then we walked back through the Flamingo hotel, to stay out of the sun for a little longer and the we crossed over the street to get to the Bellagio to see the dancing fountains. It was a short show, but quite impressive. Should have tried the movie mode on the camera, but I wasn't sure how much room was left. We left there and were slowly making our way up to Treasure Island to fhe Sirens show there. I was hoping to get the first show to have some sunlight seeing as I still didn't realize that my camera had a night time setting. :p We walked pasted Caesars Palace and came across what looked like a Hindu prayer statue. I am still trying to figure out what that had to do with ancient Rome??? As I smapped a picture, my battery started to show it needed recharging. :(:(:( We kept walking up to Treasure Island. According to the AAA book the first showing of Sirens was at 5pm. I stopped and talked with a lady that worked there only to find out the first show wasn't until 7pm. So we/I decided lets head back to the hotel and charge my camera battery quick.
There is nothing quick about charging a battery. It takes 2 hours. After that was accomplished we thought we would try to catch the 8:30 show. We went out and WAITED for a bus. I would say it was at least 20 minutes later one showed up. It was PACKED, so I did a no no and sat in the stairwell. Well, the next stop one of the bus companies "monitors" gets on and oh so politely told me to get out of the stairwell. I asked her where she wanted me to stand, the bus was packed. She said she didn't care, but I couldn't be in the stairwell. We exchanged pleasantries for a minute or two, with her telling me I could write to the company to complain. I told her, Damn right I was going to write to the company. I wonder if they will bother to respond? I don't know if the fire marshal has any command over the buses, but if he came aboard, he probably would have kicked 3/4 of us off. Anyway, by the time we got back down to Treasure Island it was packed for the next show. So we crossed over to Paris and took a ride up into the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing, except for the ride up. It has glass doors and I was standing next to them, and I have a wee bit of a fear of heights. :p Anyway, once we were up there I was fine, and talk about a view. Here is where I discovered that my camera has a setting for night time. LOL!!!!!!! So I got some nice shots. After we came down and got outside, I could have kicked myself. The Bellagio fountains started to go off. That would have been great shots up on top of the Tower. :(
From there, I think we caught a bus back up the strip a ways and crossed back over to get to Treasure Island. We loitered for awhile waiting for the next show, but it finally came. It's amazing how the ladies always seem to win the battle. :p
After the show, we/I decided to head up to Fremont Street to try and catch the light show there. Fremont Street is the old downtown casino area. They have a canopy over the street that they do a light show on. Unfortunately, they must stop at a certain time, because we never saw anything. It was shortly after midnight by the time we got there. So we wondered up the street to the Golden Nugget, to see the "world's largest golden nugget". We went into the casino and walked all the way back through it and couldn't find it. So I asked these to workers at this table if they could tell me where the golden nugget was. Can you guess what their answer was??? Yes, they told me I was in it. Twice more I asked, you supposedly have the world's largest golden nugget on display in here where is it? They had no clue what I was saying. So I said, forget it and turned away. They stopped me and said, no no we want to help you. So I asked again, and it was like a light went on, oh go down to the card tables and it's all the way to the back. Gee thanks so much. :p We finally found it tucked back in a corner. You would really think something like that would be on display out front. Guess not. After a couple of pictures we headed out to try and find a bus stop. We finally found our way with the help of a couple of taxi drivers. As we walked back towards Las Vegas Boulevard, I lost the battle with my blister. It popped. :p
Off to the hotel and beddy bye time. Have to go home tomorrow, well technically today. :p