Photoblog: Las Vegas, NV

Photos were taken with Canon Powershot Elph

Time of day ranges between 08:00 and 23:30

The View

From the hotel window at night

From our room the first night. No flash to reflect in the glass means it's a little blurry.

Bellagio fountains from our room

The Bellagio's fountains from our room. For this show they used opera. There's actually a fountain show schedule.

Three Ages of Vegas: New Vegas

Luxor: sphinx and pyramid

Las Vegas Boulevard, aka: The Strip, runs roughly north - south with the newer casinos at the south end of the strip. Every casino has a theme. The Luxor's is Egyptian.

The gondaliers staff meeting at the Venetian

The Venetian is modeled on Venice, Italy, complete with gondaliers,

Too busy for my bedroom: the celing at the Venetian

Rococco ceiling,

Living statue at the Venetian

and living statues in the Venetian style.

Forum Shops at Caesers Palace

Caeser's Palace, meanwhile, is known for its Forum Shops and styling along the mythology of Ancient Rome. Including three very impressive fountains.

Fountain of the Gods at Caesers Palace

Fountain of the Gods

Fountain of Bacchus at Caesers Palace

Fountain of Bacchus

Fountain of Atlantis at Caesers Palace

Fountain of Atlantis, including sunken buildings and a huge tank filled with exotic fish.

Does Mickey Mouse gamble? If so, it's at the Excalibur.

If Mickey Mouse gambled, it would be at the Excalibur, which aimed for the King Arthur theme and hit the Magic Kingdom instead.

Roar!

Would Louie B. Mayer be pleased or scared by the casino and hotel that bears the name of his company? I don't know, but the lion is impressive (even if it isn't made out of gold).

Inside the big slot machine at NY NY

Not only does New York, NY have a roller coaster (moderately good, not worth $12.50 a ride though), it also has a giant slot machine that needed service while we were there. Again, no flash = slightly blurry. Hey, I wasn't that drunk!

Pirates as in argh

Treasure Island went with the pirate theme. There are two more ships just a little ways up the block in a big lagoon in front of the hotel.

Bellagio fountains from the street

The Bellagio's fountains are just as impressive from the street as they are from the 24th floor, more so, in fact, given the noise all that rushing water makes.

Three Ages of Vegas: Old Vegas

Fashion Show mall

Despite looking like our vision of the future 40 years ago, I suspect this sign is much newer than that. This mall also represents, roughly, the half-way point of the strip and the dividing line between "new" Vegas and the Vegas of Frank, Sammy, and Dino. Visible in the background, the New Frontier and the Stratosphere. To give this some perspective, the Stratosphere, that big needle in the background, is about 1.5 miles from where this photo was taken.

Fashion Show mall

The Riviera: It's full of stars!

Stardust

The Stardust is legendary, but we skipped the show.

Got ketchup?

This just amuses me because it looks like french fries...yeah, OK, I was hungry.

Stardust

Hunter Thompson was right*, and this is one scary clown, particularly at night.

Three Ages of Vegas: Original Vegas

Freemont street: Canopy

To tame it a little, Freemont Street has been covered with a canopy that doubles as an LCD screen for a scheduled light show. Freemont street is lined with all the classic signs of original Las Vegas.

Freemont street: Smoking cowboy

Recognize this guy? He's been in more than a dozen movies.

Freemont street: Fitzgeralds Casino

Casinos had a theme even in the old days. This is Fitzgeralds. I suspect there's a lot of green in the house staff's uniforms.

Freemont street: Binions Horseshoe

Binion's Horsehoe is one of the original joints.

Freemont street: 4 Queens

The 4 Queens is another.

Freemont street: Golden Goose Freemont street: Golden Goose

Next door to the more famous Glitter Gulch (right photo), the goose looks more like she laid rocks than golden eggs. Despite advertising world-class topless dancers I'm reliably informed that the women are neither.

Freemont street: Lamp

The plaque in front of this sign indicates that it is the oldest surviving sign in Las Vegas and dates from the early 1900s. The building to the right is Neonopolis, the neon museum.

"The Circus-Circus is what the whole hep world would be doing Saturday night if the Nazis had won the war. This is the sixth Reich. The ground floor is full of gambling tables, like all the other casinos . . . but the place is about four stories high, in the style of a circus tent, and all manner of strange County-Fair/Polish Carnival madness is going on up in this space." — Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1971.