Have you ever been in Las Vegas?

Ever been to a place where they have a lion habitat in a casino? Ever been to a place where they have a shark reef in a hotel? Ever been to a place where you can have a ride in a rollercoaster around your hotel? No? Than you've never been to Vegas. What a crazy place is this! We arrived here in the night from Sunday to Monday, which is the most quiet night in Vegas. That's why only 2 of the about 25 incheck points in the Excallibur hotel were open. We were so tired of our 24 hour trip from The Netherlands to Vegas that we couldn't understand so many people were still awake in Vegas just to have fun and to gamble of course. I really couldn't keep my eyes open anymore so i went to sleep. With a jetlag we woke up the next morning to have breakfast.

We went through the casino to the breakfast room and i was so surprised that it was just as busy with people gambling as the night before. It was 9:30 am! I got used to this later that week but it was one of the strangest things ever. And there were more surprises in Vegas that week.

The first thing that striked me when i walked on the famous Strip was that everything is huge in Vegas and nothing can be spectacular enough. The first hotel we saw was the New York, New York with its rollercoaster around it and its Statue of Liberty in front of it. I didn't know it at that time, but later that week i found out that they did a really good job in Vegas imitating New York with those huge skyscrapers and the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked to the MGM grand, which is known for its lion habitat in the casino.

It was just so beautiful. A habitat of two levels with rocks and a waterfall and of course the lions. Unbelieveble that this place was in a hotel. That when you looked one way, you saw those lions and when you looked the other way, you saw people gambling on sports. We enjoyed the lions and airconditioning for a while (it was 95 fahrenheit outside) and went on to the Paris hotel. I've been in Paris (the real Paris!) several times and i must say, they thing a good job here with the Eiffeltower, Arc de Triomph and with the little bistros and cafes inside the hotel. If you woudn't know you would think those nice terraces were outside. But we did know, because when we were outside again, the heat reminded us. We hurried to the Bellagio, one of my favourite hotels. It's a very fancy hotel with lots of fancy shops and restaurants. The hotel lobby is very elegant with a covered garden with lots of flowers and real butterflys. I also loved the piano bar here, where a man was playing so beautiful. We didn't have time to stay here because we had tickets for a show later that evening so we went to the Paris hotel to have a quick meal in one of the many restaurants. After dinner, we went back to our hotel, changed and walked all the way to the Venetian Hotel. The night belonged to Phantom! For me, it was the first time i saw Phantom of the Opera. I really enjoyed this show. It's really a mustsee. Because the show wasn't sold out, the Venetian upgrades our tickets! We had te best seats now and could see and hear everything perfectly. This was such a great night and a great end of my first day in Vegas!