The Lake District is somewhere I fell in love with many years ago and I love climbing the fells. However, I have been lucky enough to go to many places in the world that I have really enjoyed. I have seen Niagara Falls (Canadian side), been to the Grand Canyon, ridden a camel in the Sahara Desert, been backpacking in Australia (including staying on sheep stations and cattle ranches as well as seeing the wonderful Opera House and Harbour Bridge in Sydney). I have stayed in a great Japanese hotel in Sweden in the snow and been to many parts of the USA including Boston, New York, Washington, New England, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. I have had some wonderful experiences. Las Vegas however stands out very strongly in my mind and is definitely somewhere for high heels!
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| The Bellagio |
Las Vegas is about total excess. I did not know before I went whether I would like it or not. I had seen it in films (I love Ocean’s Eleven) and read about it but just did not know what to expect. As it turned out, I absolutely loved it! Now I know some of you at this point will be thinking I have lost it – how can someone that loves fell-walking in the Lake District love what is probably the absolute antithesis of it? I do not think I have the answer about why so instead I will turn to my leadership guru, Winnie-the-Pooh:
“The things that make me different are the things that make me” (wise old bear).
There are parts of Vegas that are tacky but I stuck to the main areas and on the whole it was mainly just over the top and marvellous as a result - it has to be seen to be believed! I stayed at the Bellagio and the ceiling as I walked in was made up of giant glass colourful flowers! They were so bright and colourful and a really striking entrance. There was also a whole train made out of flowers. The whole place was in Technicolour.
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| Glass flowers on the Bellagio reception ceiling |
There were casinos as far as the eye could see covering about two thirds of the ground floor with the remaining third covered in shops, restaurants and bars. The fountains outside rise and fall in time to a host of different tunes and songs (including of course Viva Las Vegas!) and it was an amazing sight. It was standing on the balcony of one of the bars that overlook the fountains one evening that I fell in love with the song “Time to Say Goodbye” as performed by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman”. I also loved the beautiful music in the piano bar and remember vividly sitting in the bar sipping a glass of white wine listening to the “Clair de Lune” music from the Ocean’s Eleven fountain scene being played. It was mesmerising.
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| Bellagio fountains |
The weather was superb – glorious sunshine all day every day. I am however rather a wilting flower in temperatures that are that high (up to 40 degrees centigrade during my time there) so when walking between locations, I had to pop into shops and hotels on the way just to cool down in the air-conditioning! How did the early settlers survive in Nevada before air-conditioning was invented?
Each hotel has a key theme – the Bellagio had the fountains and other hotels were based on international cities such as Paris, Venice and New York. One hotel, Excalibur, looked like a Disney palace and then of course there were the famous ones such as MGM Grand and Caesar’s Palace. Each one was amazing and I explored most of them at various points – each was like a town in its own right and had authentic cuisine relevant to the theme. My favourite remained the Bellagio however. The bars and restaurants were excellent and I had a lobster arrive at my table the size of a whale at one point! There are also amazing shows and events around the city. My favourite was at the Treasure Island Hotel where they have two enormous old-fashioned galleons fighting each other as part of the American Revolution. Obviously it was the British Frigate that sank (literally going under the water) and the captain of the ship was saluting until he went right under – stiff upper lip and all that!
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| Excalibur Hotel |
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, given some of its history, how family orientated Vegas had become – it was like an adult version of Disneyland. The Americans were so friendly and the customer service was outstanding (not so surprising). They loved my accent as well – it got me free drinks on many occasions! It is interesting how many hotels come and go in Vegas - they are knocked down and rebuilt at quite reglar intervals - all about reinvention I suppose.
Now I am no gambler and could not have afforded the high stakes games even if I was but the slot machines were enormous fun and at one point I was even in profit of about £10 and thought I was going to be the only one who conquered the system (ah...how many people must think that each day?) This was short-lived however and I ended up about £15 down at the end of the week. I had a good time without even using the gambling tables. Other than enjoying the excess of the city, I also went to a Titanic exhibition in the Excalibur hotel. It was various relics that have been retrieved from the ship and stories of the passengers who had been on the fateful voyage. I am not a Titanic expert but I have always found the history of it fascinating and to see some of the genuine articles was quite special.
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| The Grand Canyon |
However, I think the most amazing thing I did whilst I was in Las Vegas was visit the Grand Canyon. I went on a helicopter flight one afternoon with various other visitors and it was amazing. The colours of the rocks, the sunlight on them, the scale of the Canyon was superb. We flew past the part of the Canyon where they filmed ‘Thelma and Louise’ drive over the top in the film.
This was not the deepest part of the Canyon but it was spectacular to me (although strange flying around mountains rather than walking up them!) The trip back was as the sun was setting and we flew back over the Hoover Dam which was enormous – it stands at 726.4 feet. It was built between 1931 and 1936 on the Colorado River and cost the lives of 96 people whilst it was being constructed (official figure, others say more). It is iconic and a major tourist attraction. Then the end of the journey saw us flying back into Las Vegas over the main strip (which is what the main road with all the hotels, bars and restaurants is called) at night with all the lights in their full glory. It was a beautiful sight to behold.
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| 'The Strip' - Las Vegas |
