The Las Vegas Strip

We started on the south end of the strip and worked our way up, zig-zagging back and forth across the street to see the beautiful casinos. We took the tram from the Flamingo to MGM, the southern most point of the tram stops to begin our journey. Greg always stayed at the MGM when he used to go to Vegas for movie week. It was gigantic; the second largest hotel in the world. It is also very, very green at night, which makes it easy to spot from just about anywhere. When we stepped outside, we saw the MGM lion dressed in an NBA West jersey and across the street at New York, New York was the Statue of Liberty dressed in an NBA East jersey. The game was on. We crossed the street and headed for Mandalay Bay where all of the NBA All-Star Week stuff was going on. It was packed with people. We left Mandalay Bay and went to the Luxor, a giant black pyramid with lights running up the apexes and a giant spotlight shining straight up into the sky from the top point. Of course the decor inside is ancient Egypt. Next stop, Camelot--I mean, Excalibur--a giant medieval castle of a casino. We crossed the street on the overhead walkway and entered New York, New York, with the Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty and all of the other unique details of the city that never sleeps. There were even graffiti-covered mailboxes; it was like being in a miniature version of the city itself. As we headed north, we passed the Monte Carlo and the Aladdin, stopping only to go into the M&M Shop. Paris was next on our list and we knew we were the because we could see the Eiffel Tower and a gigantic hot air balloon covered with neon announcing that we were in Paris. We strolled the streets of "Paris"--actually the inside walkways, but the sky above looked so real. So much of the peaceful stuff, we were out the door crossing the street to see the fountain show at the Bellagio. It was beautiful the way the water danced. When we got inside the Bellagio, the decorations were up for Chinese New Year. This place was amazingly rich looking. From the Bellagio to Caesars Palace in keeping with the Eruopean theme. Now, unlike Paris, since I have been to Rome, this was a bit of a let-down. It was beautiful, but I just don't think we can recreate the magic of Rome in Las Vegas. The building materials were too perfect and new, nothing ancient here. The casino was absolutely gorgeous and there were more roped-off areas for high-rollers than any other casino we went into. Leaving Rome and heading to the tropics of The Mirage, we stood on the sidewalk and waited for the volcano to errupt, and it did. This is the big sight here, so we didn't venture into the casino. And by this time we were dog tired. We looked at the Venetian and decided to conquer it tomorrow. PHOTOS