Las Vegas
2052hrs
This morning we went to Caésar's Palace, one of the really famous casinos here. It's really big, and has a whole shopping centre built into it, all in the style of ancient Rome. There are big statues and fountains, and it's rather cleverly made to look like it's outside, with stone fronts to the shops and a fake sky.
Because we aren't twenty-one yet, Colin and I aren't supposed to hang out around the gambling machines. We did get thrown out once today. Someone suggested that Colin might be able to get away with it - his birthday's the 5th of the 11th, but because in America they write their dates the wrong way round, had he shown them identification they would probably have thought it was the 11th of the 5th, which has already been. But the only identification he has says 05 Nov 76, so that didn't work.
We got some lunch in a little cafe there, which was very dodgy. The fries were cold, they sold Pepsi even though it wasn't on the menu, and I asked for an orange juice, advertised at $1.50, and was charged $2.75. When I pointed this out, I was given the explanation, "No, that's something different." Since I'd already drunk it by this time, there wasn't a lot I could do.
In the afternoon, Colin and I explored some of the other casinos. There was
one called New York New York, designed in the style of New York, and one
called the Luxor, in the shape of a giant pyramid, with an Egyptian motif.
We had to come back to the hotel then, so Ron and Pauline could babysit Tanner while Lee and Shari went to this wedding. On the way, we were stopped by the police. Apparently the van's license had expired. They have to get a whole new license plate over here, like we have to get a new tax disk. The van had been borrowed from Shari's mum, who you'd think might have mentioned that the vehicle was illegal, but it was only a month overdue and he only gave us a warning, so that was all right.
Pauline has now lost all of the $250 she won yesterday. There was a time when I almost thought that she might actually leave Las Vegas with a profit, which would have destroyed all my preconceptions of the place.
