In Vegas, oh yes

Well, here we are in Vegas and it really is as extraordinary as it is made out to be.

The journey was fairly hellish, especially the second leg from Newark to Vegas, where we had to squish into regular seats, with very little leg room, even for a short arse like me. The first leg was longer but we had more leg room and movie screens. I had booked wheelchair assistance for the airports and I was glad to have it because there's no way I could have done the walking, but it's quite an adjustment to be pushed around and not in control of my own movements. So I was very glad to have booked the scooter.

But hey, we got here, then while JC promptly fell asleep, I met the rep who handed over our breakfast buffet tickets and $500 cash.

In the morning we found the buffet, scooted down the "handicap/VIP" line and thus avoided the massive queue, ate as much as we could and then checked out all the indoor shops in the hotel. There's probably more shops in this one hotel than in the whole of Lampeter. 

The next thing was to arrange a room change as we were on the second floor, miles from the lift and our view out the window was of a large concrete wall. So now we're up on the 18th floor with a great view out over the pool and the mountains. And now that the sun is setting it's really worthwhile doing the move. And the air conditioning is better here. 

This afternoon we checked out the pool, and it felt lovely to get into the cool water, and really made it feel like we were on holiday. 

Later on in the afternoon we went over to the Mandalay Bay where the caviar tasting was taking place. We were given a talk about the four different kinds of caviar, the provenance of  eggs (chickens reared by a cardiologist on behalf of the chef), and the steak and salmon tartare. I wasn't sure if I was going to do the caviar or not, but after thinking about it for a few minutes, I came the the conclusion that since there is the possibility that I'm going to be splattered on the ground tomorrow morning, it would be rather silly not to. So I did. And it wasn't nearly as strong as I remembered, almost pleasant in fact. 

So now we're just having a little room break, waiting for darkness to come down and then we're off to see the fountains at the Belaggio, the exploding volcano and the sinking pirate ship. It's all very very strange, but kind of entertaining.