Perspective

Because I had an early night last night, I was awake early this morning. We got up and figured we would go to the pool, so neither of us showered, we just went straight out for brekky. We went to Paris for crepes! Yummo!

Came back to the Bellagio and changed into our bathers and went down to the pool. It was already hot at 10.00am.

After I had had enough of that I showered and changed and headed out. Today I thought I would explore the North end premium shopping outlets.

That would have been a good plan if I had gotten on the right bus. After going out to Oodiwoopwoop, I got off the bus and headed to the nearby transit terminal and got on a Bus back to my hotel, because by this time it wasn't going to be worth going (time-wise). I got off the bus, but thought I should at least go get the 'Love' tickets (cirque de soleil - with music by the Beatles) for tomorrow night. So I made my way to the Mirage, which is only two hotels away from the Bellagio (and the bus stop). But, it is difficult to comprehend the size of these hotels, they are so huge, that they don't look it. It took me 25 mins to get there, and I walk fast.

Bought the tickets and headed back to our hotel, and on the way grabbed a hot dog and drink. For $13 dollars. Have I told you how bloody expensive it is here? Nothing on The Strip is cheap!

Today was our Sunset Helicopter ride out to the Grand Canyon. We got picked up at our hotel in a limo and were taken to the airport. After formalities we were finally on the chopper, and we were off! It took 45 mins to get to the Canyon itself from the airport, and we were also flown over the Hoover Dam, which in itself was spectacular! Once we were flying in the Canyon, it was long before we landed, took some photos, had a small picnic and champagne too.

Chatting to the pilot I asked what speed he had been going as it felt as though we were going quite slow until we were approaching to land, where it felt as though he was going faster. Well, quite the opposite! He said the speed was 150mph, and that he slowed to 60 on approach. It is the sheer scale of the landscape that messes with your head so that you lose all perspective. And it truly is magnificent. The colours are also wonderful, and it was greener than I thought it would be!

On the trip back we were picked to sit in the front with the pilot and this was awesome. I was able to take photos with some gorgeous colours in the sky. I had been teasing Ros that the pilot would do some trickery with the chopper and that he would do a nosedive. So at one stage on the flight back I hand signaled to Ros that a nosedive was coming up. The pilot saw this, as well as Ros' reaction and he winked and nodded at me to show that he would. Unfortunately he didn't though, so that was a disappointment.

Closer to Vegas, the view of the city lights was great and then we flew in to the right of the strip before coming into land.

The whole trip was fantastic. And whilst we were in the Canyon, a British guy asked his girlfriend to marry him!

Back at the hotel, we decided to go out. We got ready and had a cocktail downstairs, then we thought we would go to the mirage for a drink, but we didn't like any of the bars. We were going to check out Caesar's Palace, but saw that the Venetian was across the road so we decided to check the hotel out. Amazing, kitsch and stunning, all in one...

With all the walking between hotels though, even though I was in the mood to go out, my feet were killing me.

Back at our hotel and Ros went straight up to bed, but I decided to hang around and watch some gambling. Saw one guy playing $1000 chips, and losing them. Another guy at the same table was playing $200 rounds, lost all his chips and just flicked out another $1000 as if each $100 note was worth $1. I couldn't do it, but I suppose that requires perspective too.



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