We were heading out for a few days between Christmas and New Year - we needed 12,673 miles for gold status in 2013 (free lounge, extra luggage, US-domestic upgrades) on United Airlines, so we'd planned a scenic route for our short trip. Had to leave on 31st December for the mileage credit and besides, the assistants (Di and Paul) had work on 2nd January. Paul's dad drove us down to Heathrow Airport, London for our afternoon flight to San Francisco, California, non-stop.
We arrived at Heathrow at about 11am. They have a Star Alliance Lounge at Heathrow, which was very nice, they even had a cooked breakfast waiting for me - bacon, scrambled eggs, even mushrooms on toast for veggie Di. A short while later they brought out jacket (baked) potatoes, sandwiches and mini-chicken kievs - this was better than our usual cheese and biscuits!
We'd be flying to San Francisco in a Boeing 747. This wasn't good, as, when we checked-in, we saw there was no power on board, and no individual video/TV. What the heck was I gonna do for 11 hours? I could work on the website for a while, but the batteries generally only last about three hours. We did have extra legroom, exit row seats, though, with a nice little dance floor in front of the emergency exit, so I settled down to check out my duties and read the safety card. Then, bad news! It turns out United had gone and sold MY seat! Hmph! Di and Paul had to shove up a bit.
This flight went further North than our usual trip to Newark, flying over Greenland. We got some great views!
As well as studying the view, working on the website and reading my Kindle - a cool book about surviving the Titanic by one of the passengers - I was surprised when they started handing out ice cream! Fab! Made up for the fact I couldn't be bothered with the single little telly with movies that sounded dull, according to the in-flight magazine. It wasn't long (well, actually it was an age) before we arrived at San Francisco airport. I'd only been here in September! (I am writing up that trip, really!) I photographed the Hurricane and Spitfire hanging from the ceiling last time I was here, so I went for these biplanes this time. Poor Paul had to fly the connecting flight to Vegas in Economy but I got upgraded! That's more like it!
We landed at Las Vegas McCarron Airport at 9.30pm (which was 5.30am tomorrow, our time!) We got onto a shared shuttle ($13 round trip) and headed to our hotel for the next two nights - The Venetian (I signed up to their mailing list and got a deal!) There was a bit of a line to check-in (we turned down the $45/night upgrade for a view of the Strip), but eventually we got our key. It was a bit of a trek to our room in the Venezia Tower - two elevators and a hike - wouldn't want to get out in a hurry!
Check out the room! Swanky, eh? Well we thought so...until we noticed a few things were missing - the TV in the bathroom, the remote control curtains (really!), DVD player and some other stuff they advertised.
I made Di call reception and she spoke to Steve. He understood and offered us another room, and a free upgrade to a Strip view. Well, they said it was an upgrade - I'm glad I didn't spring for the extra $90, not that it wasn't a nice view, or even a nice room. The bed was good, but this must be the original tower, as it was older and more tired. It was still very nice, with the king-size bed, sunken lounge, three TVs, DVD player and, what I really wanted, the remote control blinds and curtains - I could play with them all day! (I did - ssshhh!) The sofa was larger in this room - which was good, cos it's where I was making the assistants sleep!
We woke up to a bright sunny day - great, cos the weather forecast said it might rain. We didn't have much in the way of plans for this trip - we've done Vegas a few times. We had hoped to take the steam train to the Grand Canyon, but couldn't fit it in with our time scales - maybe next time. One thing I did want to do was go on a gondola ride. I'd been on one in the real Venice, but the Venetian Hotel is amazing inside, with the canal running through it and all kinds of shops to peruse. Besides, I had my gondolier's hat from Venice and I thought it needed another outing.
There was quite a line and a 90-minute wait for next available gondola so we decided to get a ticket for later in the day and we'd come back just before dinner. While I was in line in the shop I met a bunch of singing gondolier dogs (and some monkeys) - they were very friendly and we sang a couple of songs together while I waited for my tickets.
With our tickets we decided to head to the front of the Venetian and take a look at the Winter in Venice decorations. On the way out, we found Sin City Brewing Company so thought we should stop and grab a beer. My pal @BucksterBear from Twitter had recommended them so I thought I should give them a try. As it was only lunchtime, I thought I'd start with their Sin City Light Lager (my left paw) and follow up with a full-bodied Octoberfest (in my right paw).
It was very pretty out front of the hotel. They had set up an ice rink and I asked, but my wussy assistants weren't prepared to join me and I didn't want to skate alone.
We decided to head across the Strip (Las Vegas Boulevard). We stopped at the Treasure Island to check out the show times for later, they have a pirate ship show, several times a night. The Wynn Hotel was across the street, but we'd been in there last year so didn't bother to go over there again.
Our next stop was the Fashion Show Mall, and - most importantly - the Build-A-Bear Workshop! Yay! I got Vegas shirts for both Frank and me. There are some strange folks in Vegas - like this Transformer-y bloke.
I wanted a pretzel from Auntie Anne's while in the mall - took my dopey assistants ages to find it! You'd think they could read a map. Eventually, they found it (by where we'd started) and, while they didn't have my fave sesame seed version, I got a salted pretzel before we took our shopping back to the hotel. It was about an hour till our gondola ride. We walked alongside the canal through the hotel and back to the room.
We took a look at our view while we were back in the room - we were on the 30th floor!
Oh yeah, and there were those remote control curtains!
We walked back again alongside the canal until we got to the joining point for the gondola rides (dropped a Ted cos, well really, it's not actually Venice and the ride is a bit short). We were about ten minutes early, but joined the line anyway - it wasn't very long.
Okay, so it's not the real thing. Who cares? It's fun, and it's warm (it was freezing in Venice when I did this!) I know the gondoliers aren't really Italian (I watched a show where they teach guys and girls from the US - like Brooklyn - to talk with an Italian accent. It was pretty funny). Our guy even sang a couple of songs for us (I believe they all do - all part of the service.) You can't come to the Venetian and NOT ride the gondola. We just didn't buy the photo!
In the evenings, they darken some parts of the Grand Canal Shoppes area so they can light the street lamps - it's pretty cool, but you can see by the contrast that in other parts they don't! St Mark's Square - the darkened part - has several restaurants for you to try.
As an internet-wise bear, I've long been a member of Godiva Chocolate's mailing list. They give you a free chocolate each month. FREE! So, I picked up one as the Godiva store is next to the Gondola ticket shop. In case you need to know, I had a milk chocolate caramel!
Then it was dinner time! Yay. We'd spotted a pizza place as we walked through the Palazzo Shops (adjoining the Venetian) so we headed off to Grimaldi's Pizzeria. We went straight in and Manny was our server. She was very nice, as was the pizza! They also did red wine by the carafe for just $15 - that's my kinda wine! (It was good wine, too). It was funny in the restaurant, though, cos the guy in the kitchen kept tossing the pizza dough in the air, Paul would say "he's doing it now", Di would look round and there was nothing. Every time he threw the pizza, Di would miss it. She's hopeless.
After dinner, we ambled back towards our hotel tower. There was just time to grab dessert at Haagen-Dasz (a cup of Dulce du Leche) before returning to our room. I took the time to look at our Strip view, which is kind of looking the wrong (dull) way down the Strip, before making myself comfy in my new bunny slippers.
Next morning we had a bit of a lazy start - it's not like we had big plans for the day...or even small ones. What to do? We went down to the lobby and took the time to check it out - very Venice, I think. Ornate and well decorated ceilings were pretty impressive, don't you think?
We wandered outside - the sun was shining again, but it was a bit cold (who cares, the SUN was shining - remember sun, England?) They have a glass Christmas tree outside (something like that anyway).
Here are some more sights of Venice - the replica of St Mark's Campanile is amazing, but sadly they don't let you go up it - wonder what's inside? Okay, so the Rialto Bridge is not over the canal, it's still impressive. The Venetian Tower (below right) is where our (second) hotel room was.
We decided to mosey down the Strip a little. Across the road is the Mirage Hotel and Casino, but on our side there was a lot of construction underway at what used to be the Imperial Hotel and Casino. We've stayed there a few times, as it has a great location on the Strip and was really cheap! (Like my assistants!) We headed into the Flamingo - we've stayed here too. Another cheap and cheerful hotel (a bit nicer than the Imperial, but a bit more expensive) - we stayed here last year as Di had tickets for the Donny & Marie show (I didn't go.) There's a small habitat outside the back of the Flamingo where they have a variety of birds. This is a Californian Brown Pelican.
I decided to have a bit of a gamble in the Flamingo. Paul and Di both put up a dollar and off I went. Generally not betting more than 1c a go, abd very occasionally 5c, I lost some and won some. At one point I was up to $1.33, but I kept spending until I was down to $1.01, so, with Di's $1 I beat the house! Yay! Best not to talk about Paul's dollar however.
We crossed over the road just before we got to the Paris Hotel and Casino. We went up the Eiffel Tower last visit - the view isn't that exciting during the day (much better with the lights at night, and a good view of the Bellagio fountains, but that was another visit). We stopped at the Bellagio, but a quick google on the phone told us the dancing fountains wouldn't start till 3pm (it was about 1.20pm at the time) so we decided not to wait and see them this time.
Caesar's Palace is next to the Bellagio, so we thought we'd go hunting for lunch.
The entrance is nice in here, but the restaurants inside were a little too upscale for us. And how did Gordon Ramsey get in here?????? We looked at a map of the the Forum Shops (we know there's a Cheesecake Factory in there!) but decided to head back to the Flamingo and Johnny Rockets! Classy, eh? Cheesy fries and a Budweiser for us!
We ambled back towards the Venetian to have a wander through the casino, and maybe even gamble another dollar...while there we spotted a Grease movie gambling machine. While it said the bets were 1c, though, the minimum bet was 60c! 60c? Sheesh, two bets and we'd be bankrupt! So, we didn't actually have a go. I have to admit, I have no clue what these machines are doing, they flash and bells go and stuff, but I have no clue. I've never played the big tables either - don't think they have 1c betting roulette machines...
We had time for another quick beer, as you do. We stopped again at Sin City Brewing Company. In fact, as there were three of us, and three beers left, we figured we should have one of each - Di had the refreshing wheat beer, Weiss, which she said was very good, Paul had the classic Irish dry Stout and I went for the IPA, the supposedly traditional, British Style Ale. Di and I didn't like the stout much, but the IPA was good. Maybe, I'd overstayed my welcome - you'll see from the photo, they offered me a job. I quickly got outta there...
We planned to go see the pirate show at Treasure Island at 5.30pm, so headed over there at about 5pm. It was pretty packed, even for the early showing. We got a place to stand and waited for the show to start. By the time the show started, the whole area was packed with folks.
Now, I saw this show a few years ago and it was a regular good pirates and bad pirates show, with explosions and falling off the boat. It's changed. Weirdly now there are many scantily clad female pirates, and a couple of blokey pirates. In between explosions and a little dialogue there's a lot of dancing. Not quite sure of the plot - girl pirates take bloke pirate captive, they dance, they yell, more pirates arrive, there's more dancing and a few fireworks. It was quite entertaining (especially for the men in the audience) but I preferred the more old-fashioned version.
We crossed back over to the Palazzo as we'd decided to have dinner in the i♥burgers restaurant. We still had three hours till our shuttle to the airport so figured ninety minutes for dinner would kill some time. We'd never tried this place, but it looked okay online. It wasn't.
The first disappointment was the decor. While it was a diner-style, the tables were cheap plastic, and it all seemed a bit tacky. At that point we should've turned round and gone back to Grimaldi's Pizzeria, but we didn't. We were shown to a table and we ordered beers. I had a Blue Moon, Paul had a Sam Adams. They quickly took our order and we settled back to wait for dinner. What? Already? Five to ten minutes later dinner arrived! Hmm, so much for a leisurely dinner. They forgot Di's side of mushrooms, they brought our wine with dinner and we'd only just started our beers.
The burgers were nothing to write home about. Di's Bean Burger was very dry, she said, with very little on it to lubricate it. She tried ketchup but it didn't help much. Paul's burger wasn't much better - a Standard Burger. Now, these are supposed to be gourmet burgers - they range from $11-25 and fries are a SIDE!!!!! (What's THAT about?) What it means is, if you want fries too, it's another $6+! Ridiculous. I mean, maybe not if they were good maybe, but they were below average. Seriously, McDonalds has better fries (well, when they are fresh and hot they do!) We should've walked out and gone back to Grimaldi's. I've just been reading some reviews that Strip restaurants are expensive. Not so! Grimaldi's was amazing value, good, hot, fresh and I have to say i so do NOT ♥ burgers - not from these guys anyway. Terrible.
We were in and out in 45 minutes, max. You'd think if you were paying a lot you'd get super service, proper tables, the stuff you ordered and it would be edible. Seems not. I won't become a frequent flyer at that place.
So, annoyingly with more time than planned to wait for our airport shuttle, we wandered again through the casino, and then ambled around the outside of the Da Vinci exhibition. It was closed or we'd have probably taken a look (we were too cheap to spend the money, earlier) but they have a couple of Da Vinci's designs made up and on show in the foyer.
The first is the Mitragliatrice a Tri Registre (Three-Registered Gun Machine) - a very early-designed machine gun with three racks of ten guns. You fire ten, then rotate around to the next ten while the first ones cool off. The machine in the middle is a Macchina Rizzantenne, which is a pole-erecting machine, using a pulley and rope to assist in erecting poles and/or pillars. He was an interesting man, Mr Da Vinci (just obviously not interesting enough for me to get the assistants to go pay to check him out.
Eventually, it was time to catch our 9.30pm airport shuttle. When it hadn't arrived at 9.35pm we called - it was seven minutes away, stuck in traffic, apparently. So we waited. Vegas in winter at night is not warm (well, it wasn't this night). Eventually, our driver arrived and we piled onto our private shared shuttle. About half way to the airport the driver got a call - he'd missed his pick up at the Venetian - er, no, he hadn't, we were on. Seems there was another couple who'd missed the shuttle (we hadn't seen anyone in the half hour we were waiting, and we told him this), and his despatch folks weren't convinced we should be on the bus either, but the driver had our tickets and kept going (phew!) We were soon at the airport and through security to wait - three hours - for our 12.50am flight out. At least McCarran Airport has laptop stations and free Wi-Fi, I could tweet away while working on other important web-stuff.
Di and I got an upgrade on our overnight flight to Houston, Texas - the snacks were just crisps and a tiny Ted-size Toblerone, but the seat was comfy at least - room for me to spread out. At least the guy next to us was sleepy and didn't wanna chat. Yawn. It had been a long day.
