Trip Report and new web page!!!

[[QoA]Jerry Springer]

Hi. Our recent trip to Vegas and having the short version of the trip report
below published by billhere in Viva Las Vegas provided the inspiration and
motivation to get my long waited to get done Las Vegas web page done.
Check it out! :)
http://people.ne.mediaone.net/zmax/lasvegas.htm

David

Las Vegas - Return to the Pyramid!

Trip Report – June 5 to June 9, 1999

After hearing the salacious rumors and reading the dizzying reports from
“billhere”, we had our hearts set on a Dennis Rodman sighting. 8-) We
were really looking forward to being paid anywhere from $200 to $500 to
not play at his Blackjack table, to see and hear the hoopla and women
throwing themselves on him with our own eyes. At best we figured maybe
he would throw a punch and we could sue for $250k or more. Following is
a report on that perverse quest. (I’m joking of course.) This was our first
trip back since our honeymoon in April 1998.

Luxor
Once again we had a great stay there. We stayed in a jacuzzi suite in the
pyramid on the 22nd floor North West side with a lovely view looking out
over the towers and Excaliber. Since we were VIP status (with Gold
Chamber check in which was nice) due to our comped room from the GM
they held a nice room for us. Which was great since we were delayed so
long and did not arrive until about 10pm. This time the jacuzzi was clean
and since it was early by Las Vegas standards and we could really use it
from that trip we hopped into the jacuzzi for a hot steam and ordered
room service. :)

Throughout our trip at the Luxor we perused the casino but no Dennis
Rodman sighting. As we were sitting having drinks in Nefertiri’s Lounge
(drinks there not that great), a woman started screaming about her
jackpot on a slot machine. I glanced over and told my brother, Ben, it was
no big deal since the light wasn’t flashing. I went over anyway and sure
enough she had won 450 quarters. A nice jackpot but no flashing lights.

It seems they have also removed (and moved) a number of slot machines
we enjoyed playing last year. Probably because they were too loose. In
fact it seems they’ve tightened up the already tight slots there (and in all
the strip casinos) .

The pastries at the Luxor Coffee shop on the attractions level are really
good. I had a danish and cruller which were great. The coffee was not so
great. It seems they’ve lowered the price of the lunch buffet ($7.99) so
now it’s only 50 cents more than breakfast. I remember it as being $8.99
or so.

The only real problem we had was at check out. At 10:30 in the morning
on Weds there were huge lines of people waiting to check in which made
it tough for those checking out and Gold Chamber was closed. Finally
someone came to the Gold Chamber desk and I ran to be first in line. It
turned out that it was good I didn’t do express check out and just leave
cause they really screwed up the bill. We were supposed to be comped
the first two nights and then pay $75 for the remaining two nights in the
suite (since the regular rate for a suite is $250 to $350 this was quite a
bargain!). However, even after this was confirmed when I checked in,
somehow someone managed to screw it up and there was a $125 charge
for the first two nights and a $89 charge for the 2nd two nights. I showed
the woman my confirmation letter and she very quickly and efficiently
straightened it all out. (See 4/98 trip repot. The reason we were comped 2
nights was because I wrote a letter to the GM after our honeymoon
explaining nicely what we enjoyed about Luxor but also the major
problems we had. He wrote back apologizing with the offer for our next
trip out.)

Venetian
We wanted to see some of the new casinos so we headed over to the
Venetian. We had read wonderful, sparkling, glossy ads in the America
West magazine about the new shops and such. Well, no such luck. They
were still finishing the outside and the shops were not due to open for
another week. We would be gone by then.

As I always say, for most part, once you’ve seen one casino you’re seen
them all. (Except for Luxor and its Egyptian theme!) The Venetian casino
is pretty standard to a layman’s eyes. However, the waitresses attire in
the Rialto Café is quite something else! I’ve never seen such an excitingly
delicious combination of scant attire and fashion anywhere! :) If you go
there (aside from the new Emeril's) that’s as good a reason as any to go
check it out. And no Dennis Rodman sighting.

My brother heard it was a good place to play blackjack since they were
training their dealers and he was right. Within half an hour he won a nice
little sum of money.

Let me elaborate on my “you’ve seen one casino you’ve seen them all”
statement. Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. When there’s lots of people
(and Dennis Rodman) and the action is hot (and you’re winning!), casinos
can be exciting places to hang out. Going from the nice, new hotels and
casinos to the older ones downtown, you can clearly see that the ones on
the strip are much nicer and posher. The hotels and casinos downtown
are a bit dated, run down, and showing their age. The thing is that when
you are in a place like Las Vegas with so many casinos to visit, after a
while they all sort of blend together.

Bellagio
As I expected with all the hype and rumor surrounding this much heralded
new miracle of a hotel/casino, the Bellagio oozes class and style from
every pore right down to no kid enforcing bouncers, renaissance style
floor and ceiling tiles, and the haughty airs of the shoppers at Gucci and
Prada. Bellagio oozes high fashion and style like nothing else on the strip.
Except maybe for the Forum Shops and the new shops at the Venetian if
they ever open.

Of course you can’t hear it but my voice is oozing high fashion sarcasm
as I type this. :) Let’s get down to business! You’ve seen one casino,
you’ve seen them all. :) You’ve seen one Rodeo Drive or 5th Avenue,
you’ve seen them all. Overall Bellagio looks like they put a lot of
attention
to detail and money into it and that’s nice. It’s very nice and impressive.
But really, I’m just a down home sucker for that Egyptian crap over at the
Luxor.

The thing I noticed about the casino (which I didn't realize at first) is
that
you don't hear the slot machine noise you hear at other casinos. It's quiet.
And that means no winning noises either. No Dennis Rodman sighting
although I didn’t think there would be considering the no kids rule and the
bouncers enforcing it at the entrances. And yes, we saw a burly red
coated bouncer deny access to some woman with her kids despite a plea
to “just see the lobby”.

The lobby with its glass flower ceiling was wonderful. To each side of the
reception area are new works by Robert Rauschenberg made specifically
for Bellagio in which items in the painting represent something about
Bellagio. The atrium outside the art museum is light, open, and airy with
lovely gardens. We were very impressed with the tile work.

We ate/drank at the resturant next to the museum while waiting to get in.
My $4 glass of OJ was not as fresh as it could’ve been. Jen’s (Ben’s
friend) french toast was very good though. From there we had a great
view of the very nice pool area. Job well done there.
One resturant we were surprised but happy to see in the shops area was
Olives. Apparently it’s an outlet of the original Olives from Charlestown in
Boston. (Although I live in the Boston area, we still haven’t gone there but
plan to soon!) It’s one of the most popular Boston resturants and
considered one of the best.
At night we saw the fountain show outside which was very nice and
colorful.

Sometimes the best finds are the small things you have to go looking for.
On the way to the swimming pool, off in one of the corridors away from
the casino is a little place called the Gellato Cafe. The pastries and
gellato were to die for and the sandwiches on Foccacia bread were very
good!!! I had a smoked salmon sandwich with probably half a pound of
salmon (which should go for about $13) for $6. We were impressed! We
ate one of the brownies with icing and sugar dust which was divine!

The Bellagio Art Museum
We went on a Monday and had only a 2 hour wait to get in when we
bought our tickets. (I should preface this by saying I've been to most of
the major art museums in America and Europe and minored in Art History
in college.)

I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed with the museum and it's
art. The hushed silence when you enter is quite a contrast to the bustle
of the atrium area. The works in the gallery's two small rooms are
separated by a large wall and in time by the 20th century (pre and post
1900).

The rooms are darkened and the paintings are illuminated by small spots
around the room. (There are also many of those little black camera
globes too.) The lighting was superb because I could view the paintings
from many angles without any glare
from the lights which often happens at many museums. It's a very good
survey of western art; samples from the baroque and impressionist eras
to 20th century modern works. These aren't just token show pieces but
masterworks in their own right. We were particularly impressed with the
Van Goghs and two wonderful Renoirs which I never knew existed. One
Renoir in particular depicted a palm tree pathway somewhere in Algiers
and displayed a style of Renoir's I had never seen. It was stunning.

Of course, one of the ironies of all this is that everything in Vegas is a
copy but in the midst of all that are these originals. They give you a hand
held device in which you listen to Steve Wynn ramble on, often at length,
about the paintings. Some of it is informative and other times I just
switched to the next painting. Once you hear it though his voice is
unmistakable. That night on TV, I noticed his voice narrating an ad for
Siegfried and Roy.

Slots
In general it seems the strip hotels have tightened up their already tight
slots. It was like trying to squeeze water from a stone. To heck with them,
we’re not wasting our money on their slots anymore! We had much better
luck and a much better time at older casinos like the Rivera and the Lucky
Lady. There more often you hear the chink chink chink of change falling
down a chute than on the strip.

Steve Wyrick at the Lucky Lady
If you want to see a good Las Vegas magic show without paying the high
prices of the strip then this is it! (With coupons from “billhere” we got
$10
off per ticket and paid $23 each.) Steve is a nice guy and his tricks are
top notch. However, you can see that it’s not a polished show like the
Lance Burton or Siegfried & Roy shows, and he’s paying his dues. He
made a few mistakes but fortunately not when it counted. :)

George Popovich at Circus Circus
The best show in Las Vegas is also free! It’s George Popovich and his
trained cats and dogs!! We saw him last year on Penn and Teller’s Sin
City tv show on cable. We love cats and knew we had to go! But at the
time we didn’t know where he performed. We found out on the internet (of
course!). I had forgotten his name and just called CC and asked when the
performing cats were on. They gave me show times for the next few days.
My wife is a cat fanatic and was totally delighted. It really is quite
something to see cats performing tricks that most people would say are
impossible; that cats can’t be trained. We consider ourselves lucky to
have seen the act because he tours a bit.

Emeril’s
Our big splurge (since we didn’t go to the new O and Lance Burton was
on vacation) was Emeril’s Fish House at the MGM. I was surprised at how
casual it was. Plain old shirts (some hawaiin) and slacks for guys. What
can I say except that the service and food was exceptional. Total bill was
$130 with tax and tip. We only had two glasses of wine. We shared an
appetizer of poached oysters on toast which had a mild taste of the sea.
We each ordered a grilled fish dish (bass and mahi mahi) both cooked to
perfection and with sauces that were out of this world. The grande finale,
banana cream pie (his specialty) drizzled with caramel, was
extraordinary. It was a memorable meal.

One can have exceptional meals in any price category. It’s not what you
pay for a meal that makes it good nor is high price any indicator of quality
or something to your liking. We enjoyed it. I received an email from a
couple (in reponse to this trip report) who were there about the same time
as us celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and enjoyed it very much
as well.

Of course to get anywhere in the MGM Grand we had to go through the
casino. I did a spot check but Dennis Rodman was not in attendance.

Rent-an-Elvis
My brothers came up with the idea to do a goof video for our Dad’s
birthday and since two of us were both there at the same time, we did
some filming around the strip. My brother, Ben, rented an Elvis
impersonator to play a guy who married our Dad to some casino girl
named Ginger way back when. He found an Elvis impersonator named
Brendan Paul who does the Elvis role at the Imperial Palace's Legends in
Concert show. The guy was very nice and did a great job for us on the
video. If you need to hire an Elvis for your next wedding in Vegas, he’s
the one to get! He’s not cheap but it will be worth it!!! My wife and I
would
eventually like hire him when we renew our vows in Vegas for our 10th
anniversary. :) Call Brendan at (702)450-9548 leave him a message and
he'll call you back.

The Peppermill Lounge
This legend of Las Vegas lives on and we indoctrinated my brother and
his girlfriend into this unique lounge experience. Ben got hooked on the
Pina Coladas and couldn’t wait to go back the next day. I had told him to
rent “Casino” before we went which has a scene from the Peppermill in it.
The Peppermill is right next to the Riviera.

The Star Trek Experience
Kathy and I went on the ride twice last time (which we loved) so this time
we just went back for lunch. The food is very good. We had the Betazed
onion rings which were big and tasty. I had the Sulu salad which was
great. The infused vodka martini drink was not that hot.

It seems they’ve toned down the loud video which was really annoying
last time. It was a much more pleasant atmosphere to hang out in. Of
course they have those costumed characters from the show who come up
to your table and talk to you. The Ferengi was nice enough and we took a
photo with him. The Klingon on the other hand was another matter. Talk
about a guy getting into the part. I think he was one of those people who
spend their weekends in Klingon attire at conventions with their Klingon
“shipmates” and who learn to speak Klingon at Klingon language camp.
(Go see the movie Trekkies and you’ll see what I mean.) I tried to joke
around with him but he acted like I had insulted his honor, and if not for
being a diplomat on a starbase, he would’ve taken a batleth to my head. I
told him I’d would’ve gone for mine in the back of my pickup truck in the
parking lot. He was not amused. So the lesson is, don’t mess with the
Klingons. :)

Fremont Street
Since we’d never been there of course we had to go. We didn’t care if
most natives considered it the biggest tourist trap and ripoff of Las Vegas.
We were, after all, tourists!!! :) The overhead light and sound show was
cool. However, we lucked out seeing it because after the 9pm show they
didn’t do it again I think due to a big private block party they were having
with a band further down near the neon cowboy Vic.
We checked out the neon museum which is down the street from it. It was
very cool to see those old Vegas neon classics!

We’d never been to Binions so we went in an walked around. We saw the
million dollars. It seemed to be a happening place cause all the tables
were filled with people. So either it’s happening or it’s just smaller than
most places so it just seems that way. We looked but Dennis Rodman
was nowhere in sight.

Traffic
Traffic seems to have gotten worse since we last visited. One day it took
us 10 minutes just to get past Circus Circus for no reason. Other than
perhaps bad light timing. Another day during the week it took 20 minutes
to drive the length of the stip from the Mirage to the Bellagio!!! After the
Bellagio traffic clears out. What the heck is that all about?! The night we
went back from the Fremont experience I figured I’d take 15 and be up to
the Luxor in a jiffy. Wrong! We left at 10pm and ran into a tremendous
construction backup near Sahara. So we got out at Sahara and I figured
I’d go up the strip. No such luck! It was the damn Circus Circus light
backup! So I turned around and went down some road and then turned
right onto Paradise. It was smooth sailing until the Hard Rock in which
there was a huge backup again. It took 15 minutes to get past there and
there was no major traffic associated with the Hard Rock. It was just the
poor timing of the stupid lights there!!! Someone at City Hall needs to get
a clue!!!! We got back to Luxor at 10:45. I remember when that ride from
downtown up the Strip would take 10 minutes! HA! As much as we love
Las Vegas and had a great time, we felt this frustration was fraying the
magical veneer of Las Vegas.

But we'll be back!

There were other things we wanted to do which we did not have time for
and will just have to wait until our next trip. Like Lance Burton, O, Speed
World at the Sahara, and Fly Away. We didn’t have any Dennis Rodman
sightings but we didn’t go to the Hard rock which is one of his hangouts
anyway. We realize that Dennis may go broke by the time we go back so
we may never end up seeing him in action at a casino in Vegas. Oh well.
(Better to see Michael Jackson at Bellagio buying a $200,000 bracelet at
Tiffany’s). Life just isn’t always fair I guess. 8-) You can’t always get
what
you want. But sometimes….

:)

###

[David W.]

I looked at this posted and realized I forgot to remove my
game name I use to post to pc game newsgroups. Ooops.
Im not Jerry Springer. 8-) Sorry.

David W.

[QoA]Jerry Springer wrote in message ...

[MAZ]

>The Bellagio Art Museum
>We went on a Monday and had only a 2 hour wait to get in when we
>bought our tickets. (I should preface this by saying I've been to most of
>the major art museums in America and Europe and minored in Art History
>in college.)
>

Oh Man. Wait until AEJ and the professor from Boston read this one. How dare
you try to impress the rest of humanity and this newsgroup by actually
giving some background about yourself and hinting at world travel and some
life outside of Vegas! I'm sure they will get around to you soon enough.

Great trip report by the way. I share most of your observations on the
gallery. Some remarkable works that I had never seen before but didn't you
find it a bit disjointed?