Las Vegas

Today we drove to my favourite hotel, the Bellagio; one of its many fabulous features is a beautiful conservatory, today full of flowering bulbs; from there we walked past Caesars Palace, which has added a new section to its “forum” shops, with curved escalators and a nicely painted ceiling:

Past Caesars Palace we arrived at the Mirage, and paid to go in to Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden & Dolphin Habitat; I caught this picture of a dolphin leaping & spinning out of the water; there are also lions and white tigers there:

 

From the Mirage we used the new Las Vegas tram system and eventually made our way back to the Bellagio (where the car was); there we found another new thing – a chocolate fountain(!); the shop also had great cakes:

Here is a short video of the Chocolate Fountain:

I spent the day at ConExpo (a business related show); in the evening I met “Agro” (a MINI owner) who took me for a drive along the Las Vegas strip:

Later in the evening I took this picture from our room in the Mandalay Bay – you can see civilzation far across the valley:

 

Today we flew from Boston to Las Vegas, arriving about 3pm and after waiting more than half an hour for our luggage, getting a taxi to the Mandalay Bay hotel/casino.
I always like a high room (good view) and initially we were to be checked in to the 9th floor – but the very helpful manager behind the check-in desk worked with us and found a room on the 30th floor! I think we got a free upgrade too – the room was fabulous with great views:

My favourite hotel in Las Vegas is still the Bellagio because of its lake & fountains, but the Mandalay Bay is a very close competitor – it has better rooms, a better pool area (with wave pool & lazy river) and less queueing for the restaurants.
Also, you don’t have to walk through the casino when you are tired after a long flight, to get from registration to the elevators to take you to your room.