"Bright light city gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire," sings a gyrating Elvis in "Viva Las Vegas." While the slots and the showgirls certainly didn't set my soul on fire, I loved Las Vegas. The panorama from the airplane showed the grand hotels growing out of the sand, a lucrative oasis in the desert.
Stepping off the plane, I was greeted immediately by the clanging sound of slot machines, which was not to stop my entire trip. The airport has strategically-placed slot machines where people will be waiting the most, like by the gates or by the baggage claims.
I stayed in the MGM Grand, the largest hotel in the world, but soon to be outstripped by a fellow Vegas grand hotel. The façade of the MGM Grand is shiny glass, echoing the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz. The lobby is the size of a football field, marble floors stretching from the front doors to the first slot machines in the distance. Those slot machines signal the beginning of one of the largest casinos in the world, which curves and curls around a lion den with adolescent lions living in it, a strip of shops and restaurants ranging in price from moderately cheap to luxuriously expensive, and a nightclub called Studio 54 after the famous New York locale.
The casino consists of slot machines, all with super graphics and aggravating music, card tables where the stakes can run very high in the roped off sections, and games like roulette. When someone wins on the slots, the din of change cascading out contributes to the growing tension of your neck muscles. Yes, fun though Vegas is, it is a constant headache. Literally. The sensory experiences just don't stop until you leave. There's the sound of the slots, the joyous winners and the sore losers, the smell of booze and smoke, the sight of flashing lights, spinning slots, and scantily clad cocktail waitress, the feel of the arm of the slot machines or the smooth cardboard of the cards, and the taste of all of the above if you smoke and drink, or lick the slot machine.
The Las Vegas Strip is full of hotels with different atmospheres. The Mirage feels like a seventies throwback with bright, ugly carpeting. Caesar's Palace was one of my personal favorites, but maybe that's because I got my picture taken with a cute gladiator with a metal breastplate and a leather skirt. Caesar's Palace leads out into the Forum luxury shopping mall, but the shopping is NOT what makes this mall a must-see. The lush décor of marble columns and archways is completed by a vaulted ceiling with a painted sky that changes colors during the day from a bright noonday sky to the pinks and oranges of a sunset sky. Another one-of-a-kind event is the free multi-million dollar animatronics extravaganza that plays every hour where you witness a fight for control of the world between Fire and Ice. What will they think of next?
The most delightful hotel was the brand new Bellagio hotel which some say is snooty, but hey, all of the hotels have billions of dollars; I just like where Bellagio chose to put theirs. The lobby and casino are beautifully decorated in muted colors, the slots don't seem to quite as loud, and there is a veritable art collection.
Las Vegas is somewhere I think everyone should go once, if only to see how outrageous, luxurious, and fun these houses of vice can be. "I had a swingin' time. . ." sings Elvis, "Viva Las Vegas."
