Las Vegas - Sin City, part 1

It was a nice and warm January morning when our plane landed in Nevada. That was our long planned trip to see Sin City. Yeah, this is just a nickname, but somehow I like it more than Las Vegas. Actually, this nickname doesn't reflect the truth about Las Vegas, but once given it stuck. Interestingly, today less than half of city taxes is casino money. Bigger half originated from different businesses. Also a lot of work was done to prevent illegal activities and money laundering... but still say Sin City and everyone understands what you mean ;)

In fact, the gambling is still a big part of life here. You can start losing your money the minute your plane lands... The slot machines installed in the airport are waiting for you!

 

Even if you never have been to Las Vegas you have some expectations. Except for... Vegas is a lot more than just Stip. But... who cares... People come to Las Vegas to enjoy the casinos, famous buffets and entertainments. Let's do the same and walk along the Strip, stop here and there and learn more about this city.

That's funny, but it surprised us how many palm trees were there. Living in Colorado we are not used to palm trees, they are still kinda exotic and we just looked at them with eyes wide open and... liked them a lot ;)

And also casinos. Yeah, we knew there were a lot of them here. But honestly we didn't expect we could enter one of them and two hours later exit from another and even didn't realize it!

And we also had no idea that a casino is only a tip of the iceberg. The very top and visible piece hiding the backend - hotel, stores and entertainments. Working together they attract visitors and keep them here. Everyone finds something to do here... gambling, shopping, entertaining and sightseeing... You can also bring your kids here and they will be happy too. This is not really a sin city but more like a dream city!

What I like about Vegas is diversity. There are no two casinos that look alike (probably except Venetian and Palazzo), they all look different... Eiffel tower and Italian palazzo, Disney castle and New York streets, Egypt pyramids and flamingos... whatever you want... just pick what you need.

The main goal here is to keep you in. It's not that easy, but they are still able to achieve it well. I heard years ago some guests stayed in one place and never left it even for a few hours. Now it's not like that and people are migrating, looking for better entertainment, food or shopping. Or just go next door to play slot machines there.

We will try to explore all of it later, but for now let's just walk along the Strip and look around. And stop in the middle of the street to see the famous Bellagio fountains, dancing and singing (in fact we missed the show and needed to come back later ;) )... isn't it... crazy?  

Pictures were taken on January 21-23, 2017.