Monday 23rd September

So we finally made it to Vegas - everyone says that it is worth visiting and everyone has their own reasons why. We arrived with an open mind and were looking forward to discovering what Vegas would be to us.

We were staying at Paris which I liked immediately - it had a lot of different features and character and having discovered that our room was on the 32nd floor with a view of the "Eiffel Tower", pool where the water displays were and facing the Bellagio Hotel, we headed downstairs for a bite to eat and the first cafe was called Ille St Louis, which is also our favourite part of Paris. So all good as an introduction.

We then headed out to the strip for a little look around that led to a long look around that took us all the way through until the evening. And we ate at the restaurant at the base of the tower - an expensive business but good views. We followed that up with too much cake at a placed called Sugar.

My initial thoughts were that Vegas isn't what I thought it would be. I had heard about 'The Strip', but it turned out to be quite painful to make your way through - in and out of place after place. But it was all different and lots of different themes throughout.

Tuesday 24th September

This was a fine day - a sleep-in followed by a limousine drive to the local airport where we boarded a helicopter that flew us over the Hoover Dam and to the Grand Canyon where it dropped us half way down for a picnic. Then a great flight back with great views of Vegas. It was a great experience to see the Canyon that way - it is such an impressive place - the size is incredible - it was definitely worth the visit.

With that ticked off, we went for further exploring and had a bite to eat at Bellagio before heading to The Colloseum at Ceasar's Palace to see a two hour Elton John gig that was superb - the room was great and the backdrop to the show was excellent adding lots of context to songs and enhancing the experience. Though it is an enormous concert hall, the show felt quite intimate and he was playing piano like a demon - fantastic stuff.

From there, we headed to the open rooftop bar at Rio Casino before calling it a day. And what a day it had been.

Wednesday 25th September

Our final full day in Vegas started with a nice breakfast in the hotel before going to explore the old Vegas down at Fremont Street which was a long way to go and not worth it at all. Admittedly, it is supposed to be a better experience at night, but it is hard to imagine why it would be worth a visit. Oh well.

We then headed back to the Strip and saw Wynn, Venetian and Mirage casinos before heading back for a restful afternoon and massage at the hotel's spa.

Unfortunately I caught some bug that played havok with my body, so the day ended with me relaxing at the hotel not straying to far deom the facilities!