Vancouver

Well folks, its hard to believe the first week of the trip is now behind me. As I write I am travelling by train from Toronto to Windsor in the Ontario province of Canada. Earlier today I flew from Vancouver to Toronto after three days in Vancouver. Sadly the first day in Vancouver was lost to rest! After a big three days in Vegas my body was telling me that it needed to take a little time to rest.

Anyway ... on Monday I hit the ground running in getting around the beautiful city of Vancouver and discovering what it had to offer. The thing that struck me right from the start was the stark difference between Vancouver and Las Vegas. Vegas is very dependent on man-made structures to impress visitors. On the other hand, Vancouver is rich in natural beauty. Once again I opted to do an open-top bus tour to get around the see the sites. Certainly one of the jewels in the crown is beautiful Stanley Park with its gardens and displays.

The city that hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics has plenty of other locations and sites to enjoy, including Granville Island, the Seaway, historic Gastown, the Capilano Suspension Bridge and the vibrant Downtown areas.

The Laughing Statues at English Bay in Vancouver - on loan from China for the 2010 Winter Olympics:

 Historic Gastown:

Totem poles in Stanley Park:

Lions Gate Bridge:

The Winter Olympic Cauldron at Canada Place 

 The Capilano Suspension Bridge (it didn't feel too safe to me but i made it across and back!)

 The cliff trail at Capilano:

The view of downtown Vancouver from the Botanic Gardens ... snow-topped mountains and all!

A second highlight for my last day in Las Vegas was the chance to see Elton John in concert. I am lucky enough to have already seen this legendary performer in concert once before. For my 18th birthday, my sister Pam took me to an Elton John and Billy Joel concert at QEII stadium in Brisbane. The chance to see him again at the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace was something i could not miss. I saw a Bette Midler concert at the same venue on TV in Australia and its also been home to Celine Dion and Shania Twain. Rod Stewart is playing there later this and Jerry Seinfeld is also due to do a show there. Apparently the venue was specifically built for Dion, who's been playing there for years. She was on a break to deal with a throat issue, thus why Elton was performing.

The set for Elton's 'Million Dollar Piano' show was stunning. The name comes from the fact that the piano he plays on stage is valued at $1 million. It's specially design 9 foot long grand piano with LED lighting and all sort of other enhancements. The lighting and sound was brilliant and over two hours Elton performed many of his greatest hits. At one stage, toward the end, he people sitting in the front few rows were allowed up on stage while he performed 'Saturday Night's alright for fighting.' Now that would have been brilliant! During the show Elton would have received about 20 standing ovations, of which i participated in many. The show was just brilliant! He had such energy and presence on stage!

I found it funny, everyone was warned as they walked in the door that recording the flash photography was not allowed, but during the show the flashes never stopped! And the people around me were recording heaps of songs on their phones! hahaha I snuck the following two pics:

When I decided that I would make Las Vegas the first stop on my Round the World trip there was one thing I told myself I definitely wanted to do while I was there ... take a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. Mum and Dad did it when they visited several years ago and spoke highly about it so I thought it was worth a look. Well ... I can say that it was definitely worth a look. I booked a tour with a company called Mavericks. We took off from an airport outside of town and traveled first to the Hoover Dam. This is an impressive structure, as is the massive bypass bridge that's been built downstream from it.

After the Hoover Dam we continued on to the Grand Canyon. This Wonder of the World is truly spectacular! Formed over millions of years it truly is a sight to see.

After flying through the canyon the tour company landed in the canyon.

This is a great way to get a feel for the enormous dimensions of the canyon. It is huge! Here's a video:

Here's me in the Canyon:

Also on the tour were some members of the British Royal Family. Well, not really ... it was a group of guys from London who were over in Las Vegas for a Buck's Weekend.

This tour of Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon will go down as one of the great experiences of this trip!

back in summer!

New York, New York

Excaliber

 

Luxor

 

Me and the famous Las Vegas sign at the northern end of the strip

The sign

The Tropicana

The MGM Grand

The Sahara

An older Vegas sign in downtown Las Vegas

another iconic sign in Downtown Las Vegas

people wonder why obesity is such a problem. check out the size of these burgers - quite rightly called 'Bypass Burgers'. Adding insult to injury, if you weigh more than 300lbs you get to eat free at this restaurant

Paris Hotel 

The Hard Rock

A gondola ride at the Venetian

 

The Mirage

 

Caesars ... not so focussed

The temperature reached 95 degree Fahrenheit in Las Vegas today or around 34 in metric (I think) ... it was bloody hot! Yes, Las Vegas is in a desert and it certainly felt like it today. But instead of running for cover this intrepid explorer hit the streets early and spent most of the day out in the heat. First was breakfast and a look around the Bellagio followed by an open-top bus tour of Las Vegas. Thankfully the top of the bus had a cover on it (wait ... does that make sense?) and it was a great way to explore the city. First it was the newer part of Las Vegas from Bally's Hotel across the road from Caesars north to the infamous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign and north to Circus Circus. Then, I took the other tour of "Downtown" Las Vegas, the older part of town that has its own unique charm. Embarassingly, i think i may have nodded off with about two blocks to go in the second tour and had to be woken up by the tour guide when we arrived at out final destination. Armed with advice from the guide, I then went about purchasing a ticket (at a discount rate) to see the Blue Man Group as well as my helicopter tour of the areas, which is tomorrow morning at 11am!

Blue Man Group ... wow! Those of you who have seen the guys perform will know what I am talking about. I got a seat four rows from the front which thankfully came with a poncho. I didn't really know what to expect but the show was an eye opener. It's a performance featuring drums as well as lighting and other special effects. The poncho came in handy when the performers started pouring water on to their drums while hitting them, sending water into the audience. It's called the Blue Man Group because the performers are, quite literally, blue. It's really hard to explain. Look them up on the net. Definitely worth seeing and thanks to Frank Nucifora for the tip.

Well, I'm stuffed! This holidaying is tough!!!! Another big day in the heat and still to get the body re-set after the time change. Hopefully after a good night's sleep all will be in order. Tomorrow it's the helicopter tour of Las Vegas, Lake Mead, the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon. still to try and get tix to Elton John tomorrow night, which would be a great way to end my time in Las Vegas. If i do get a ticket, I'll have a nice meal first, then see the show and then try some night photography before calling it a night and getting ready for an early start on Sunday for the flight to Vancouver.

 

I saw Michael Jackson on Las Vegas Boulevard last night ....

... but more on that later.

After what seemed like a marathon journey, I arrived in Las Vegas at around 4pm on Thursday afternoon. There was a slight hiccup with luggage however thankfully the missing bag arrived at the hotel about 12 hours after I checked in (it seemed it went on a little trip to Chicago without me!). I was stuffed! I didn't get much sleep on the flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles and the six hour wait at the airport in LA was slightly annoying. oh well, the joys on travel! Flying into Vegas was fascinating ... looking down at numerous housing estates in the middle of the desert and then looking up to see the highrises in the distance.

As much as I have watched TV shows and movies set in Vegas, i was still surprised and in awe of the strip as I was being driven through it by the cab driver. And this was at 4pm in the afternoon. Once the sun went down and the lights came on it was even more dazzling. Caesars in massive and it felt like i was walking in a maze as I walked from reception to the tower I was staying in. The room is great ... a view of the pool, spacious, a spa, a shower with two shower heads and even a bidet. Very nice. After settling in I went for a walk around the complex and then ventured out on to The Strip. It really is something to behold ... the lights; the sounds; the buildings; designer stores, the budget stores; the people from different cultures and backgrounds. Speaking of the different people, that's where I ran into Michael Jackson. He was dancing to Bill Jean out in front of the MGM Grand. Maybe the real Elvis is here too if I look for him?

Being so bloody tired i only walked the strip - i didn't really explore too much. After returning to the hotel i had dinner at one of the bars downstairs where I met a lady from New Hampshire who was out in Vegas for the weekend on a promise that she would appear on stage in the new Elton John show and a couple from Canada who were just down for the weekend. Nice people!

That's day one, people ... let the fun and games begin!