Here is a photo of a sculpture of orchids inside the terminal in Singapore.

Day One of our trip.

We departed Canberra on the Murray's coach to Sydney and spent the night in the Shangri-La Hotel before leaving on a flight to London via Singapore.  We had a short transit stop in Singapore and arrived in London shortly after 6am on Wednesday morning.

a few more Vegas photos

Me at the waterfall at Wynns

Colin at Wynns dancing fountain

The Atlantis Show - animated statues

Atlantis show

More photos of Vegas

Luxor

Luxor

Luxor

Me outside the Mirage

Ceiling in Ceasars Palace

Coloured fountain in the Linq

Late night munchies catered for an ATM dispensing cupcakes

More photos of Vegas

Beautiful hand painted flowers adorn the ceiling at Bellagio

Fountain at Bellagio

Arc de Triumph 

Inside casino shopping mall, is it day or night. Ceiling painted to look like day

LasVegas

Wow, what a sensational place Las Vegas is.  Every day we found something new to amaze us.

The Venetian and Caesar's Palace are probably my favourite casino's.  The Miracle Mile shopping centre has a fabulous rain storm every hour.  That's pretty spectacular with the thunder and lightning.

The Venetian has a grand canal (indoors and outdoors) with gondolas and singing gondola drivers.

The ornate ceilings and roman greco statues and gigantic fountains not to mention the curved escalators at Caesar's Palace.  Even the marble flooring is pure luxury.

The luxor is amazing it is shaped like a pyramid and the lifts go up inside it on an angle.

There is an eiffel tower, New York, New York has a statue of liberty.  Escalibur is like Cindarella's Palace.  Treasure Island has a pirate ship a the front.  It has seen better days.

I am amazed at how the casino's are little cities within themselves.  Everything you need is right there inside the casino.  Shops, restaurants, cafes, bars and somewhere to sleep.  Many of them have a show in the evening.   And of course gamble.

it is easy to get lost inside the casinos, the exit is not clearly marked.  There are no clocks on the wall, no windows either so you dont know whether its day or night.  So easy to lose track of time at the slot machine or gambling tables and of course, that is deliberate.

Inside the Flamingo is a small wildlife santurary with real Flamingo's and carp fish, pelicans and turtles all in a lush green oasis.

I have put the vast sum of $4 through the poker machines or slot machines.   I am probably rare in that I cashed in my winnings, the vast sum of $7.00 and came out there $3 in profit. We have watched the poker, crap and black jack tables and amazed at the $100 notes people put on the tables.

We went for a ride on the High Roller, the giant ferris wheel, like the London Eye except it is the biggest wheel in the world, 100 feet higher than the Eye and the top of the wheel is 550 feet high.  Colin didnt tell me how high it was until after the ride.  The view from up there is amazing.  You can see for miles.  Definately a highlight.

We loved the dancing fountain at the Bellagio and the vulcano at the Mirage which spews lava and huge flames every night at 7pm, 8pm and 9pm.  It's so good we've watched it twice.  

Wednesday we went on a day trip to the Grand Canyon.  The west rim this time and that is where you can walk out on the Skywalk, and yes, we all did that.  that was a real thrill. Standing on the clear glass and it is 4000 feet to the bottom of the canyon below you.  You are not allowed to take your camera with you, but they do take your photo if you wish and we had a group photo.  

One night we went to The Mirage to see Cirque de Soleil perform Love which is a Beatles theme written by George Harrison.  It was absolutely fantastic.  A psychodelic extravaganza, with Beatles music, video and the most amazingly clever acrobatics, flying trapeze people, cars and amazing costumes.  The best Cirque de Soleil I have ever seen, I've seen 3 different performances now.  This was definately the best and got a standing ovation and tremendous applause.

The other day we did a half day trip out to the Hoover Dam and when we got there they said there were no tours today, something to do with an electrical problem so we couldnt go underground to the power house which was 50 floors below ground and the lift didnt work so it would not be possible to walk back up all those stairs.   We had some talks, films and a walk around the observation deck, so we saw most of it and it is quite incredible. A tremendous engineering feat.

We visited the Mob Museum and estimated it would take us about an hour and 3 hours later we emerged.  it was fantastic.  

We thought 7 days might be too long here but that has not been the case.  We have been out on the strip every day for many hours and we have also come back to the resort for a swim in the pool in the afternoon afternoon or evening before heading out again at night.

the resort wass lovely and our apartment is excellent.  Two huge bedrooms with their own ensuites and a very nice lounge and kitchen and a balcony.  

It was pretty hot at the beginning of the week.  The average temp each day was 39 degrees and even by about 8am it was well over 30 degrees each day.  Later in the week it cooled down to mid twenties in the morning and reaching low 30's during the day.  We found that to be much more pleasant.   The apartment was air conditioned as well as  all the casinos.

the resort runs shuttle buses between the resort and a couple of stops on the Strip.  However, its not far to walk from here to the Strip, 10 mins at most.  But when it's hot its nice to hop on the shuttle.

I think we have been to every casino on the strip now, and loved them all.  I love the blue sky it really is as if it is daylight or twilight with those false shopfronts lit as if it is evening.

At night the Strip is an amazing sight with all the neon lights.   Every evening Caesar's Palace has a show called the Atlantis show in the Forum shops area and it is an extravaganza of light, fire, smoke and water and statues that disappear below ground and animated wax statues of Atlantis and his children.  It's quite amazing.  all of this sits atop a huge aquarium that is filled with exotic fish.

The Bellagio casino has an indoor botanical garden and they have 4 displays a year at the beginning of each season.  So on Saturday they opened the Fall display.  They had gigantic peacocks made of flowers, a talking tree, pumpkins, autumn leaves, scarecrows and lots and lots of flowers.  It was really beautiful.  Just around the corner from there was a chocolate fountain, the biggest one in the world rising over 80 feet in the air with the chocolate running over heated glass plates to keep it liquid.

The Mirage has a rainforest with a huge collection of bromeliads which are beautiful.

everything in Vegas is big.  Huge fountains that ''dance'' to music.  Waterfalls, showgirls in skimpy costumes trying to get you to take their photo and if you do, you have to pay them something.

Excalibur

Us with our friends Iain & Monika in the high roller, 550feet at its highest point

The High Roller

Colin in Bellagio casino

Los Angeles

As part of our Amtrak tour we were given vouchers for a tour of Hollywood.  We were booked on the LA City, Celebrity Homes & Beaches tour.  We weren't sure what to expect.  A bus collected us from the hotel and took us to their central office where we got onto a smaller bus.

We were told by some other tourists that we were on the best tour.  And, it was the best tour.  It lasted for about 7 hours and we saw so much of LA and our guide and driver was entertaining and knowledgeable.

We drove to Beverley Hills an past about 20 celebrities homes, cant remember most of them though. We got to walk along Rodeo Drive past all the high end shops, that were open but they keep the doors locked. You cant just wander in.  We drove down Mulholland Drive.  We saw famous hotels such as the Chateau Mamont and the hotel from the movie Pretty Woman.  Famous restaurants such as The Ivy.
We drove down Sunset Strip, and Bel-Air and then on to Santa Monica where we had an hour of free time.
We bought some lunch from one the many food trucks lining the street and sat the in park overlooking Santa Monica beach.  Afterwards we walked along the pier to see the End of Route 66 sign.  It was extremely hot and very crowded being a long weekend so we soon wandered back to the meeting point and sat in the shade.
Our tour then continued on to Venice Beach which is full of crazy people, people on skateboards and bicycles and lots of homeless people.  There are lots of stalls all along the boardwalk selling t'shirts and souvenirs.
We went for a short walk along the beach and our driver told us about a great coffee shop selling really good coffee.  We just had to go and check it out as coffee is dreadful in this country.  As soon as we walked in the door the delicious aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafted over us and we knew we were about to have a great coffee.
After Venice Beach our tour took us to the downtown area where we saw the Disney Theatre, the Microsoft theatre and the Staples Centre, buildings that host the many award ceremonies in LA.  we went past many of the museums as well.
Our final destination was Olvera Street, a mexican marketplace on the birthplace of LA.  There was a vibrant mexican market and food stalls as well as people dancing the salsa and a band playing.

Me on Rodeo Drive

Colin ordering our lunch from the food truck

Me at Santa Monica beach

End of Route 66 on Santa Monica Pier

Muscle Beach on Venice Beach

Venice Beach

Olvera Street mexican market