Las Vegas : Stay at The Venetian

In Las Vegas there are many casinos. We stayed at “The Venetian”. This casino is designed after the famous Italian city Venice. The Venetian Casino is the centre of attraction for the visitors because of its beautiful architecture, astonishing entertainments and remarkable restaurants.

The casino’s interiors are replicas of streets of Venice. The Casino has an indoor/outdoor canal with boat rides taking people on romantic rides. The boat men dressed in traditional dress ferry the boat singing traditional songs. The canal is surrounded by beautiful shopping center. The boat ride is also called “Gondola Ride”

The best part of the canal is the artificial sky. This blue sky 70 feet high with passing clouds is an architectural wonder (it is a ceiling not a real sky). All through the day, lighting is the same; the temperature is the same, no rain, no sun shine. The sky and the lighting are tuned to provide an evening twilight feeling (say 6 pm). It is a wonder, how they create an artificial sky appearing nothing but a real sky with passing clouds.

A replica of “The Mark’s Square” of Venice is created within the casino. Every evening at 6 pm, there are Italian cultural programs. Music, dance, drama with performers in Italian costumes makes every one feel that they are sitting at Mark’s Square in Venice. A music troop performing there played a Hindi tune looking at us. It was very interesting to know how they accommodate people from different backgrounds.

Venetian has more than 4000 suites. Each suite is designed with luxurious amenities. There is a separate living area and bedroom area.  The living room had a full Sofa, study table, Flat Screen TV, dinning table etc. A fridge with all kinds of soft and hot drinks along with snacks is fixed with sensors, if an item was taken out of the fridge; it would be billed to our account immediately. First time I noticed remote controlled window screens, sitting at the sofa, you could open or close window panes.

The bedroom area had a king size bed with separate flat screen TV. The bathroom had wide and big Italian marbles with gold tinted handles. A TV near the bath tub, telephones at accessible distance from the bath tub, bath towels of various sizes and bath robes made the bath room very luxurious.

What I have written is about Venetian Casino, where we stayed. There are several other casinos with their own themes attracting the visitors. Caesar Palace Casino has a replica of Roman Coliseum. Note: Roman Coliseum was constructed in Rome in 80AD which was used for public spectacles. 80,000 people could sit at a time and watch the games. It was estimated that 500,000 people were killed in the Coliseum games. It is damaged in the course of time and preserved now as a broken structure.

Trip To Las Vegas

Las Vegas, just 100 years back was a desert surrounded by hills. But today its one of the most attractive tourism places in the US. This city has both an ugly side and a pretty side.

First let me describe the good part of Las Vegas.

- Las Vegas is a lovely and beautiful city. The entertained hub of the city runs along a road called “The Strip”. Both sides of the Strip are filled with Casinos. A Casino traditionally is a gambling center, but the Casinos here are nothing but a luxurious Resort, based on a theme with accommodation, restaurants, gambling centers, spas, entertainment shows etc all under the same roof.

- The strip has many Casinos; each casino is based on a theme. The Las Vegas city is wide spread but most of the entertainment is situated along the strip. People need not go any where for entertainment; every thing is available in the strip itself.

The other side of Las Vegas is very sinful. Las Vegas is also popularly known as the ‘Sin City’. Thousands of people pour in day after day with hefty purses and return home as paupers.

- It is not only popular for spectaculars but for gambling, night clubs, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide rate, bankruptcy, commercial ‘wedding and divorce’ etc.

- Nude, semi nude and topless dancers make the guests immoral. Las Vegas night life is full of sinful activities throughout the night. This is the only city that’s completely functional all thru the night. All casinos and restaurants are open thru the whole night.

- Semi nude posters of dancers on advertisement vans make the decent visitors to close their eyes.

 

GAMBLING IN LAS VEGAS

All Casinos in Las Vegas are equipped with vast gambling facilities. The most common and easiest gambling device is the slot machine. Previously these slot machines were coin based, but to-day these machines are converted into “token’ slot machines. Though these machines are based on coin denominations, they take only currency or cards. At the end of the session a token is printed which can be exchanged for cash. 

Apart from slot machines, there are different types of gambling played by using “cards”. Poker & Blackjack is very popular. In the gambling area, the bartender girls wearing minimum dress with a tray hanging around their necks server hot drinks, soft drinks and cigarettes to the gamblers free of cost. Only some tip to be given to them. It is a business tactics, by supplying free alcohol on the floor, the gamblers are encouraged to sit and gamble for hours and lose everything.

To get some experience, I gambled with $50 (Rs 2500) in a slot machine for more than one hour and finally lost $50 but gained $18. In average, everybody will lose at this ratio; the machines are calibrated to work like that.

The pleasure during gambling is boundless. The temptation is so powerful; whatever is gained would also be gambled and finally lost.

In these gambling centers those who are less than 21 years are strictly not allowed, those who had just completed 21 years should have an age proof. When we took little Ronan who was ten months old, baby was not allowed in the gambling area, they said that the gambling centers are ‘smoking’ allowed centers and the smoke will affect the babies. 

 

CASIONS AND ENTERTAINMENT: Every Casio has a theme; I am describing  a few of them:

BELLAGIO CASINO: Entertains the guests with most ambitious water fountains dancing beautifully according to the romantic spirit of the resort. It also features an in house floral garden, which is changed every season.

TREASURE ISLAND CASINO attracts thousands of people for its evening Pirate show. In the front of the casino there is big canal in which a ship moves, pirates from opposite ship attack the ship. A fight using acrobatics and pyrotechnics is exhibited in a daring style, which keeps everybody spell bound.

HOTEL MIRAGE transforms into violent and spectacular erupting volcano, the flame goes to a height of 54 feet with a large smoke creating a fear among people.

PARIS PARIS: This casino has created a mini Eiffel tower, there are tower rides. The interior looks very much like Paris and mimics historical places in Paris.

VENETIAN is dedicated to the beauty of Venice. The Casino is built to resemble Venice; there are gondola rides and shopping malls.

MAGIC Shows using hi- tech gimmicks are conducted at many Casinos. Shockingly hilarious magic show of the Amazing Jonathan,  illusions with a mix of comedy of Nathan Burton, death defying escapes of ‘ Princes of Magic’ Scarlett are very popular shows.

BALI HAI GOLF CLUB has seven acre of water features, 4000 trees including 2500 palm trees, 100,000 tropical plants- it’s virtual Golfer’s paradise.

MUSIC SHOWS of Jersey Boys, Donny and Marie, Barbra and Frank etc are very popular shows conducted live without using tapes.

SHOPPINGS of casuals, sports, swim, jewelry, perfume, lotions, soaps, hosiery, gloves, gowns etc of high quality are spread for shopping in almost all the casinos.

 

 

RESTAURANTS

Las Vegas is known for its lavish buffets. Each buffet features a different cuisine and culture. The famous celebrity chefs of US are associated with restaurants of Las Vegas. Each restaurant is famous for its signature items. People visit these restaurants for special items to which these are known. McCormick & Schmick’s for sea food, TJ Steak House for Colorado lamb chops, Benihana for Teriyaki Steak, David Burke for roast California, Zeffirino for decorative desserts etc. For food lovers Las Vegas is a paradise.

In one of the restaurants I tasted Fried Calamari fish (made into bajji like fry), it was so tasty, because calamari fish flesh is very chewy like bubble gum, and one can chew it for a long time and enjoy the taste. This fish is not available in India

The Caviar (fish eggs) is extremely tasty, which is prepared with a special recipe and served in gourmet dinners. It is a rare fish and the eggs of it are very rarely available. It is served in restaurant Aquaknox with traditional garnishes. (I had read about caviar fish egg long back in Deccan Herald, where it was mentioned that it was a favorite item of Russian Tsars)

In my next post, I will write in detail on “Venetian Resort & Casino”, where we stayed. Here, wonderfully the city of Venice (Italy) has been created. It is replicate of Venice. We feel as if we are in Venice, a wonderful experience, it an architectural splendor.