Xmas & New years Las Vegas 2011/2012!!!! Day seven

Today we decided to head further down the strip towards Circus Circus. We made our way past the Venetian and had a look inside. It was very fancy in there, unfortunately well out of our price range! We went to Circus Circus which is quite an old hotel however it has a theme park so Lauren and I decided to go on the rollercoaster which is inside the hotel. 

The Venetian Hotel - as you can see the theme is Venice so they had canals on the outside and inside the hotel

Want to go for a ride?

Another lovely day in Vegas - outside the Venetian

Inside the hotel they had this lovely display

Paul with some ladies!

Theme park inside Circus Circus - this is the rollercoaster Lauren and I went on

Another view of the theme park

Treasure Island - they have a display on the boat however we didnt get to see it



We went back to our hotel and beautified ourselves for the New Years celebrations. We weren't sure whether we wanted to go to a club as celebrities were hosting events but the tickets were getting expensive, so we decided to join the street party! It was packed on the street but most people were well behaved and it was a good atmosphere, we found a spot that wasn't as packed and watched Stevie Wonder's concert from a big screen and obviously the fireworks when it struck midnight. Such an awesome experience being in Las Vegas for New Years! Brilliant way to ring in 2012.

Beginning of the night having a drink or two on the street

Its midnight! Happy New Years

 

More fireworks!

Paul and I with the fireworks behind us

Video of the New Year celebrations

Xmas & New years Las Vegas 2011/2012!!!! Day six

Today we made our way down to Downtown Las Vegas where the older hotels are and where the Chapels are. This part of Las Vegas is quite different from the Strip, things look run down and the casinos are quite rugged.

Heading Downtown

Main square where the older casinos are

Cowboy

Inside one of the casinos where Lauren is having a little gamble

I decided to play big, REAL big

The famous little white wedding chapel

Stratosphere - on top of this tower are rides, needless to say we did not do them because we are not crazy

This car was high rolling

The Trump hotel

Xmas & New years Las Vegas 2011/2012!!!! Day five

Lauren and David went off snowboarding today which left Paul and I alone to explore the Strip and do a few things Lauren and David had already done. The first thing we wanted to see was the Bodies Exhibition at the Luxor Hotel. This is an extremely interesting exhibition and is described on their website as follows;

Our Exhibitions have over 200 actual human bodies and specimens meticulously dissected and respectfully displayed, offering an unprecedented and wholly unique view into the amazing body.
Specimens in the Exhibition are prepared through a revolutionary process called polymer preservation, in which human tissue is permanently preserved using liquid silicone rubber. This process creates a specimen that will not decay, offering thousands of unique teaching possibilities for educators at all levels. Preparation time varies: a small organ may take only a week, while a full-body specimen may take up to a year to prepare. After quality preservation, specimens can last for decades.

Bascially there are a large number of bodies that have been dissected and you get to see how the different parts of a human body work/look. Very creepy but so interesting at the same time. After the exhibition we went to the MGM to look at the lions. The lions go into this enclosure every few hours and play in there. Unfortunately when we saw them they were just sleeping!

Inside the Luxor hotel - the groves in the roof that you can see are the different levels of the hotel and are where the rooms are

Little cub playing

Cuddle time!

Outside the MGM

Tonight we had booked to see Holly Madison who is in a show called the Peep Show. I think this is the night Paul looked forward to the most! Holly Madison is one of the girls who use to be Hugh Hefner's girlfriend and they starred in a reality show called the Girls of the Playboy Mansion. After the show we met up with Lauren and David and went to a club called Koi where we were entitled to free drinks until the early hours of the morning, an offer we definitely took up!

Paul looking rather happy!

Xmas & New years Las Vegas 2011/2012!!!! Day three and four

Road trip time! Paul and David picked up the car in the morning and met us at Hooters to then make our way to Death Valley. Another cracker of a day was upon us and after around 2 and half hours we made it to death valley. It was a very interesting place and very beautiful!

We made it!

Paul and I looking out over the national park

Again - looking out at the desert terrain

Paul flying

Salt flats at Badwater Basin

Salt flats - you can see the patterns that are made in the salt

The next day that we had the car we went onto Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. It didnt take too long to get to Hoover Dam. The dam is extremely impressive and hard to imagine how these things are built.

Hoover Dam :)

These little guys were running around the rocks looking for food - they were soo cute! We were nearly going to smuggle one away with us

In this photo we are standing on a bridge looking down at the dam and you can see on the rocks how high the water goes

While visitng Hoover dam you pass over from the state of Nevada to the state of Arizona where there is an hour time difference.

The Dam

The bridge we were standing on in the photo above - it was massive!

We carried on to the Grand Canyon which took quite a while roughly around a five hour drive in total from Las Vegas. We drove through the town of Williams which was really neat to visit and the road is part of the old Route 66. We stopped for some lunch and a look around the shops for souvenirs, the town was very old school and reminded us of the small towns you see on some American movies. The Grand Canyon was very impressive!

Williams town



Our little jeep at the Grand Canyon



The Grand Canyon

Again

And again :)

Xmas & New years Las Vegas 2011/2012!!!! Day two

Today we decided to head out to the Las Vegas sign and then continue on to the outlet shops. Turned out that the outlet shops were a looonnnngggg walk so when we actually got there I couldn't be bothered shopping!

Statute of Liberty outside the New York New York hotel

The Excalibur hotel during the day very cool!

Paul and I with the New York hotel in the background - you can also see some of the rollercoaster that goes around the hotel

The Luxor hotel - which as you can see has an Egyptian theme. On the top of the hotel it shines a spotlight out which can be seen from anywhere in Las Vegas and is the brightest beam in the world. Not sure why they did that... but there you go!

Another view of the hotel

The sign! We had to line up to get our picture taken, quite popular! (We weren't popular the sign was...)

Walking to the outlet stores - in the middle of nowhere!!

Looking back at the strip - a very long walk ahead

After we hiked out to the outlet stores we, thankfully, caught a bus back into town. Tonight was an exciting night as we were going to see Jerry Seinfeld so we got dressed up and headed to Caesars Palace for the show. After the show we indulged in some gambling and then headed back to our hotels to SLEEP!

Group photo at Jerry Seinfeld

Proof that we were there!

Paul next to a massive limo

Paris Hotel - Inside the hotel it is all done up like you are in Paris it was lovely! This is also where we had our first night on the wheel