Las Vegas and San Francisco

Letter No. 218

Dear All,

Day 4 – San Francisco to Las Vegas.

We flew to Las Vegas on Friday morning. Katie’s brother Chris came to meet us in the foyer. He & Julie were poolside with the kids, Julie's mum, stepfather, two stepbrothers & their families. We spent a couple of hours with them all, having lunch, champagne & a swim in the beautiful pool. They were all staying at the Hilton Elara hotel so we had booked into the same hotel and it was a great hotel in a perfect location.

In the afternoon we went out to wander down the famous Vegas Strip. We walked down the Miracle Mile shopping mall, which has a thunderstorm with actual rain every half hour inside the mall, then past Paris Las Vegas with its huge replica Eiffel Tower & Arc de Triomphe.
Next the Forum shops at Caesar's Palace. This is a replica Roman forum, filled with high end shops and obligatory casino. We spotted Caesar & Cleopatra walking around. We also watched a fabulous free animatronic show of Atlantis falling, with life size models of Poseidon & his two children and real fire & water.

In the evening we had the pre-wedding dinner at a great French bistro. All of Julie’s family members were there (about 14 of them) as well as a few friends, about 3 or 4 couples, and then Katie and I representing Chris’ family.  It was really nice to see them. The bistro overlooked the Bellagio, which has an amazing show of dancing fountains set to classical music. The water spouts are so powerful that the water rises higher than a 35-storey building!  After dinner we watched the show then strolled back past several Elvis impersonators along with Darth Vader, showgirls, minions, Chewbacca, Roman centurions, storm troopers and all sorts of outrageous costumes. The characters line up along the strip and post for photos with tourists for tips. There was even one guy with a sign around his neck stating – “Kick me in the groin $20”. We saw him a few times while we were there. Chris saw him when someone had taken him up on the offer. He fell to the ground and rolled around in agony for a few minutes before hopping back up (gingerly) and hanging his sign around his neck again. A hard way to earn a living but I guess you don’t need to get good marks in school.

Day 5 – Las Vegas – Chris & Julie’s Wedding Day
I got up and went for a run at 6:30am this morning. I was quite surprised at the number of people who were still wandering around drinking from the previous night. I suspect there were also quite a few who had got up early and started drinking for the day again! After my run I met Chris and the other chaps and all the kids for breakfast. Chris had gone on the previous night for “just one more drink” with his crowd of friends, which had turned into quite a few more and ended up in a casino at 1am so he was feeling a little seedy that morning.

Meanwhile Julie and the girls were having their hair and makeup done. There was an open-top bus coming to pick us up at 11:00am to take us to the chapel. Katie was in charge with her clipboard, ensuring that everyone was on the bus, as we picked up more people at a different hotel on the way. We were heading to the Gracelands Chapel in old Las Vegas, which is where Rock star Jon Bon Jovi was married according to their billboard. It was the slightly seedier side of town and we drove past endless strip clubs and girlie bars on the way. We were a little early so on the way we stopped at a pawn shop made famous by the reality TV show “Hardcore Pawn” (which is watched in over 160 countries and in 39 languages). It is a show about four fat guys running a pawn shop with a clientele of crazy Americans trying to hock their stuff to get their next fix. They do have some unusual things come through the store which is what makes the show so interesting.  Apparently this is one of Las Vegas’s top tourist attractions and there is often a long queue to get inside, but it was relatively early in the day so we walked straight in. There were some cool things for sale, including a Picasso painting, antique guns, coins, historical memorabilia. Afterwards we piled back on the bus and drove on to the chapel which was in fact just one block away. It would have been quicker to walk.

We arrived just in time as only a minute later Chris and Julie arrived in their white stretch limo, with Gabriella, Ed and Joe. Julie looked really lovely in a very pretty white knee length lace dress and Gab made a beautiful bridesmaid in mint green. Chris and Julie were both really nervous. We all filed into the chapel and met the priest. He was surprised to discover that there were 22 of us, and we totally filled the chapel. I think they must often just have the bride and groom!

Katie went to sign the paperwork as the chief witness and then was seated and then Elvis arrived. He was actually a really great Elvis. It was the young good-looking Elvis in a gold sparkly jacket rather than the fat old Elvis in a white jump suit. Elvis stood with Julie at the top of the aisle and sang “I can’t help falling in love with you.” Elvis walked Julie down the aisle with her son Joe at her side. We had expected this part to be a bit silly but it suddenly felt quite emotional. The minister was actually very good and said some nice words about love and marriage before Elvis sang “Love me Tender”. Chris and Julie made their vows and the minister pronounced them husband and wife and everyone started to clap while Elvis burst into “Viva Las Vegas” and charged up and down the aisle with the happy couple. It was so funny. After that we posed for photos and then waited outside while Chris and Julie signed their marriage certificate and then we all had more photos in the nice courtyard on the side of the chapel. The Chapel was actually a pretty little building and not at all tacky.
We all trooped back to the bus which took us back to “The Venetian” hotel for the wedding reception. The bus dropped us as close as they could get but it was still a twenty-minute walk through the hotel to the restaurant. The hotel is ridiculously large and in the middle it features a replica of St Mark’s Square complete with canals, Venetian gondolas, and town square with an operatic performance going on, all surrounded by quaint little Italian stone shops selling high end designer goods entirely covered by a curved roof painted with clouds. It was quite amazing.

We went to the Cannoletti Restaurant – Italian of course – in a private room with a balcony overlooking the canal. We had a lovely long lunch with lots of champagne followed by speeches and finally a Mexican makareshi band arrived to entertain us for the last hour. A lovely happy day.
Around 5pm everyone started to wander off towards their hotels. We did not have any plans for the evening so we looked around the shops for an hour or so and then headed across the road to the Mirage hotel. They have a Cirque du Soleil show there called LOVE, which is based on the story of the Beatles & set to all their songs. It is a very popular show and we were sure it would be sold out but amazingly the concierge managed to find us tickets for the 7pm show – and in really good seats too.

We had an hour and a half to wait so we wandered into the casino and I idly put a dollar into one of the slot machines. To our astonishment over the next twenty minutes I won about $60. I played for a few more minutes to see what would happen. Katie put a few dollars into the adjacent slot machines and immediately lost everything, while I played my winnings up to $80. It was pure chance as I had no idea what the game was all about! Not a bad return for a $1 investment!

We had a drink at the bar to spend some of our winnings & then went to the show, which was terrific. A high-energy dance show with lots of circus acts mixed in - trapeze acts, roller skating, trampolining, all with really spectacular sets & costumes. We really enjoyed the whole thing.
On our way out we stopped to watch the Mirage volcano, which is another free show with light, fire & sound. The volcano 'erupts' every hour at night time & is also very spectacular. We walked back to our hotel along the Strip, passing the usual assortment of weird characters - transformers, Wonderwoman, aliens, dwarves, showgirls, Beetlejuice, Hello Kitty, wookies, minions and Darth Vader’s all vying for tips for photos with them.

Day 6 – Las Vegas &the Grand Canyon
On Sunday morning we did our pre-booked helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon. Katie was a bit nervous as she is not keen on heights, but in fact we really enjoyed the helicopter ride, it was much nicer than being in a small plane. We flew over the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead and then to the Canyon itself. The Canyon was really awesome & awe-inspiring. We landed right on the floor of the canyon where the pilot served us a champagne picnic right in the middle of that barren desert environment. We had about 45 minutes to look around; another really great experience.
We spent the afternoon browsing the shops in the Miracle Mile & sitting by the pool with Chris and Julie. In the evening we had a night out with Chris & Julie, Chris’ best friends Paul & Sarah and John &Julie. We had dinner at a burger restaurant and then went to see a show called “Vegas - The Show”. It was a classic tribute show which told the story of Las Vegas, starting with traditional showgirl routines, then the Ratpack (Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin) then Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis, Tina Turner, Sonny & Cher and Elton John with a few alternative acts and a magician thrown in. It was another really great show.

Day 7 – Las Vegas to Los Angeles
Chris & Katie took the kids up the replica Eiffel Tower while I went to M&M World. There is an entire building devoted to M&Ms merchandise. I bought a large tub of M&Ms customised with our names printed onto each M&M.  We had lunch with Chris & Julie and the kids by the pool once more and then it was time to leave. It was so sad to say goodbye to everyone; it had seemed a short visit, although we had packed so much in! We had had such a fantastic time in Vegas that we were sad to leave Vegas too. 

We had an afternoon flight to Los Angeles. We went straight to our hotel just off Hollywood Boulevard. After a quick shower we went off to the Boulevard. We wandered up and down looking at all the stars in the Walk of Fame. It was quite long so we only managed a small section before it was time for dinner. The Hard Rock Café seemed the best bet and was nice but I am really getting tired of the tipping culture in America!

Day 8 – Los Angeles
I woke up earlyish and went for a run in the morning. I ran the whole length of the Walk of Fame which was 4.3km in total. I was quite shocked at the number of homeless and vagrant people sleeping on the streets. It seemed such a contrast, knowing that Los Angeles is one of the wealthiest places in the world! We did a spot of shopping along the Boulevard after breakfast before doing a great bus tour which took us all around Hollywood, Hollywood Hills, Bel Air, Beverley Hills and Rodeo Drive. It was really interesting just sitting on the bus listening to our guide tell stories about all the Hollywood stars. We saw heaps of movie stars’ homes including Sylvester Stallone, Jack Nicholson, Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, Mike Tyson and many others. We drove past the house where Michael Jackson had been living where he died and the park where George Michael was arrested. The houses were all quite fantastic mansions perched in the beautiful hillside, with spectacular views of the Hollywood sign.
 
After the tour we had dinner, checked out of our hotel and headed to the airport. There was a Billy Joel concert at the Hollywood Bowl, just a short walk from our hotel that night and we were really disappointed that we were not staying another night so we could have gone! Anyway we made it to the airport on time for our overnight flight back to Brisbane.

When we got home the next morning, Mum and Molly were waiting for us and the kids were both at school. After a quick chat to Mum and shower I caught the train off to work. I spent the day catching up on my emails slowly before going home again. The kids were so pleased to see us. They had had a good time with Mum looking after them and no disasters. It was the longest we had ever left them and we were so pleased that it had worked out so well… maybe we will have to leave them home more often! The kids put us to bed early that night and stayed up watching TV.

Love

Derek, Katie, Matthew, Jessica & Molly

Rodeo Drive Hollywood - obviously!

Really sad without the kids!

Katie wore Chris's Texan hat all weekend.

Street entertainers

Even out to the bar.

But not with the minions.

Grand Canyon views.

Selfie in the helicopter.

Katie and Elvis and hat.

Fountain at the Bellagio.

A good ratio of dancing girls.

Pawn stars.

Helicopter views of Vegas.

Champagne anyone?

Our helicopter at the bottom.

Hoover Dam.

Elvis, Juile and Joe walking down the aisle.

Love me Tender.

Viva Las Vegas

The hat even made it to the wedding.

St Mark's Square inside the Venetian Hotel

I met Marilyn in  Hollywood.

Katie met Shrek

The Walk of Fame.

View from our hotel.

Bugatti in Rodeo Drive.