It's a Gamble

Last night, after our tour to the Grand Canyon, we hit a casino.  Our first night was in Paris.  But last night, we were in Monte Carlo.  Exactly like in the casino at the real Monte Carlo in Monaco, the ceiling above the gaming tables contains a circular design, featuring eight circles within the one large circle.  Missing, however, are the elaborate paintings around the walls, and the four statues that feature in each of the four corners of the main gaming room at the real Monte Carlo.  How do I know?  We were there last year, and I wrote about it in last year's blog, 'To Ephesus With Love'.  

Today, we woke late.  Venturing into the Miracle Mile for brunch, Jean had a bruschetta.  I had steak and eggs and a Bloody Mary.  Apparently, it's the thing to do here in Lost Wages.  But I think mine had more bloody than Mary.

We chose to have brunch where we did because every hour there is the Rainstorm a few feet away.  The picture above tells the story.  From the ceiling, which looks like the sky, comes water from small holes which falls into the pond on the floor.  It looks, sounds and feels like real rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning.  Fog rises out of the pond.  It was kind of cool.

From the Miracle Mile, we made our way the short distance to Planet Hollywood.  From there, we paid for 24 hour tickets on the Deuce which is a bus that goes up and down the Strip.  We took the Deuce to the Venetian, another casino.  

The Venetian is great.  It is a reconstruction of Venice here in 'Vegas, complete with gondolas, the Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge, the Doge's Palace, and St Mark's Square.  There are even little bridges like in the real Venice where they cross little canals.

A gondola with passengers.  The bridge at back is a replica of the famous Rialto Bridge.  It costs just $19 for a 10-minute gondola ride.  I think in the real Venice it costs 90 euros for 30 minutes.  Cheaper here.

The Doge's Palace:  When Jean and I were in Venice last year, we never went into the Doge's Palace.  I imagine this is meant to be a true representation of that palace.

This is St Mark's Square.  I think it's great that the city of Lost Wages celebrates famous locations in the way it does.  And it does it so well.

In the Venetian, we played the $1 chocolate wheel, which here is called the Big Six.  We turned $20 into $50.  At one point, we put a chip on Venetian 40...paying 40 to 1.  When the wheel landed on Venetian 40, we both screamed!  

The Palazzo casino is attached to the Venetian.  In the Palazzo, we turned $20 into $60 playing another Big Six.  During play, the croupier surprised me.  He failed to notice a chip we had on the table.  We had lost, but he didn't remove it.  He seemed not there anyway.  Jean uttered 'why isn't he taking it?'.  I said 'Shhh!'

We stepped out into the heat again and caught the Deuce down to the northern end of the Strip.  On Fremont Street, we found the Deuce Casino.  Here, we played Black Jack but lost no money.  I had a free gin n' tonic brought by a scantily dressed waitress, and it may have been this drink that made me forget my purchase under the table - a new swimming costume and my hat.  We were lucky to retrieve them from the lost and found desk.  It was good karma because I had witnessed a lady drop her mobile phone, and I took it to her.  I think most people, playing alone at a table with their chips on the table, who might witness something bad happening to another patron 20 feet away, would be very tempted actually just to ignore them.

Heading down the Strip on the Deuce.  In the distance is the Stratosphere.

Nearby, outside but under a high, very long roof that shaded an arcade, we found a zip wire overhead. It cost $20 to fly from one end to the other, a distance of a few hundred feet.  The zip wire started at a height of 77 feet and finished about 30 feet high.

I decided to give it a go.  It was good fun, attached to a harness and flying along at about 45 kilometres an hour above the street below.  No photos to show, but Jean videoed from the ground.

Soon, we found the Fremont Casino, where I left Jean alone to play Black Jack.  She turned $40 into $80.  At the end of last night, we had lost $200 in the casinos.  By late today, our losses had reduced to $110.  

Some time later, I found Jean at a Black Jack table.  She had won several hundred dollars, putting us in the black.  I slipped to the 'Restroom', and when I returned, Jean had lost some.  Our overall losses were now just $4.

For a cost of $45.38, we dined tonight in the Paradise Buffet in the Fremont Casino.  We're having so much fun.

We spent the rest of the evening playing Black Jack at the Fremont.  Three Australians joined us - Tommy, Dave and Kushla.  They were all involved in the Melbourne radio industry.  Jean said later she has seen Dave on the TV program The Project.  A google search tells us he's Dave Thornton, a radio announcer on Foxtel FM with Fifi Box.  He's also a stand up comedian.  Tommy Little does a show with Meshel Laurie on Nova FM.  She's also often on The Project.  They were very funny, teasing the grumpy croupier, Mark.

Jean and I won lots of money and lost some.  We played the chocolate wheel later at the Cosmopolitan Casino.  Overall losses are now $30.  Now 1.30 am.