Jennica & Matthew Geddert's Ramblings

Jul 9 Viva Las Vegas by Jennica

This is a strange place. It´s an expensive strange place. This last hurrah with our good friends was also an odd way to say goodbye to the USA. We walked until our feet had blisters and gawked among the tourists at the “grandeur” shouting everywhere, “Don´t you want to be rich too?”

Despite the extravagence, everthing is a little jarring. It is slightly off kilter. For example, we ate in a beutifully decorated restaurant that appeared to be an upper-class place. The atrocious rap music and bad rock ballads certainly contradicted the snooty atmosphere.

By the end of our first day, our fingers had swollen into sausages in the sweltering heat. I think the night-life here developed out of self-preservation from the desert sun. It was kinda fun, though, to get free drinks. When we were resting our weary feet at the slot machines, enjoying the air conditioning, a waitress came around and asked us if we wanted drinks. I wasn´t even gambling but I got a delicious strawberry slushy (it was way too watered down to be called a daqueri – there´s more alcohol in a 3 ml sip of communion wine than that drink). For $1 (tip for the waitress) I got a glass of frozen strawberry juice.

For our last meal here, we ate at the Four Seasons. Their Sunday brunch surpassed the breakfast at the Ibrahim Hotel in Istanbul – no small feat. The music, decor, service, and food were perfect. I could live on their fresh fruit of the day alone. Mmmm…Melon juice…!