World Travel Stories

LAS VEGAS, SEPTEMBER 1995 - ’You have to go to Vegas once in a lifetime’, some say.  I agree, but once is enough.  This city is just unbelievable, but is it really a city ? It seemed more like a theme park to me, but I must admit, I enjoyed being carried from the one astonishing fact to the other.  We came out of the desert, a whole day driving without seeing anyone, then there was suddenly the Hoover dam, and when we arrived into Las Vegas, there were traffic jams ! A big contrast, and this was only the beginning.

Gambling

‘When in Vegas, don’t sleep at night’, another saying.  I was determined to try it out.  I went from casino to casino, did some gambling (what else would you do ?) and had some free drinks.  It was all amazing, there were pyramids and a sphinx, there was Ceasars Palace, a vulcano, … and everything was connected to everything – I often wondered if I would be able to find an exit somewhere… Afterwards, I’ve learnt that exits are on purpose ‘as invisible as possible’, people have to stay in and gamble.  It is true that the city has some special attraction at night – neon rules over here.  In fact an exiting atmosphere is created, and after a while it becomes hard to resist the slot machines or video poker or blackjack.  The first night, I even won some money (the second, I lost it all very quickly).  When it was nearly morning I decided to go to the hotel, but I got a bit lost (and had a last free drink too much).  I took a cab and the hotel was somewhat further than I had imagined before.  Next problem was I didn’t remember my room number… now I was in trouble.  Security didn’t trust the situation, and I had a hard time explaining my friends were already there (and asleep) – finally I got into my room escorted by a security guard.

All you can eat

After sleeping in the day after, it was time to go for lunch.  I took the free shuttle bus this time, to one of the many restaurants inside the casinos.  I went to a place where there were circus artists performing while you were having lunch.  The food was cheap and often on a ‘as many as you can eat’ basis.  This has of course again the purpose of driving people into gambling; they can save on the food, so they have more money left for gambling.

Besides gambling, I have done some walking into some of the areas aside from the strip. I remember it was very hot (at least to me it was), and I was always happy to reach a casino, because I could drink something there and it was airconditioned.  I guess the high temperatures over there are also ‘on purpose’.

And the other stuff

I also went on a city tour in a real limousine, champagne included.
I didn’t get married and I didn’t skydive disguised as Elvis.

The hills and the bridge

First thing that struck me in the city : the streets are steep, very steep ! This is because of the 49 hills SF is built on, and some have famous names like Pacific Heights, Telegraph Hill, Russian Hill, … Another famous place is Twin Peaks, where the view of the city is fabulous.  I remember the big antennas up there, and when some years later I took a flight from SF, they were visible above the mist that is so typical for the city.
Next stop, the Golden Gate bridge – I used a local bus, and the driver said we were unlucky : there was no mist today.  I walked over the bridge, which is a nice way to realise what a masterpiece of engineering this bridge is – you may not be afraid of hights and don’t lose your keys here.  Near to the bridge, there is the golden gate park, with a lake, a Dutch windmill (!) and a Japanese garden, where I had some Japanese tea.  At night, I sailed a catamaran under the bridge.  The city lights were bright and beautiful, and made it a romantic setting…

China Town

Other highlights I visited were the piers, where a nautical festival took place at that time, and several other  buildings of interest, like the Transamerica Pyramid and Coit Tower.  And China Town.  I took a local bus, and it seemed like in China : lots of Chinese getting on the bus, carrying a lot of stuff, the bus driver shouting to calm them down,… I wandered through the streets, and for a while I was in China.  I went for lunch to a local restaurant, which was full of Chinese people. I remember I had trouble with the chopsticks at that time, and that the woman next to me told me in Chinese how to handle them.

And then for something completely different : Alcatraz.  This is of course a very touristic place now, but somehow it gives you a good impression of how life would have been there when it was still a prison. And again, some movies came true…

Hollywood

That day we first visited the Hollywood area.  When driving from El Segundo towards Hollywood, we made some sightseeing trip through Beverly Hills.  We didn’t meet any of the stars or other famous people, we only saw beautiful cars in the streets and encountered police and security officers, always telling us not to park when we were slowing down.  The houses were all fenced and had gardens surrounding them.  After a while we arrived in the Hollywood boulevard.  I had seen this boulevard numerous times on TV, and finally I was standing there and walked on the so famous pavement.   Next, to the Chinese theatre, to admire the foot-and-other-prints of the famous.  It was like all the TV series coming true all at once, but this was real, and at the same time this seemed just like an ‘ordinary boulevard’ … a bit of a strange feeling came over me.  A feeling that would come back many times during my trip through the USA.

Next, we were driving into the hills of hollywood, stopped several times to see some houses of filmstars (even climbed a fence once), fotographed the Hollywood sign,… to arrive finally on the parking lot of Universal Studios, where the view of LA was great : finally high-rise buildings in all their glory !

Half a day visit to Universal Studios… was like all the movies coming true.  After having met Jaws & Frankenstein, after having been in an earthquake and in a fire and almost in space, it was time to return to reality.

We went on for the following days drving on the Pacific Highway, passing in Santa Monica & Santa Barbara (made a little “Bay watch” beach stop) and went on towards Big Sur, with wonderfull vistas all the way.  It was also the first time I had seen the Pacific ocean, and of course I couldn’t resist at some point to hike down from the road and feel if the water was any different than anywhere else in the world.