Day 136 - Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Big news this morning. Nat, standing naked in front of the mirror in the bathroom, shouts through to me "I think I am actually browner than my nipples now". Big point on our trip. I feel like we are ready to go home now...!

Anyway, usual plans commence today. I have my BEST breakfast of the trip so far in Mr Lucky's. Look at this amazing ham and eggs. It's a beast and the tastiest ham I have ever had. 

It's another lovely day in Vegas although it is a bit cooler today. Usual service commences by the pool with my Kindle. Nat finally finished Atlas Shrugged and is now a fully converted capitalist! ;-)

Luckily when I go to the bar by the pool the bartender reminds me that the champions leagues games are on. I dump the diet cokes back to Nat and head to the sports bar in Hard Rock to watch the second half. I sure am going to miss this - definitely the best way to watch sport. Both games side by side on cinema size screens. 

After the games finish I head back out to the beach pool. 

At the end of the day we head up to the gorgeous roof top pool (with the see through side that you can often see people getting very frisky in). 

The wind is really picking up now so the glass shelter is most welcome. Damn freezing getting out of the pool. 

After another good work out in the gym we head back to the room to change and see yet another fabulous sunset over the strip. Looks like the sky is on fire. 

It's our last night in Vegas tonight so we want to head to the hotels we haven't been into yet. First stop tonight is New York, New York passing MGM on the way. 

Inside New York, New York. Must admit I don't think this hotel is that great on the inside. It doesn't quite work for some reason and I think they could have done it a bit better. But what do I know about Vegas hotel design?

We have a drink in the Nine Fine Irish Men and I have my first pint of Guinness of the trip. I have missed this stuff. 

Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge to Monte Carlo. 

Now I wouldn't normally go to the Monte Carlo as it has never really appealed bit they have just opened a really good American bar called Double Barrel at the front and they also have a really cool bar called Pub inside. 

After Double Barrel I treat Nat to a slap up meal - a stromboli (kind of like a calzone) from Sbarro. There is method to out cheap fast foodness. It ensures we eat light and it doesn't kill our booze momentum for the last night. 

We then head to Pub in Monte Carlo which is an awesome place. They have over 150 beers on tap let alone all the bottles they serve. Hands down the best beer place I have ever been. The lit up barrels in the picture below is actually the cellar with he beer barrels in. It looks so cool. This picture also had four of the 14 groups of beer taps they have. Pretty impressive. 

We opt for the Anchor liberty ale and the Joseph James hop box (which was a whopping 9.3%)

Close up of the cellar. 

Impressive beer menu. It was about 20 pages long although I wasn't sure about the $45 beers they had on it!

All the barmen seemed to be paying tribute to our mate Gus by having "Ode to Gus" on their backs. His influence is clearly global (although not sure I want to know how he has been influencing them or how he came to be over a barmans back). 

Yet more taps. Would love a week of tasting all these. 

Next up we head to the Paris hotel. It not some strange illusion - Rammo is on the side of the Arc de Triomphe. He has a very expensive steak restaurant here aptly named Steak. Suddenly Vegas has turned absolutely freezing on the walk over. The wind has really picked up and it is cold enough to warrant wearing a coat. Really strange weather for Vegas. 

We head to a very lovely bar called Caberet in Paris where a live band was playing. 

Strangely the place was absolutely full of transvestites and the most masculine ones I have ever seen. They were all built like out houses. All apart from one that is who was (I am not ashamed to admit) smoking hot (pictured). The unsuspecting biker dude hadn't a clue though and thought it was his lucky night. He actually left with her. Would have loved to see his face later when he found more than he bargained for. 

After Paris we head back to Hard Rock Hotel which I must say is one of the coolest hotels in Vegas. It has such a great vibe, some fantastic restaurants and bars, awesome music and is just more laid back and less pretentious than the other places. We do love it here. 

I have a final gamble, heading back to the Black Jack table again and end up $85 up. Maybe I am alright at this game! That wipes out my $60 loss from last night and leaves me $270 up over all. Not bad at all!

After we get tired of listening to the excessive and very loud "whooping" and screaming from two tables of American gamblers next to us we head to bed but  not before some tipsy fun and games getting ready for bed! 

Definitely the right decision heading back to the Hard Rock Hotel. We absolutely love this place and have really enjoyed our extra bonus days in Vegas. Certainly got our Vegas fix for a while. Next stop Palm Springs.