STL DPB ON THE ROAD - MUNCH LIKE AN EGYPTIAN

Hello from one of the most absurd cities in the world, Las Vegas, Nevada. I dunno, maybe Dubai is up there but I've never been. Blew in late Saturday afternoon, had a great dinner at a Taiwanse restaurant, and then sacked out in this place. We are not Vegas people, but it is our way-station on the way to our real destination.

https://youtu.be/ur6pMt5KA_w?si=avIrxgHei2Ejltvr

Torreadors and Sphinxes

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A bit more from Vegas while I pull together some STL stuff. As I have mentioned, we stayed at the Luxor, built with over-the-top Ancient Egypt themes. The building itself is a 15 story black glass pyramid with a fiberglass sphinx out front and topped with a blinding searchlight pointing into the heavens (see Wednesday's post). So what's with a Mexican restaurant in the lobby? The Aztecs and Mayans had pyramids but I don't think that's the connection.

Like everything else in Las Vegas, it's about money. Something to pull the visitors in. The guest rooms of the hotel are inside the walls of the pyramid and there is an atrium within that. This pic was taken from the walkway near our 9th floor room, looking down at the top of the restaurant. The mural is very attractive but this crenelated aluminum something over the tables is a puzzle. No one like Escamillo in sight, either. Made me wonder who would win a fight between a toreador and, say, Horus.

After taking the shot, we got on the elevator to go eat there. All of the elevator cars are decorated with this image of Pharaoh Akenaten and his family. Weird, weird, weird. But how many visitors to Las Vegas know their bullfighters from their ancient rulers with Marfan's Syndrome? Who cares?

Leaving Las Vegas

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Home now. Although we love the desert we had about as much of Las Vegas as we could take. It seems to appeal to so many of our basest desires, although if you are open minded it does cultivate a sense of irony.

These scenes are of the front of the Luxor Hotel and Casino where we stayed. Good deal, comfortable, horrible food. We've been to the real Luxor and I want to tell you that there aren't any slot machines in the temple. The name has been defiled.

Something was different about the place. We hadn't spent a penny in the slot machines. After dinner on our last night, we thought about throwing away some quarters. That's when we realized that the sound was different. The incessant electronic warbling of the machines was much quieter than on previous visits. The metallic rattle of quarters cascading into steel trays after a win was completely gone.

As we walked among the machines we noticed that the slots where you fed your quarters were taped over. The slot machines have no more slots. They now take only paper money, some with a minimum of $5. So you can't lose just 75 cents for amusement. The stakes have been raised. The frenetic sensory experience of the casino, the sounds, the rhythm of feeding in your coins, has been taken away. We went back to our room.

No new local material so I may continue this theme for a bit.