Viva Las Vegas- I can hear the church bells ringing

It is so strange to write my last entry from the USA. It feels like no time was passed at all. And I'm not sure I wanna leave just yet. I left my L.A. Airbnb at around 9.30 ( I was too engaged in a last conversation to leave earlier ;) ) and drove to the LAPD museum. It was not what I had expected from the website, but interesting for sure. Especially the old police cars were fascinating. To bad one was not allowed to sit in them. I would have liked to get arrested in a beautiful car like these.

The way to Elmer's bottle farm actually took me to Route 66. So I now officially drove a convertible mustang roof down on Route 66. Just alone for that it was worth the trip! But more than that the drive was so scenic. I highly enjoyed it. The sandy mountains and the contrast to highway 1 are just amazing. The bottle farm was quite a view and can only recommend it to anyone.

Driving all the way from L.A. to Vegas was quite exhausting and I was glad to finally get out of the car. I'm sure I exceeded the speed limit more than once..

Now I am waiting a bit for it to get sunsetish so I can walk down the strip and spend my money. I decided that I will not spend more than 100$ but cheapskate that I am I probably stop at 50. I know- I'm no fun at all. Well watch me...

Everything is sooo big. I was in the Bellagio, the Cesar palace (got lost in there and needed to ask for directions to get out!), the venetian and some unidentified once. I even went to the wedding chapel. At the same time I did not even spend a dime in the casinos. It all felt so surreal and I ended up not stopping anywhere long enough to actually sit down and gamble.

I also noticed that my plan to get married has a few flaws: I don't drink. Crowded places scare me. And the wedding costs a min. Of 65$ but I would want an Elvis making it cost about at least 200$ Darn. Though I also learnt that i can get through the ceremony without actually getting married.... Hmmmmm. Maybe if I actually find the time and win the money to do it.

In Vegas there is a fashion show drive and a Fashion show shopping mall, but unlike the name suggests it is not a fashion show as such but high end stores like neimann Marcus and saxs fifth ave.

Have I mentioned that my place is right at the convention center and there is a big Car show on at the moment (SEMA). Beautiful tuned cars and they will have a parade open to the public tomorrow. But I will be at the Grand Canyon all day. Timing kinda sucks.

My night was a disaster. I know Vegas is the city that never sleeps and on average a tourist sleeps less than 2h in Vegas, but I need sleep. I only had 6h as it was and on top of that I woke up every 30min checking the time. For some reason I was really scared I would sleep in and miss my trip to the Grand Canyon from the stratosphere hotel. So I probably slept 4-5h.

When the bus finally came I had started talking to a nice woman from Vegas who herself had a visitor from Indiana. He asked really terrible questions like: what do they teach you about hitler, are there still military forces from Russia and France and US in Germany or do you have a Muslim problem... I mean really??? The woman was quite sweet though, I think she noticed that these questions were rather inappropriate. She tried to stir the conversation into other directions telling us about hotels and what makes them special, like the Bellagio fountain, the secret garden in the mirage and so on.

When we arrived at our breakfast stop the conversation had stopped. The breakfast itself was great. It was at a breakfast diner and I had an omelette with fresh cut vegetables and potato. Yum yum. Was sitting with a lad from France and to lasses from Ecuador. I realized once more that it is not a normal thing to be as good as fluent in a second language for a lot of people. So I am really grateful that I picked up the language easily.

Back on the bus on the way to Hoover dam bypass we were asked whether we wanted to buy a skywalk on west rim for 22$ or a helicopter ride for 170$. I must be crazy but I am actually doing the helicopter ride. with my fear of heights that it going to be interesting.

In the meantime we stopped at Hoover dam. While we not have the time to actually walk over the dam at least we got a photo opportunity. And then it was already time for the Helicopter ride.
First things first: I did not die! Otherwise this blog would be highly creepy out of the sudden.
It is giving me all the more reason to celebrate life on November 11th. The view was stunning und I filmed most parts of the ride. Including the bit where we tipped over the edge and I screamed something like: "shit!!! I'm so sorry." But afterwards the ride was really not bad as you don't really have real reference to understand how high you are flying and the canyon is really wide. It is interesting when you pass by the skywalk (which looks tiny) and realize how big the canyon really is. Amazing.

Uhhhhh. And then the Highlight of the tour: an American responded to me saying that I am from Germany: but you weren't born in Germany, right? The reason she asked was that my English sounds... Wait for it... Irish! 5years of Dublin have had an impact! Yes!!!! I no longer sound Austrian!!!

But anyways, I am glad that all sorts of people pushed we to do the Grand Canyon. Also I am happy I did the west rim tour. Because this is the only rim that is not infact American but belongs to the Hualapai. So technically I had left Arizona and the jurisdiction of the states during my visit. At guano point we were able to walk up to a peak that allowed a full view of the rim again. Quite impressive. And next time any of you is doing a tour to Grand Canyon give the west a chance.

The way back to Vegas was without stops watching last Vegas and arrived back in town around 5.30. It took a bit longer till I reached my destination as the roads were blocked due to the SEMA parade. If only I have had time to just watch that. It was spectacular. The cars are awesome. But unfortunately I had to get ready for the show tonight and was already behind schedule due to the traffic. So I only got a glimpse of those marvelous tuned cars.

But I think it was worth it. The show was about the old Vegas and it was fantastic apart from the lead singer. He was great when he got into the power tunes but had a very strange breathing, vibrato style the rest of the time. I can hardly describe it, but it ruined a few songs for me. The rest however was brilliant. The dancer as well as the singer very really good. Vegas-the show.

I gambled! Finally! I did play on one of those slot machines. And I lost everything. Good. Otherwise I might have liked it.

Now at the airport I was surprised with an extra charge on my car rental... I was not happy at all. I had to pay 212.87$ on top of what I already paid in Oakland. When I am home I will have to check my cc statement how much I actually spent.

In total I can only say... Las Vegas has been my most expensive stay.

I'm a bit early so hopefully I can use this time to upload my last US based blog. I will not report from Newark. I'm not planning on doing anything really. I want to try to get my backpack stored and then use the time tomorrow until my flight at 17.15 to arrive in Dublin terminal 2 on Monday at 4.55am.

​as I had uploading issues again I'm uploading this from Newark. See you soon