What Happens In Vegas...

Las Vegas, Nevada 

Marie was flying in from Florida after her Bahaman cruise and Chris and I were to meet her there at Aria - our hotel and home for the next 4 nights.

Marie had already checked in and naturally when we arrived they couldn't find the booking for my room... the conversation went a little like this:

"No, we don't have a booking under that name."

"Really? Well our friend, who has already checked in booked the two rooms together - at the same time."

"Yeah, no, there's no booking for Brown."

I hand him my confirmation number and he keys it in, unconvinced.

"Oh, here it is.  It says here your surname is Browm."

"Browm?  Have you ever heard of a surname of Browm before?"

"We don't have a room on the same floor as your friend."

"Really?  The two rooms were booked together and we requested that they be close together."

"Um......." He tinkers away on the keyboard for a while.

"Ok, I've changed your booking to Brown."

"Which floor did you put me on?"

"Floor 25"

"So you DID have another room on the same floor?"

Silence as he hands me the key.

We are 4 rooms apart.  Was all the palaver necessary do you think?

 Stool Pigeons!

Aria is right in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip.  It's a fairly new resort and casino and it's surrounded by the old favourites.

Caesar's Palace

The Monte Carlo... just to name two.

Donald Trump built a very classy gold hotel.  He apparently wanted to build a casino, but the Gaming Commission of Nevada wouldn't give him a gaming licence.... apparently, according to one of our cab drivers, Steve Wynn blocked him from getting the licence.  The cabby thought that maybe he did it because he once wanted to build a casino in Atlantic City and Donald blocked him.  What goes around comes around.  So now the gold Trump tower is just an ugly hotel with no redeeming features. 

World Peas

Chris' number one fear - peas!

Our Last Day In New York

One last look at the beautiful New York Public Library.  On our last day we decided to walk up 5th Avenue to Central Park and just have a look around.

During our time in New York City Chris and I managed to see every nifty, crafty, pretty, quirky shop in lower Manhattan which didn't leave much time for seeing any of the usual landmarks.  So on our last day we were very lucky to be able to see "The Lady" up close and personal just up the street from our hotel.

Some of our favourite shops on 5th Avenue

How gorgeous are these record players?  If only there was room in the suitcase and if only we'd kept all those old records!  See, that's why you should never throw anything away.

 We made it to Central Park and decided we only had time to explore one little corner.  It was quite a mild day, but there was one pile of snow still holding on.

There was also sporadic little stalls of people selling their wares.  This man carved little animals out of ...... um, to be honest I can't remember - some sort of stone or marble or something.  Anyway, they were very cute.  One of Chris' kiddies, Koji collects all things frogs - and luckily there were frogs-a-plenty on this table.

The ice rink was surprisingly empty, but just beautiful.  A little oasis of calm in the middle of the big city.

 The park was so lovely with all the leafless trees and the horses and carriages.

On our way back to the hotel we worked our way through the upper east side.  This area has a totally different feel to it with lots of tall apartment buildings.  There were also lots of people walking dogs.  I feel a little bit sorry for those little pooches who live in apartments and don't have grass to run around on.  This little Boopy looks pretty happy though.

We had to ask one of the many people walking their dogs what this sign meant. Apparently it predates the rule of using picking up your dog's business and you were meant to get your dog to poop on the road next to the curb so that it could be cleaned up by the street sweepers...... gross!

There are no places for the puppies to do their do, but there are some lovely little gardens like this one that was full of cabbage-like flowers.

After sampling all the cupcakes in New York, we came across 

"Baked, by Melissa'

which made and sold mini cupcakes..... and I think we may have found a winner.

Our last meal in New York was a burger joint called 'Clark's Standard'. 

It was an styled like a 60's diner

We had a lovely little cheese burger and some sweet potato fries.

They even deliver!

Until next time Big Apple......

Nobu 57

 Dinner was at Nobu57, which is the 'other' Nobu restaurant on 57th Street (very creative with the naming Robert Di Niro)

 It was delicious!

Customer Service

 Up at the crack of dawn as it seems that jet lag is still at large at the Andaz Hotel for the Brown/Dobson ladies.  So we go up before the rest of New York and got our day started.  The weather forecast was going to a warm barmy 13℃ with a 100% chance of rain.

The perfect sort of day to hang out at Macy*s!

Apparently Macy*s is the biggest department store in the whole world.  It's been running since 1929 and has the original escalators to prove it.

The stock has thankfully changed somewhat over the years as well.  We should all have a pair of these spangly little numbers.

The service at Macy*s was lovely and old fashioned.  Lots of people to help you and lots of people milling around folding things and what not.  However, the same can not be said about Gap.  There was one poor lady at the counter with a huge line of waiting customers a mile long.  While we were waiting and waiting and waiting we watched 3 staff members just wandering around aimlessly looking for things to straighten.

After about 15 minutes of waiting I approached of the the wanderers and asked if she could perhaps serve some people at the register.  She said she was just about to call somebody over.

"Were you really?" I asked

About 10 years later we made it to the front of the line and only then did another staff member turn up at the registers..... at this request of this lady in the stripes who just stood around until she turned up.

Then we went to Toys R Us and were simultaneously attacked by the same lego Hulk..... cause that's just how we roll and that's the magic of Toys R Us!

Dinner With Michael Jordan

This was dinner

Named for the legendary basketball star Michael Jordan, our modern steakhouse is designed to reflect his sense of taste and style. Located on the balcony of one of New York's most beautiful architectural landmarks, Grand Central Terminal, it overlooks the stunning Beaux-Arts main concourse with views of the famous clock, stories-high windows and constellation-embellished cerulean blue ceiling. The restaurant's bar on the west balcony has become an iconic gathering place for social interaction relax with a drink or dine. 

This was the view from our table.  We watched commuters coming and going like little ants scurrying around their nest.  They would congregate in one spot in front of the screens waiting for the all important information of which platform their train was about to pull into - then the second the platform number flashed up - the people would scatter in all different directions.  Then slowly, the next group would take their places.

I sort of wished that a flash mob would break out into a dance routine right there for our viewing delight, but alas, it wasn't to be.

And this was our dinner.  My steak was a little smaller than the one MJ was advertising, but nevertheless, it was de.lish.ous!