I was in Las Vegas soon after returning from Morocco, dropping in on the way to my cousins wedding in LA. I met up with friends who were staying at the Bellagio.
I had been once before and was amazed at how quickly Vegas evolves, new enormous hotels erupting out of the desert desperately trying to cling to a quirky theme to attract the tourists hemorrhaging dollars. Interestingly I could not find a hotel themed on London, which surely would be a winner.

Having been to Venice in January, I wanted to see The Venetian. There was something surreal about asking for directions to St Mark's Square in the middle of Nevada. Once you get there the vision of electric gondolas with seat belts floating on dyed blue water under a concrete sky makes you feel like the laws of art and culture have been violated, albeit in a spectacular way. How both Venice and The Venetian can exist in the same universe, and not extinguish each other in an exotic puff of matter and 'notmatter' is a mystery to me.

After my second very fine bourbon cocktail at a Bellagio bar my jet lag cynicism subsided and I started having fun. I went for a stroll around the casino, and was engulfed in a wall of strange tones produced by lots of old looking ladies working slot machines. Further on, the craps tables looked both scary and exciting, there was lots of whooping as someone was shooting the right numbers. I decided this was the way for me to lose my money.
I could not find Demi Moore, so all alone I sidled over to the tables and slotted myself into the busiest one with all the action. I placed 150 USD on the table, and was given a load of plastic in return. I then proceeded to play the way my uncle had once taught me, and put the theory into practice.
Eventually it was my turn to shoot. Your first throw is called your 'come out roll'. I was disappointed to observe that the dice rolls were fast and messy, often displacing chips. Not the elegant 'sloooow' motion rolls you see on the big screen. The buzz and the atmosphere were nevertheless incredible, and I was doing rather well. I made someone very happy at one point when I kept throwing the 'hard six' (two threes).

Leaving the craps table with more plastic and friends than I had started, I collected my winnings and went to a fish restaurant in the MGM complex. The wine list was so big, impressive and pricey that I had to call for the rather snooty Sommelier. I ended up with a pleasant but huge Californian Zinfandel. My meal reaffirmed my view to stick with American classic food in Vegas. Anything else seemed to be below par. This was not hard, as the waiters first recommendation in the 'fish' restaurant was the sirloin steak with chips.

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