Thursday, March 31, 2005
TELEGRAM: CORRECTION
31 MAR 2005 2019 RMT CALGARY ALBERTA +++ CORRECTION TO LAST MESSAGE +++ NEW MCALISTER-WHITE EXPECTED TOMORROW OR SAT +++ STOP
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TELEGRAM FROM CALGARY
31 MAR 2005 1547 RMT CALGARY ALBERTA +++ POPE RECEIVES LAST RITES +++ GRANNY BROWN HOLDING HER OWN +++ NEW WHITE EXPECTED TOMORROW OR SAT +++ WATCH THIS SPACE +++ STOP
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Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Viva Las Vegas! (Two Days on the Strip)
(Caution: long blog warning)
And so to Las Vegas.
We connected through Phoenix Arizona, arriving just as the sun was setting over the weird crater-like landscape. It was like landing on the moon. We hadn't realised that while Calgary and Phoenix are both in Rocky Mountain time (GMT-7) and Atlanta is on Eastern time (GMT-5), Las Vegas is in the same time zone as the whole of the West Coast (despite not being anywhere near the sea) and is on Pacific time (GMT-8) i.e. one hour behind Calgary. So although our flight from Phoenix took off at 8:52pm and landed in Vegas at 8:56pm, it took a bit longer than 4 minutes.
Vegas's McCarran airport was where we first noticed what makes Vegas just that little bit different: the arrivals area was full of slot machines, and there were hundreds of people gambling on them at 9 o'clock on a Sunday night. When we went to Baggage Reclaim, we were standing under a huge poster for a gun store which proclaimed that you could go along and test fire 10 different automatic weapons. "Try out our Uzis and AK-47s!" Hmmm... let's add that to our 'must-see' list, then. Although it might be popular with some of the boys back home - I wonder if they have any Armalites?
We got a taxi to our hotel, and went along parallel to The Strip, the main hotel and casino street in town. It was only a 10 minute ride, and we could see all the hotels lit up and an odd column of brilliant white light shooting straight up into the sky. We got to The Venetian, which was something else entirely.
The Venetian
Reception
P in the Foyer
Venetian Ceiling
It's the newest hotel in Vegas, and is officially called a 'Hotel Resort Casino', for reasons which will become apparent. It's huge, for a start and has an enormous opulent reception and foyer, decorated with 'Renaissance-style' artwork. This leads you into the casino aream which is basically one huge room filled with slot machines and gaming tables. It goes 24 hours a day, and it's filled with a sort of half-light which makes it hard to tell if it's day or night. It's a bit like the light in pubs and clubs at home - when it's time to go home, they turn the lights up full and you can see just how bad the furniture is, and all the beer stains on the carpet. Except, of course, in Vegas they never turn the lights up full. We came through the casino a couple of times after 1 or 2 o'clock and it didn't look any different to the middle of the day, still very busy.
Casino
There are no clocks, of course. You can play blackjack, poker, roulette, craps and any number of other games here, and there is also a 24-hour Sports Book with 50 big screen TVs so you can bet on just about any sports event in the world as it happens. There are also waitresses in skimpy dresses hurtling back and forth serving drinks to the gamblers. The slot machines come in a number of varieties from 1 cent to 25 dollars: this is the amount you can wager and lose for each pull of the one-armed bandit. Each of the gaming tables also has a minimum bet, usually 50-100 dollars per game, which serves to deter casual gamers like us from sitting down and 'having a go' for a dollar. It's a serious business for the casino, making money from gamblers, and they don't like wasting their time with the tourists. It's recommended to take a lesson or two before sitting down at one of the tables, as it you don't know the rules they aren't going to spend time explaining. The casinos do their best to attract 'high rollers' and there are special rooms for these high-stakes gamblers to play in. The casino may offer to fly these guys in, pay for their room and board to encourage them to gamble on the premises. I once knew a surgeon who saved all his private practice earnings for the year and then went to the Cayman Islands for 2 weeks to gamble, coming back with no money and no tan.
Anyway, the only gambling we did was to put a quarter in a slot machine in each casino we visited on the Strip. Typically you put your quarter in and pull the arm, setting the reels in motion. If you manage to win something, the machine gives you credit for more play. So if you win 1 dollar, you can have 4 more goes on a quarter machine, or else you can press the CASH OUT button, which spits out a printed ticket with a bar code on it. You can then use this ticket in other machines instead of money, or you can go to the cash desk to get your crisp new dollar bill. Of course, who's going to bother queuing up at the cashier so they can 'cash in their chips' for a measly dollar, so you end up putting your chit back in the machine and frittering it away again. We gambled like this the casinos in The Venetian, The Mirage, The Bellagio, Excalibur, the MGM Grand, the Luxor, New York New York and the Barbary Coast, but our favourite was Caesar's Palace, firstly because we won big, making 4 dollars off a single quarter and secondly because they pay you in cold hard cash rather than those silly tickets.
One tip if you're visiting - it seems the slot machines near the entrances are the most likely to pay out, as this is designed to entice you deeper into the casino. It's all a fix of course, because the whole casino is designed to favour the house. Apparently if you're an expert blackjack player and you never make a mistake, the house still has a 1% advantage on average, so you never really win. It must be a quite an art, making it seem like you've got a chance of winning while still making a steady, huge profit by having all the games slightly and subtly weighed towards the house. It's really a huge industry, going 24 hours a day, gently stripping the desperate, hopeless and ignorant of their money. You have to admire it, in a way.
Our suite in the Venetian was very nice, by the way. Two big king-size beds, two big TVs, an enormous bathroom with 2 sinks and a huge bath and shower, and 4 easy chairs and a desk and coffee table. All for less than the money we paid in Atlanta for the rat-hole they called a room. Apparently we got a good deal, as the rooms are normally 400 dollars a night, but we landed in between 2 conferences and got a discount rate of 170 dollars. We enquired about staying a third night, but as NASCAR was coming to town, the rates were going back up to 400, so we politely declined.
Our bathroom
Relaxing in the Suite
Anyway, the Venetian is not just a hotel, and not just a casino. It's also a resort. It’s got 17 different restaurants, over 50 high-class shops (Prada, Jimmy Choo Shoes, etc), 2 wedding chapels, 7 swimming pools and a sun-deck where we passed a pleasant early March afternoon, baking in the sun while it was snowing at home in Calgary. They also have (wait for it) a quarter-mile of indoor canals, kitted out just like Venice, with gondoliers poling up and down the canals on their full-sized gondolas (50 dollars a go), serenading their passengers with the best Italian arias! You have to see it to believe it! They have a fake sky and lighting which makes it look like the middle of the day even at midnight. Lastly, they have a full-sized replica of St Mark’s Square in Venice by night (I was looking for the Pope, but apparently that’s St Mark’s in the Vatican). The scene is completed by a variety of medieval-style entertainers roaming through the streets performing and singing. Wow. It’s enough to make you wonder where (and when) you really are.
The Venetian Canal
Singing Gondoliers
St Mark’s Square
We spent out two days in Las Vegas on the Strip, wandering up and down with our mouths hanging open in surprise. For all the CSI shows, it actually seems to be quite a safe place and we didn't have any trouble on the Strip at all, day or night. I suppose crime is bad for the casino business, so it's in no-one's interest to harass the tourists. It certainly felt much safer than Atlanta. There are wee men all down The Strip whose job is to hand out little cards advertising 'escort services' and 'strippers', but they're not allowed into the hotels and they're also not allowed to talk to you directly, so all they can do is use their little bundles of cards to make an odd snapping sound against their hands. Every time you stop to cross the street, all you can hear are loud snaps. Incidentally, while prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas itself, it's legal in most of the rest of the state of Nevada. Anyway, here are some of the highlights of our travels on The Strip:
The Strip by Night
Caesar's by day
Caesar's by night
Caesar’s Palace:Our favourite spot for a bit of professional gambling. Got the whole Greco-Roman architecture thing going on.
Posh shops
There's that fake sky again...
The Forum Fountain
The Forum Shops at Caesars: Posh shops, nice architecture again. Starting to wonder if all the Italian stuff has any connection with the fact that Vegas used to be (?still is) run by the Mafia. Also has a very nice authentic New York style diner where we stopped for lunch complete with snappy, short-tempered New York style waitresses (honest). Also boasts talking statues and an impressive ‘Sinking of Atlantis’ show every 15 mins with a robotic King Neptune. Has to be seen to be believed.
P in a diner
In the Italianate Gardens
A bit better than Atlanta
The Bellagio: Second-newest hotel in town, huge and Italian-themed again (Cosa Nostra?, no, I don’t know any Cosa Nostra…), much more restrained, no singing gondoliers, just an enormous Mediterranean-style pool area and ornamental gardens. Also has a medium-sized lake at its front door on the Strip, with a small Italian village on its shores, with big water fountains which play along to pop music every half an hour. Wow. Also has a lovely arboretum off the reception area filled with actual real orchids and butterflies. Amazing light in this place, everyone has a smile on their face when they’re there. If the casinos are Las Vegas Hell, this arboretum is my idea of Las Vegas heaven.
Casino Royale: just another casino, really
Excalibur: wins the prize for most confusing casino, really very hard to find your way out of, misleading signs, very sneaky. King Arthur/Knights of the Round Table-themed, showing its age a bit.
L'Arc de Triomphe
Paris by night
The Eiffel Tower
Vive le France!
Paris and the Aladdin
Paris at dusk
Paris: a mini-version of the real thing, very impressive with a half-sized-Eiffel tower, a giant balloon and an Arc de Triomphe. Slot machines not very rewarding, however.
The Sphinx
The Needle
The Pyramid
The Luxor: Egyptian-themed, very impressive on the outside, with an enormous black pyramid, a Sphinx (twice as big as the real one) and Cleopatra’s Needle. The pyramid has a big light on the top which shines straight up into the sky at night (we saw this coming into town).
Warp Factor Nine - Engage!
Fancy a Star Trek wedding?
Bought a bear
The Las Vegas Hilton: notable for the Star Trek Experience, has a big shop and museum, along with Interactive Voyager and Next Generation rides. Bought a Vulcan bear.
Lady Liberty
The Other Big Apple
NY NY
New York New York: really amazing – a mini-version of the Big Apple, complete with the skyscrapers and the Stature of Liberty. Also has a lot of Oirish pubs.
MGM Grand: big green box on The Strip. Contains a lot of movie theatres and you can attend test screenings of new TV shows here.
Treasure Island: has a full-scale Pirate Battle on the Strip every 90 minutes in the evening. The crews of two full size square-rigged ships battle in out with explosions etc. every night. There was more singing than we expected, to be fair.
Big motorbike
Gambling hard
P on the Strip
The Desert Passage
The Aladdin: Middle East/Baghdad themed. Features the Desert Passage, which is a sort of Arabian souk with modern shops. Also has a indoor rain storm every 30 mins. Less impressive than you’d think.
On the phone to Antrim ICU
Evening traffic
Vegas sunset
For all the tomfoolery of The Strip, it’s important to remember than only a few minutes drive away you’re in the desert and it’s really quite beautiful.
We always said we'd visit Vegas if we had the chance, and we're glad we went to see it for ourselves. It's like nothing else on earth, but 48 hours was quite enough and if we'd stayed any longer we would have had to get out of town as there's only so much you can take. If we'd seen one more singing gondolier...
We were trying to decide if Las Vegas represents the height of Western civilisation or its lowest point and in the end we couldn't decide. You seem to be able to get anything you could possibly want in Vegas, and no-one seemed particularly unhappy with the whole set-up. Although it did remind us a bit of the last days of the Roman Empire. Maybe the barbarians are at the door...
The other thing that struck us was that this is all America. Bush is president of the whole thing. The immigrants coming across the border in San Diego, the hippies in San Francisco, the farmers in Montana, the poor in Atlanta, the people in the diners in NY, the gamblers in Vegas and everyone in between. All the red states and all the blue states. What diversity. What a country. Wow.
J&P
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And so to Las Vegas.
We connected through Phoenix Arizona, arriving just as the sun was setting over the weird crater-like landscape. It was like landing on the moon. We hadn't realised that while Calgary and Phoenix are both in Rocky Mountain time (GMT-7) and Atlanta is on Eastern time (GMT-5), Las Vegas is in the same time zone as the whole of the West Coast (despite not being anywhere near the sea) and is on Pacific time (GMT-8) i.e. one hour behind Calgary. So although our flight from Phoenix took off at 8:52pm and landed in Vegas at 8:56pm, it took a bit longer than 4 minutes.
Vegas's McCarran airport was where we first noticed what makes Vegas just that little bit different: the arrivals area was full of slot machines, and there were hundreds of people gambling on them at 9 o'clock on a Sunday night. When we went to Baggage Reclaim, we were standing under a huge poster for a gun store which proclaimed that you could go along and test fire 10 different automatic weapons. "Try out our Uzis and AK-47s!" Hmmm... let's add that to our 'must-see' list, then. Although it might be popular with some of the boys back home - I wonder if they have any Armalites?
We got a taxi to our hotel, and went along parallel to The Strip, the main hotel and casino street in town. It was only a 10 minute ride, and we could see all the hotels lit up and an odd column of brilliant white light shooting straight up into the sky. We got to The Venetian, which was something else entirely.
The Venetian
Reception
P in the Foyer
Venetian Ceiling
It's the newest hotel in Vegas, and is officially called a 'Hotel Resort Casino', for reasons which will become apparent. It's huge, for a start and has an enormous opulent reception and foyer, decorated with 'Renaissance-style' artwork. This leads you into the casino aream which is basically one huge room filled with slot machines and gaming tables. It goes 24 hours a day, and it's filled with a sort of half-light which makes it hard to tell if it's day or night. It's a bit like the light in pubs and clubs at home - when it's time to go home, they turn the lights up full and you can see just how bad the furniture is, and all the beer stains on the carpet. Except, of course, in Vegas they never turn the lights up full. We came through the casino a couple of times after 1 or 2 o'clock and it didn't look any different to the middle of the day, still very busy.
Casino
There are no clocks, of course. You can play blackjack, poker, roulette, craps and any number of other games here, and there is also a 24-hour Sports Book with 50 big screen TVs so you can bet on just about any sports event in the world as it happens. There are also waitresses in skimpy dresses hurtling back and forth serving drinks to the gamblers. The slot machines come in a number of varieties from 1 cent to 25 dollars: this is the amount you can wager and lose for each pull of the one-armed bandit. Each of the gaming tables also has a minimum bet, usually 50-100 dollars per game, which serves to deter casual gamers like us from sitting down and 'having a go' for a dollar. It's a serious business for the casino, making money from gamblers, and they don't like wasting their time with the tourists. It's recommended to take a lesson or two before sitting down at one of the tables, as it you don't know the rules they aren't going to spend time explaining. The casinos do their best to attract 'high rollers' and there are special rooms for these high-stakes gamblers to play in. The casino may offer to fly these guys in, pay for their room and board to encourage them to gamble on the premises. I once knew a surgeon who saved all his private practice earnings for the year and then went to the Cayman Islands for 2 weeks to gamble, coming back with no money and no tan.
Anyway, the only gambling we did was to put a quarter in a slot machine in each casino we visited on the Strip. Typically you put your quarter in and pull the arm, setting the reels in motion. If you manage to win something, the machine gives you credit for more play. So if you win 1 dollar, you can have 4 more goes on a quarter machine, or else you can press the CASH OUT button, which spits out a printed ticket with a bar code on it. You can then use this ticket in other machines instead of money, or you can go to the cash desk to get your crisp new dollar bill. Of course, who's going to bother queuing up at the cashier so they can 'cash in their chips' for a measly dollar, so you end up putting your chit back in the machine and frittering it away again. We gambled like this the casinos in The Venetian, The Mirage, The Bellagio, Excalibur, the MGM Grand, the Luxor, New York New York and the Barbary Coast, but our favourite was Caesar's Palace, firstly because we won big, making 4 dollars off a single quarter and secondly because they pay you in cold hard cash rather than those silly tickets.
One tip if you're visiting - it seems the slot machines near the entrances are the most likely to pay out, as this is designed to entice you deeper into the casino. It's all a fix of course, because the whole casino is designed to favour the house. Apparently if you're an expert blackjack player and you never make a mistake, the house still has a 1% advantage on average, so you never really win. It must be a quite an art, making it seem like you've got a chance of winning while still making a steady, huge profit by having all the games slightly and subtly weighed towards the house. It's really a huge industry, going 24 hours a day, gently stripping the desperate, hopeless and ignorant of their money. You have to admire it, in a way.
Our suite in the Venetian was very nice, by the way. Two big king-size beds, two big TVs, an enormous bathroom with 2 sinks and a huge bath and shower, and 4 easy chairs and a desk and coffee table. All for less than the money we paid in Atlanta for the rat-hole they called a room. Apparently we got a good deal, as the rooms are normally 400 dollars a night, but we landed in between 2 conferences and got a discount rate of 170 dollars. We enquired about staying a third night, but as NASCAR was coming to town, the rates were going back up to 400, so we politely declined.
Our bathroom
Relaxing in the Suite
Anyway, the Venetian is not just a hotel, and not just a casino. It's also a resort. It’s got 17 different restaurants, over 50 high-class shops (Prada, Jimmy Choo Shoes, etc), 2 wedding chapels, 7 swimming pools and a sun-deck where we passed a pleasant early March afternoon, baking in the sun while it was snowing at home in Calgary. They also have (wait for it) a quarter-mile of indoor canals, kitted out just like Venice, with gondoliers poling up and down the canals on their full-sized gondolas (50 dollars a go), serenading their passengers with the best Italian arias! You have to see it to believe it! They have a fake sky and lighting which makes it look like the middle of the day even at midnight. Lastly, they have a full-sized replica of St Mark’s Square in Venice by night (I was looking for the Pope, but apparently that’s St Mark’s in the Vatican). The scene is completed by a variety of medieval-style entertainers roaming through the streets performing and singing. Wow. It’s enough to make you wonder where (and when) you really are.
The Venetian Canal
Singing Gondoliers
St Mark’s Square
We spent out two days in Las Vegas on the Strip, wandering up and down with our mouths hanging open in surprise. For all the CSI shows, it actually seems to be quite a safe place and we didn't have any trouble on the Strip at all, day or night. I suppose crime is bad for the casino business, so it's in no-one's interest to harass the tourists. It certainly felt much safer than Atlanta. There are wee men all down The Strip whose job is to hand out little cards advertising 'escort services' and 'strippers', but they're not allowed into the hotels and they're also not allowed to talk to you directly, so all they can do is use their little bundles of cards to make an odd snapping sound against their hands. Every time you stop to cross the street, all you can hear are loud snaps. Incidentally, while prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas itself, it's legal in most of the rest of the state of Nevada. Anyway, here are some of the highlights of our travels on The Strip:
The Strip by Night
Caesar's by day
Caesar's by night
Caesar’s Palace:Our favourite spot for a bit of professional gambling. Got the whole Greco-Roman architecture thing going on.
Posh shops
There's that fake sky again...
The Forum Fountain
The Forum Shops at Caesars: Posh shops, nice architecture again. Starting to wonder if all the Italian stuff has any connection with the fact that Vegas used to be (?still is) run by the Mafia. Also has a very nice authentic New York style diner where we stopped for lunch complete with snappy, short-tempered New York style waitresses (honest). Also boasts talking statues and an impressive ‘Sinking of Atlantis’ show every 15 mins with a robotic King Neptune. Has to be seen to be believed.
P in a diner
In the Italianate Gardens
A bit better than Atlanta
The Bellagio: Second-newest hotel in town, huge and Italian-themed again (Cosa Nostra?, no, I don’t know any Cosa Nostra…), much more restrained, no singing gondoliers, just an enormous Mediterranean-style pool area and ornamental gardens. Also has a medium-sized lake at its front door on the Strip, with a small Italian village on its shores, with big water fountains which play along to pop music every half an hour. Wow. Also has a lovely arboretum off the reception area filled with actual real orchids and butterflies. Amazing light in this place, everyone has a smile on their face when they’re there. If the casinos are Las Vegas Hell, this arboretum is my idea of Las Vegas heaven.
Casino Royale: just another casino, really
Excalibur: wins the prize for most confusing casino, really very hard to find your way out of, misleading signs, very sneaky. King Arthur/Knights of the Round Table-themed, showing its age a bit.
L'Arc de Triomphe
Paris by night
The Eiffel Tower
Vive le France!
Paris and the Aladdin
Paris at dusk
Paris: a mini-version of the real thing, very impressive with a half-sized-Eiffel tower, a giant balloon and an Arc de Triomphe. Slot machines not very rewarding, however.
The Sphinx
The Needle
The Pyramid
The Luxor: Egyptian-themed, very impressive on the outside, with an enormous black pyramid, a Sphinx (twice as big as the real one) and Cleopatra’s Needle. The pyramid has a big light on the top which shines straight up into the sky at night (we saw this coming into town).
Warp Factor Nine - Engage!
Fancy a Star Trek wedding?
Bought a bear
The Las Vegas Hilton: notable for the Star Trek Experience, has a big shop and museum, along with Interactive Voyager and Next Generation rides. Bought a Vulcan bear.
Lady Liberty
The Other Big Apple
NY NY
New York New York: really amazing – a mini-version of the Big Apple, complete with the skyscrapers and the Stature of Liberty. Also has a lot of Oirish pubs.
MGM Grand: big green box on The Strip. Contains a lot of movie theatres and you can attend test screenings of new TV shows here.
Treasure Island: has a full-scale Pirate Battle on the Strip every 90 minutes in the evening. The crews of two full size square-rigged ships battle in out with explosions etc. every night. There was more singing than we expected, to be fair.
Big motorbike
Gambling hard
P on the Strip
The Desert Passage
The Aladdin: Middle East/Baghdad themed. Features the Desert Passage, which is a sort of Arabian souk with modern shops. Also has a indoor rain storm every 30 mins. Less impressive than you’d think.
On the phone to Antrim ICU
Evening traffic
Vegas sunset
For all the tomfoolery of The Strip, it’s important to remember than only a few minutes drive away you’re in the desert and it’s really quite beautiful.
We always said we'd visit Vegas if we had the chance, and we're glad we went to see it for ourselves. It's like nothing else on earth, but 48 hours was quite enough and if we'd stayed any longer we would have had to get out of town as there's only so much you can take. If we'd seen one more singing gondolier...
We were trying to decide if Las Vegas represents the height of Western civilisation or its lowest point and in the end we couldn't decide. You seem to be able to get anything you could possibly want in Vegas, and no-one seemed particularly unhappy with the whole set-up. Although it did remind us a bit of the last days of the Roman Empire. Maybe the barbarians are at the door...
The other thing that struck us was that this is all America. Bush is president of the whole thing. The immigrants coming across the border in San Diego, the hippies in San Francisco, the farmers in Montana, the poor in Atlanta, the people in the diners in NY, the gamblers in Vegas and everyone in between. All the red states and all the blue states. What diversity. What a country. Wow.
J&P
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Escape from Atlanta (Homeland Insecurity)
On our way out of Calgary we had been added to the Big George Bush Database by having our fingerprints taken and digital snapshots recorded. I felt safer already... When we decided to leave Atlanta behind us, we turned up at the airport 8 hours early and wangled our way on to an earlier flight at no extra cost. Unfortunately, changing any of your flight details on the day of departure is now regarded as Potential Terrorist Activity, and so we were compelled to undergo automatic Secondary Screening by the Department of Homeland (In)Security. Those terrorists, always changing their flight plans at the last minute... Secondary screening isn't actually as bad as it sounds, no body cavity searches required, just lining up in a long line with rather unfriendly security men and having to remove your belt and shoes, have your bags X-rayed again and searched and then undergo a light patting down. Not fun, but we were glad to be through with it. We headed off into the terminal and decided we would walk to our gate (being good Ulster walkers) rather than take the computer-controlled airport train. So we walked for 5 minutes, keeping the Secondary Screening area behind us and then came up a set of escalators into... Arrivals. Ooops.
It seems that in Atlanta airport it's possible to walk right out of the security screened area, keep going forwards and end up back in the public part of the airport without ever seeing a sign telling you where you are going. And so we had to go back through the Departures gate and were (predictably) selected for Secondary Screening again. We're not sure if going through screening twice could be construed as a Cunning Plan Fit for Dastardly Terrorists, but the security staff we fairly friendly and smiled as they searched us all over again. Of course, we couldn't be let through even though we'd been screened not 15 minutes before, as that would be a Potential Terrorist Loophole, but we escaped with our cavities intact and resolved not to make the same mistake again.
When we reached our departure gate, it was full of young soldiers in desert combat gear getting ready to fly off either to Iraq or Afghanistan, via Frankfurt AFB (Air Force Base). There were so many of them and they all looked so young in their nice clean sand-coloured uniforms and boots. It really reminded us that America is a country at war and soldiers like these are dying every day. We would have taken some photos but it wouldn't have been right (and we might have been arrested). America's changed from the place it used to be.
And so, at length, we completed our escape from post-apocalyptic Atlanta... Next stop, Las Vegas!
J
P.S. Granny Brown is still sticking out, and Mel is now officially overdue... Watch this space!
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It seems that in Atlanta airport it's possible to walk right out of the security screened area, keep going forwards and end up back in the public part of the airport without ever seeing a sign telling you where you are going. And so we had to go back through the Departures gate and were (predictably) selected for Secondary Screening again. We're not sure if going through screening twice could be construed as a Cunning Plan Fit for Dastardly Terrorists, but the security staff we fairly friendly and smiled as they searched us all over again. Of course, we couldn't be let through even though we'd been screened not 15 minutes before, as that would be a Potential Terrorist Loophole, but we escaped with our cavities intact and resolved not to make the same mistake again.
When we reached our departure gate, it was full of young soldiers in desert combat gear getting ready to fly off either to Iraq or Afghanistan, via Frankfurt AFB (Air Force Base). There were so many of them and they all looked so young in their nice clean sand-coloured uniforms and boots. It really reminded us that America is a country at war and soldiers like these are dying every day. We would have taken some photos but it wouldn't have been right (and we might have been arrested). America's changed from the place it used to be.
And so, at length, we completed our escape from post-apocalyptic Atlanta... Next stop, Las Vegas!
J
P.S. Granny Brown is still sticking out, and Mel is now officially overdue... Watch this space!
Easter Sunday (Atlanta: The Pits)
Easter Sunday, March 27 2005. The Albertan winter is finally coming to an end, warm Chinook winds rattling the house last night and an overcast morning followed by the sun coming out at 2pm, with the skies clearing to blue and the temperatures rising to 12oC for a while. On call for me on Friday while Paula and the visiting Robsons headed off for Banff & Lake Louise (photos soon), then the Farmers' Market and Cochrane yesterday while I shopped for snowboarding gear in the spring sales (photos coming here too). So far today we've been over to the COP, then Sunnyside Nurseries and then off for a walk at Bowness Park. Visitors seem to like Calgary a lot so far, and we might go a bit further afield tomorrow. Anyway, to fill the void before the latest photo-blogs, here are some pics of our recent visit to Atlanta:
I was attending the annual SSO (Society of Surgical Oncology) conference, and P tagged along for the ride. I'd been in downtown Atlanta before, and it was a bit of a sight then. Unfortunately, it hasn't really improved in the intervening years, and although it has a number of huge conference venues, it's doesn't really offer anything for tourists to see. The downtown core seems to be full of homeless people and drug addicts, and you take your life in your hands if you want to visit 'Underground Atlanta' which seems to be a collection of tat shops built into a hole in the ground. The Coke Factory is nearby, in a particularly grimy area, not to be visited after dark. Lots of pawn shops and cheque-cashing joints nearby, but no good shops at all. There are a few parks to visit, but these are again stuffed with the homeless. We would have taken a few photos, but we were afraid of getting our camera nicked.
The Coke Factory
The one safe and relatively interesting area is around the headquarters of CNN, the Centennial Olympic Plaza and the Georgia World Congress Centre. There's a food court here which is pretty poor (the worst Mexican food we ever had), but at least you can be fairly sure of not being mugged over dinner.
The 26th Olympics were held in Atlanta in 1996, and there's still a nice park where they held the medal ceremonies. It's got a reflecting pool and a waterfall, and a set of Olympic rings with musical water fountains in them.
Reflecting pool
The Atlanta sky
Waterfall
Come to the musical water fountain show!
We went along to see the 6:30pm 'show' and found ourselves more or less alone with another 2 or 3 slightly frightened-looking tourists in the cold Atlanta evening. Unfortunately, the area seems to be renowned for kerb-crawling after dark, so we elected not to come back at 9pm, when there might be a different kind of 'show' on altogether. We did break the rules and run through the water fountain while it was on. Luckily , some of the jets were broken, allowing you to run into the middle of the Olympic rings without getting wet.
Cowboy and Olympic rings
Not getting wet
In the Fountain
Sorry to be so negative, but Atlanta is just a pit. Alas, out hotel was also a sight. We got a 'special conference rate' and ended up in the smallest room we have ever stayed in - we've both travelled a bit, and stayed in various places at various prices around the world, but the Atlanta Hyatt Regency on Peachtree street really has to win some sort of prize for having the tiniest room and the highest rate. 200 dollars US a night, and not enough room to swing even a small dead cat. The room had a bed, a desk, a TV, one chair and a bathroom built into a closet. The bathroom doors had to open out into the room, as if they'd gone inwards they would have smashed into the toilet.
Turn left for the bathroom, right for the wardrobe or squeeze through to leave the room
Our sumptious bathroom
Micro-bath
I think someone stole the mini-bar...
It was a very patriotic hotel, though, supporting our troops in the field in the battle for oil/freedom (delete as appropriate), and it had a very lovely enormous flag in the lobby, so that was alright then...
What a lovely flag
Our trip to Atlanta wasn't a total loss though. The conference was actually very good indeed, and it's nice to have joined the SSO and been to the annual conference when they are the reason why we ended up on Calgary. The 2-hour time difference was a bit tough, though. We arrived at 2am Atlanta time, and the conference started at 6:30am, so every morning it felt like I was going to a conference which started at 4:30am! I usually went to the first session and then returned to bed for an hour ot two before returning for the lunchtime sessions.
We also a found few good restaurants, notably a small Turkish doner kebab house in the downtown. We ordered a doner and a felafel, and while we were waiting for them, the owner spotted us looking at a photo of a football team on the wall behind the till. It turned out he (like all Turkish men, I'm sure) was a big football fan, and a discussion about European and English football ensued. In the end, he refused to charge us for our drinks as we were "all Europeans" stuck here in Atlanta! Cheers, guys! We also went up the tower at the Westin hotel (the tallest hotel in the Western hemisphere) and got a good view of greater Atlanta and the countryside of Georgia. It really looked quite nice and if we're ever back again I'm sure that the rest of Atlanta will have more to offer than the awful downtown. P also found a big garden show being held at the Georgia World Congress Centre and took a few photos:
Floral display
10 Green Bottles...
A lovely hat made of flowers ... right, then
So that was Atlanta, then. I think we'll give it two thumbs down and pass quickly on to Las Vegas...
J
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I was attending the annual SSO (Society of Surgical Oncology) conference, and P tagged along for the ride. I'd been in downtown Atlanta before, and it was a bit of a sight then. Unfortunately, it hasn't really improved in the intervening years, and although it has a number of huge conference venues, it's doesn't really offer anything for tourists to see. The downtown core seems to be full of homeless people and drug addicts, and you take your life in your hands if you want to visit 'Underground Atlanta' which seems to be a collection of tat shops built into a hole in the ground. The Coke Factory is nearby, in a particularly grimy area, not to be visited after dark. Lots of pawn shops and cheque-cashing joints nearby, but no good shops at all. There are a few parks to visit, but these are again stuffed with the homeless. We would have taken a few photos, but we were afraid of getting our camera nicked.
The Coke Factory
The one safe and relatively interesting area is around the headquarters of CNN, the Centennial Olympic Plaza and the Georgia World Congress Centre. There's a food court here which is pretty poor (the worst Mexican food we ever had), but at least you can be fairly sure of not being mugged over dinner.
The 26th Olympics were held in Atlanta in 1996, and there's still a nice park where they held the medal ceremonies. It's got a reflecting pool and a waterfall, and a set of Olympic rings with musical water fountains in them.
Reflecting pool
The Atlanta sky
Waterfall
Come to the musical water fountain show!
We went along to see the 6:30pm 'show' and found ourselves more or less alone with another 2 or 3 slightly frightened-looking tourists in the cold Atlanta evening. Unfortunately, the area seems to be renowned for kerb-crawling after dark, so we elected not to come back at 9pm, when there might be a different kind of 'show' on altogether. We did break the rules and run through the water fountain while it was on. Luckily , some of the jets were broken, allowing you to run into the middle of the Olympic rings without getting wet.
Cowboy and Olympic rings
Not getting wet
In the Fountain
Sorry to be so negative, but Atlanta is just a pit. Alas, out hotel was also a sight. We got a 'special conference rate' and ended up in the smallest room we have ever stayed in - we've both travelled a bit, and stayed in various places at various prices around the world, but the Atlanta Hyatt Regency on Peachtree street really has to win some sort of prize for having the tiniest room and the highest rate. 200 dollars US a night, and not enough room to swing even a small dead cat. The room had a bed, a desk, a TV, one chair and a bathroom built into a closet. The bathroom doors had to open out into the room, as if they'd gone inwards they would have smashed into the toilet.
Turn left for the bathroom, right for the wardrobe or squeeze through to leave the room
Our sumptious bathroom
Micro-bath
I think someone stole the mini-bar...
It was a very patriotic hotel, though, supporting our troops in the field in the battle for oil/freedom (delete as appropriate), and it had a very lovely enormous flag in the lobby, so that was alright then...
What a lovely flag
Our trip to Atlanta wasn't a total loss though. The conference was actually very good indeed, and it's nice to have joined the SSO and been to the annual conference when they are the reason why we ended up on Calgary. The 2-hour time difference was a bit tough, though. We arrived at 2am Atlanta time, and the conference started at 6:30am, so every morning it felt like I was going to a conference which started at 4:30am! I usually went to the first session and then returned to bed for an hour ot two before returning for the lunchtime sessions.
We also a found few good restaurants, notably a small Turkish doner kebab house in the downtown. We ordered a doner and a felafel, and while we were waiting for them, the owner spotted us looking at a photo of a football team on the wall behind the till. It turned out he (like all Turkish men, I'm sure) was a big football fan, and a discussion about European and English football ensued. In the end, he refused to charge us for our drinks as we were "all Europeans" stuck here in Atlanta! Cheers, guys! We also went up the tower at the Westin hotel (the tallest hotel in the Western hemisphere) and got a good view of greater Atlanta and the countryside of Georgia. It really looked quite nice and if we're ever back again I'm sure that the rest of Atlanta will have more to offer than the awful downtown. P also found a big garden show being held at the Georgia World Congress Centre and took a few photos:
Floral display
10 Green Bottles...
A lovely hat made of flowers ... right, then
So that was Atlanta, then. I think we'll give it two thumbs down and pass quickly on to Las Vegas...
J
