16 May: Water slides! A 68 degree water slide called the Leap of Faith at the Mayan Temple in the Lost City of Atlantis - this is Disney meets Underwater World, now in salmon pink.
(And there were meetings and stuff, more of that later. The water slides were the important bit. And the sea water pools with star fish and sting rays and baby sharks!)
17 May: woke up at 6 and went down to beach. Gorgeous blue-green waters and white sand, just like the postcards. No living creature in sight but a couple of gulls and a dog at what looked like a cairn of stones. Walked along the shoreline listening to the waves.
17 May, later: There was a bride posing in the lobby of the Venetian. The Venetian looks...well, Venetian. There's a copy of St Mark's Square (and oh, darlings, a MASSIVE Sephora. SMS me if you want anything) and a canal and gondola rides and of course a massive casino with cars atop some of the jackpot machines (so they can just jump up and give you the car if you win, I guess?) and trompe l'oeil on the walls and frescoes on the ceiling - not exactly the Sistine Chapel, but overwhelming nonetheless. Went for a walk on the strip - could see the strip from the airplane, and the beam of light from the pyramid that is the Luxor - the Duke's Palace (is that what it is? the one on the real St Mark's Square) next to a volcanic island (apparently complete with erupting volcano) and ahead there was Caesar's Palace with the Colosseum and Roman Forum and the Pantheon, all brought together for your convenience. And there are the smaller seedier slot machine parlours and all-you-can-eat buffets and Latino men standing on the street handing out soft porn (the Police guy with us collected them solemnly. Appendix A of my report, he said).
Truly fantastic, in the old sense of the word. It transcends kitsch. And terribly addictive - music on the streets the whole time through and everyone in party clothes (though the people are mostly pretty tacky - old retirees with permed hair (men and women) sitting rather grimly at the slot machines and lots of cute young couples holding beer bottles and more fat Americans in strangely Hawaiian gear) and all the lights from the casino and of course the single beam from the Luxor. This is the American candy-floss version of the world.
All the same, I think I'd rather create my own fantasy.