Las Vegas, Nv (Pinball Museum, Penn & Teller)

Waking up this morning, and realised we hadn't taken a picture of the inside of the hotel! Yes, we know it looks like something out of Stargate, but it's certainly an improvement on another chain motel!

As you walk from the Tropicana across to the MGM Grand, you get a good look at the New York, New York hotel complex (more like New York, Las Vegas!). Yes, that really is a working roller coaster on top of the hotel, as well as replicas of the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and the Statue of Liberty. Having seen these all previously, it was quite jarring to see American emulations of American institutions - like looking into the start of an infinity mirror, or a Möbius strip. Am I in the movie Inception, or just dreaming about being in a movie?

The antidote to infinite regression - alcohol. I gave this true artist a couple of bucks, after he took his mask off to intimidate a tourist who took his photo without tipping. C'mon guys, play the game - this aint no Spiderman or Kiss rip-off, he really takes his profession to the next level. Plus, he can just sit there. All day. I'm not sure if he was really drunk... but maybe he was just method acting.

At this point Morag and I split up - she wanted to go shopping, and I wanted to see the world's largest collection of PINBALL MACHINES! After a long walk to the Rio hotel to pick up some great seats for the Penn & Teller show later, I took a hotel shuttle over to the Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame. Is there a name for pinball geeks? This is Matt, the engineer/receptionist.

The museum is completely non-profit (501c3), and supports local non-denominational charities. This machine was the oldest I could find - a 1948 model called Robin Hood. Most of them have a card explaining the machine's history, and all have a QR code with a link to a webpage for that particular machine. Truely a labour of love.

Not only old games, but the newest as well. They replace the bumpers sooner than they have to (there's usually a hand-written sign saying when they were last replaced), and put in new lightbulbs the minute they expire. Pinball heaven!

As well as pinball, there is a handful of true classic arcade machines: Gorf, Tron, and Donkey Kong amongst them. This machine is Tron:Legacy, and I hadn't even seen it elsewhere. I lamented to Matt that (as far as I know) there is only one pinball arcade in the whole of London - near the Goodge Street tube - it only has three machines, in bad repair, under the harsh glare of fluorescent tubes. He nodded sagely, and I knew I was in the company of a man with a shared passion.

You may laugh, but I think it was Tom Cruise who said many years ago: Pinball is not a game, it's a sport (some say a combination of chess and golf). You haven't lived until you've discovered the wonders of TILT, or activated the 'Bride of Pinbot' lips, so that she may talk to you.

More than once, I had to stop in the aisles and have an 'emotional moment' - thinking to myself that people do not go gentle into the good night, and rage against the dying of the light - merely by accumulating and maintaining our impoverished culture, selling it back to us and giving the profits to the needy. I shall leave you with one last parting shot, taken as I left the museum and headed back out to reality (or, at least, the pseudo-reality of Las Vegas).

I decided to walk back to the hotel, to collect Morag and head out to Penn & Teller's magic show. As I was going past the Airport, took this lovely shot looking back to the sunset and the strip. You can just make out the light at the top of the Luxor - the brightest beam in the world at over 42.3 billion candle power!

Penn & Teller were great - a few magic tricks you could see through, a few that were old hat, but one or two we had no idea how they were done! I almost participated in one of the tricks, but gave the book to the guy behind me (instead of holding onto it). Then it was a race (really, involving running down the strip!) to get to see the Volcano show in front of The Mirage hotel. A bit of a let-down (but perhaps we only saw the last bit, and from the back too), and it only lasted a couple of minutes. The Bellagio fountains seemed to be a lot more magical.

Although our time in Vegas was quickly running out (even after we had stayed for an extra night), but we couldn't leave without seeing the gondolas inside The Venetian. This is about midnight, so don't get confused that the sky had clouds - like much of Las Vegas, it's just for show. In the end, I compared Las Vegas to gilded candy floss - bright and shiny, but with little substance inside. Great fun, though!

Even Starbucks can't escape the Las Vegas glamour. Surprising how many brands succumb to the glitz... Those were my thoughts as we headed off on the 30 minute trek back to our last night at the Luxor.