Vegas, pt 1

I recently had the opportunity to visit Las Vegas, albeit relatively briefly. I've come to the conclusion that's rather a good thing, but more of that later. I'd been to America a couple of times before, but never visited the "Blackpool of the (wild) West".

Of course, it's so much more amazing than that grim northern British city. There are two sides to Vegas, and in this first of two articles I intend to write about it, I want to concentrate on the positives.

Let's not beat about the bush here, Vegas is an incredibly impressive place. It's a testament to the realisation of imagination in concrete and lightbulbs. No-one does this 'imagineering' in quite the same way as the Americans, and Vegas is redolent of an adult version of Disneyland, a playground for those who only vaguely remember how to play.

The structures which have been built, whilst they are clearly ripped off without a moment's thought for culture, have actually been lovingly recreated. All of Vegas is about taking money from your pocket, but my goodness they make you feel good about it. If nothing more, it's worth visiting for the sheer, breathtaking scale of the monuments on view. Ignore the gambling and the girls (more of that later), and go for the scene-setting, and maybe a show.

There's also an underlying level of actual class to the place. Oh yes, it's hidden behind a veil of debauchery, but some of the retail opportunities (let's not be so crass as to term them 'shops') really are of the highest calibre. My mother, gently enquiring about a rather attractive vase in one of the 'Miracle Mile' shops was mildly surprised to find the price tag running into five figures.

Of course, expensive doesn't mean high class, but there was, amongst all the fakery, a certain sense of rightness about things. I wasn't expecting it, and I was pleasantly surprised to be ambushed by it.

I had gone into Las Vegas a cynic, and come away genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed myself, and how quickly my opinion had been modified. Well done, Vegas, well done.