WELL WE ARE BACK FROM VEGAS!

So this is Britain - ain't it cold?
Not near as cold as Chicago I have to say!
Jetlagged but ever so ever so happy, not at being home needless to say.
WOW WE'VE HAD A TRULY BRILL TIME!!!!!

First of all I looked at the available everywhere internet access but never did I find the time to actually post a blog that sounds a really lame excuse, probably coz that's exactly what it is but anyways apologies to PIPPAGIRL who checked in every day because of my last posting to check up on our progress but of course to no avail!!

Main WILKONEWS however is that IMPULSE KING has had yet another name change but then you knew that that would happen didn't you?
So for the moment he will be known as VEGAS KID and you may want to catch up on some of his exploits by checking his my space over the next few weeks (http://www.myspace.com/matoeira ) though I bet he doesn't plug my blog! Well that sounds well rude anyway so I hope he doesn't!!

Well in a way it was like three seperate holidays - let me explain.....Holiday one was like getting there and coming back and includes words like deicing, CHICAGO, freezing cold ( together and seperate) delay, more deicing, freezing cold Chicago, hats, matches, lighters, cigarettes (or lack of) oh and did I mention DE ICING?

Then there's the shows, I mean what can one say? We expected them to be good but each one, that is each and every one were absolutely fantastic and all for very different reasons. The venues themselves superb and worth visiting even when empty!!
My own personal ratings (and reasons for their position) of the shows though there really is no way to compare them is :
1. KA at the MGM Grand. The biggest theatre in the biggest venue and the biggest show in terms of technology and artistry and let's not forget the music! Wheel of death, indoor fireworks and NO STAGE! F..ing BIG WOW!! 10/10
2. LOVE at the Mirage. Very BRITISH! Yeah yeah yeah!! Weirdest sensation going in to the theatre that maybe the tickets we had got were real bummers and I wouldn't want to spoil it for you if you ever get to go to Vegas to see it but I'm going to anyway.....there are no bad seats for LOVE because the opening changes the theatre in to something I guarantee you haven't seen the like of before theatrewise. Essentially it is all in the round but it's more like all in the X though you really have to see it. I got to wondering whether if it hadn't all been Beatles music whether it would have been so good and I think the music may have helped but didn't make a big difference. >From the word....."Because" (go) right to the end ninety packed minutes of high energy impact making fast moving theatre. 9 1/2 /10
3. = O at The Bellagio. A truly beautiful water show in a very ornate theatre. A real must see! Almost the entire stage area at any one time is just part of a 25' deep pool. The whole concept is wonderful and works so well. It's truly fantastic. 9/10
3. = MYSTERE at Treasure Island. Our very first Vegas show and the one that has been there the longest. It is quite like their touring shows in a number of respects but spectacular beyond belief. More I think because it is still there, right in the heart of Vegas than anything else I'm sure it could be transferred to a touring show quite easily but why would anyone want to do that? I think it will close in 2009 when Elvis returns to the Strip in a new Cirque show for which they are building the venue as we speak, or as you read and I write! 9/10
5. ZUMANITY at New York New York. A more intimate setting for this far from traditional type of show from Cirque though still very large venue. You really have not done 'erotic' until you've seen this show. The other side of Cirque du Soleil it truly is and absolutely everything it says on the packet. It's not crude at all, nor in bad taste. In fact it is truly erotic in a non Las Vegas way. Remember this is SIN CITY USA, where you get pictures of naked girls thrust at you wherever you go complete with pretty little stars on their relevant bits. This has Cirque du Soleil stars on the stage, each and every one of them and all the relevant bits portrayed with grace and beauty. 8/10

Then there's the third part of the holiday which costs you the most and takes up all the remaining time you have, well it was certainly like that for us and that is LAS VEGAS itself! A desert oasis of decadence and character, not to mention characters!
Our Hotel, Circus Circus was superb but it's a little on the old side and appears because of the elegance of the newer establishments further down the strip a tad tacky, in a wonderful sort of Blackpooly way. But hey it's got the biggest dome in North America and the World's largest indoor theme park so it can't be all bad!
I will post many times in the future I'm sure about Vegas itself but I'm not sure there is a single place on earth quite like it.

THE EIFFEL TOWER, GONDOLAS, AN ERUPTING VOLCANO, STATUE OF LIBERTY, PIRATE SHOWS, FOUNTAINS, ROMAN SCULPTURES, THE WORLDS HIGHEST STARBUCKS, COYOTE UGLY, LIONS BOTH WHITE AND BROWN, TROPICAL FLOWERS, ORANGE TREES, WHITE TIGERS, DOLPHINS, SHARKS, MORE MACDONALDS/STARBUCKS/SUBWAYS THAN PEOPLE (I may have exaggerated that one....a tad) COCA COLA, M&M'S, EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, HARD ROCK not just CAFE but HOTEL AND CASINO, INDOOR SKY AND RAINSTORMS ON THE HALF HOUR.

Not to mention that 17 of America's Top 20 hotels in terms of occupancy are in Las Vegas which equates to 15 in the Top 20 of the entire universe!