We drove from Sequoia National Park in our rented Chevrolet Aveo in Los Angeles. It was sunset, there were 70 km to Las Vegas and although the sun was not high in the sky, the air outside the passenger compartment was hot and dry, if we lowered the windows the feeling was that of having pointed in make a hair dryer at maximum power. Tired and a little sweaty, in the distance we glimpsed a very large semicircle of light that illuminated the horizon; was it the heat? A hallucination? No, Las Vegas.

The road descended into a valley that opened into an immense concrete construction that only above which we realized that it was a dam, the largest we had ever seen, illuminated by very powerful headlights. We could not stop, with our hands clinging to the parapet we looked down but the bottom could not be seen such was the height of this construction, really impressive.

Continuing the lights became stronger and closer, it seemed dawn. After 20 minutes of driving we found ourselves in the center of Las Vegas and although it was 10:30 pm it felt like broad daylight. Marta looking to the right said to me: look, there is a gondolier inside the canal! While on my left a majestic fountain sprayed jets of water at incredible heights and a pyramid shone in the distance. Had the heat gone to our heads or were we in Dysneyland? No, it was Las Vegas.

The next day, recharged from a restful night and a few hours spent in the hotel pool, we park the car in one of the many hotels in the center. Our first stop was the fountain we had seen the day before, that of the Bellagio hotel, famous for its jets of water that reach unprecedented heights and move to the rhythm of music creating fantastic choreographies. The show is every 15 minutes and completely free.

Refreshed by the water games, we enter the Luxor hotel and casino, a real pyramid where we are welcomed outside by a large sphinx of about 20 meters while inside by the staff dressed in typically Egyptian clothing. We continue our tour crossing the Rialto bridge of “Venetian Las Vegas” saying goodbye to the gondolier we had seen the day before; it seemed to be in Venice even if the water in the canal was too clear !! We then continued on to Caesars Palace where luxury reigns supreme and Roman statues frame the entrance.

Refreshed by the water games, we enter the Luxor hotel and casino, a real pyramid where we are welcomed outside by a large sphinx of about 20 meters while inside by the staff dressed in typically Egyptian clothing. We continue our tour crossing the Rialto bridge of “Venetian Las Vegas” saying goodbye to the gondolier we had seen the day before; it seemed to be in Venice even if the water in the canal was too clear !! We then continued on to Caesars Palace where luxury reigns supreme and Roman statues frame the entrance.

They call it the «city of fun» and as tourists we really enjoyed ourselves but seeing the desperate faces behind the gaming tables and slots it seems that this is not the case for everyone. Advice: if you go to Las Vegas and you like gambling, leave your credit cards at the hotel and take only the money you have decided to play with you, when you are finished you will know that you have reached your limit; we only lost 20 dollars :-).