I've been lucky enough to stay in a hotel where I've looked out of the window and seen the Eiffel Tower. I've also stayed in a hotel with a view of the Chrysler Building, and another with a view of a Roman Palace. Last week my hotel had a view of all of these at the same time! In addition I could see the castle of Camelot and a host of other large hotels. Las Vegas really is a unique place and I really can't make up my mind whether I like it or not. I guess the big attractions, other than the ability to "visit" places like Paris, ancient Rome, Lake Como all in a few steps, is the gambling and the shows. I'm definitely not a successful gambler and left Vegas about $80 poorer than I arrived. Since I almost never seemed to be ahead in terms of the money I put into the machine (tables are way, way too expensive for me), it just seemed like I was paying money for the privilege of pressing a few buttons (something I get paid for when I'm in the office). I did go to a show and saw the Cirque de Soleil production at the Bellagio of "O". I'd wanted to see this since last time I was in Vegas when it was very new and impossible to get tickets for. Tickets were still in short supply and appeared to be outrageously expensive. The show was good, but having seen Cirque de Soleil something like six times now in different shows it wasn't what I'd call outstanding. Cirque de Soleil does seem to be incredibly popular, as witnessed by the fact that there are four different productions on the Las Vegas strip at the moment. I also had dinner at Tao's in the Venetian (where I was staying). Apparently one of the hottest nightspots in Vegas at the moment (the queue on Friday night would seem to reflect this). Frankly I thought the food was nothing to write home about, although the prices certainly were.

Ah well, back to the reality of Technology Evangelism again.