Travels in a Tin Can

Many of the hotels do some sort of free spectacle, for example circus
acts, one-man shows, even an erupting volcano in the case of the Mirage
Hotel, but Treasure Island really pushes the boat out - literally. The 'Pirates'
show involves two large ships fighting each other. One crewed by pirates who
end up going overboard when their boat sinks and the other full of scantily
clad women. There is music and dancing and pyrotechnics. It stops just short
of being a burlesque routine only because it is outside so kids could be in the
audience. The show lasts about 30 minutes and was so good we watched it
twice. The only other show we watched more than once was outside the
Bellagio. Here the huge lake in front of the hotel is the scene of a 3-minute
musical event every 15 minutes during the evening. A song begins and the
fountains 'dance' in time to the music - dramatic and well worth pausing for,
especially moving when Britten’s Hallelujah chorus was playing. It was a little
less moving when it was I'm proud to be an American citizen - a song we
heard so often whilst stateside that we learned the words, step one on the
route to a Green Card.
The Venetian hotel was a very good source of 'added extras'. A
'Carnivale' was taking place while we were in town and a number of free
shows were available, including an ice skating display and 'sexy elves'
offering photo opportunities (and cheap thrills). In addition every visitor to the
hotel received a ‘Passeporto’ of vouchers, giving various discounts in the
shops and restaurants. On our first day in Vegas we scoured these booklets
and picked out all the coupons offering free rather than just discounted things.
We then trawled the hotel for our treats. We got a free alcoholic drink each in
a very nice bar with live music, Vegas pencils, silk scarves, and some