Las Vegas It's a strange, mad place. You could accuse the Americans of being insular, not wanting to visit other parts of the world, but are they so insular as to not want to travel in the USA ? Here, for the residents of Nevada that can't be arsed to go to New York, you can see the Statue of Liberty, and in the skyline behind, the Empire State and (just out of shot) the Chrysler Building. This is the front of the New York-New York hotel and casino. The very butch looking lion in front of the MGM Grand hotel. Las Vegas came about as a result of the Hoover Dam, in the middle of the Great Depression the dam was built, the relaxed gambling laws in Nevada drew in the dam workers to drink, gamble and enjoy the company of, ahem, ladies of easy virtue. The city has continued to grow ever since. Don't think this one will go far. Although Vegas is best known for gambling, for folk like me who don't gamble all that much, there is a heap of stuff to see and do. Have a stroll down the strip, especially at night, and you can see an erupting volcano, the dancing fountains at Bellagio, a giant two ship pirate battle, and if you take one of those glossy cards from the shifty blokes that press them into your hand, you can have a beautiful girl in your hotel room in 20 minutes ! For only $43 ! (Odd price) Sin city indeed. Mrs YS inside the Aladin, the light changes in here as you walk around, from dawn to midday to dusk (in an hour) followed by a quick thunderstorm, I kid you not, for a few minutes it pours with rain and lightning flashes across the mock sky. Go inside the Venetian hotel and you can take a gondola ride, real gondolas, on a Venetian canal, five stories up, inside, mad I tell you. Them's proper Yorkshire legs look, they havn't seen any sun, YS himself in front of the fountains of Paris. The Bellagio hotel at night (as featured in Ocean's 11), it is really rather pretty. Every fifteen minutes during the evening, you can watch the dancing fountains of Bellagio, and it is really good. Hundreds of jets of water shoot up and swirl around to music, and if you're really, really lucky, you might get to see Tyra Banks doing a Victoria's Secret photo shoot using the fountains as a backdrop, wahey! The strip at night, gaudy neon as far as the eye can see. The disney castle like Excalibur hotel. The Eiffel Tower all lit up, and very pretty, who needs to see Europe ?