Las Vegas Vacation Diary
Day Seventeen: Fremont Street Experience, The Neonopolis, the Four Queens, Binion's, Fitzgerald's, The Mermaids, The Golden Nugget, The Las Vegas Club and the Plaza.
Went to Fremont Street by Bus ($5.00 each for a 24 hour bus ticket). You can catch CAT Bus number 301 or 302 from in front of the Flamingo or anywhere along the strip. One bus is supposed to be express and the other not. We rode both, one to Fremont Street and one back, and Express means (I think) that they only stop when you call for a stop. The other one seemed to stop at all stations. The driver will take your request when you enter and call out the stop. It is about a 20 minute ride to Fremont Street. |
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Once we were in the downtown area, we went firstly to the Neonopolis which is a small mall at the end of Fremont Street. They have many of the vintage Las Vegas signs displayed there and we photographed them. The Neonopolis has a cinema on the top floor. There is a historic exhibit and memorabilia shop on the bottom floor. The second floor has a bathroom and a food court. |
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We had a snack in the food court at the Panda Express. The Panda Express is our favourite restaurant chain in Las Vegas because you can get vegetables. I usually had the orange chicken, which is very good and a little spicy, but the tofu and vegetables with garlic was delicious, too. |
We decided to get Player Cards at the Fremont Street casinos, so we strolled up the Fremont Street mall taking pictures of the signage and stopping in each casino to sign up for player cards. Players Cards make a nice souvenir. We spent the rest of our gambling budget on the Silver Strike Machines. We won one coin at The Four Queens. |
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We visited Binion’s, The Mermaids, The Four Queens, The Golden Nugget, The Las Vegas Club and the Frontier (which is now just a souvenir shop). We had lunch at the Four Queens in their Tropical Cafe. Nice menu. I had desert and Ken had a sandwich. |
We then walked all the way to the end of the street and sat on a bench at the Plaza. We didn't go in. The Plaza had a German Band called the Dumbkoffs playing for the October Fest. We listened and sang along. I chatted with the trumpet player, who is my age, came from Scotland and plays all over Nevada in a German Band. Go Figure.
Once dusk approached we began the walk down the mall taking photographs. At 7:30 the Fremont Street Experience came on. It is a huge computerized LED display that arches over the entire 4 blocks of the street. |
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The shows, we saw 2 of 4 different ones, were very patriotic, but good. Ken took a movie and we got some still shots. The shows are like giant four-block long movies with a very compelling sound system. You cannot ignore it when it is on and all the other neon in Glitter Gultch (Fremont Street) is shut off during the show. |
The Casinos down have a very different feel than the "Strip" casinos. There are no themes, and they are a bit the worse for wear. They are much older, of course, having been refurbished over and over again. But the Neon is spectacular! The Fremont Street Experience is an extravaganza, but even without it, the neon of Freemont Street is world famous. |
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After the second show, we took the bus back to the hotel. We got off at the stop at the Mirage and walked back through the Venetian and on down to Harrah’s The Volcano at the Mirage was exploding and the lagoon at the Venetian was illuminated to a shimmering blue. It was magical. I took neon pictures all the way back to the Imperial Palace. |