| Las Vegas. What can you say? It's a mad, mad
place. Totally unreal, off the wall, a sort of Disney world for adults.
Except; it seems to break all the rules for the eco 21st century.
Why do I say this? It has grown hugely in the last
couple of decades: now 1.8 million people live within a gas guzzling
drive of this gambling city in the middle of a desert. Yes, a desert.
Originally given its name from the Spanish: Green Meadows because of the
lushness of the area between the mountain ranges. There was plenty of
water from Artesian wells replenished from the snow melt of the
mountains each year.
And now, what? The aquifiers are largely
diminished, there is talk (maybe action) of bringing in water from a
less dry part of the USA (in a pipe some ten feet in diameter) to keep
those lush lawns green and the pools full of water in: a desert.
I took some time to see the (once) great Colorado
river in the form of Lake Mead behind the Hoover Dam, a tremendous
achievement of the 1930's. Boulder City was built to house the many
workers who toiled in extreme conditions over four years to build that
amazing construction. It was a solution to the nefarious moods of the
Colorado river and the destruction that it had caused to states down
river by flooding.
It was a brilliant and well conceived idea that has
benefited the south west of the USA ever since. I did visit the Dam and
saw for myself the generators which have given clean hydro-electric
power for many decades, But, I wondered, when I saw the ever diminishing
water level of Lake Mead behind the dam (now 132 feet below the top of
the dam) how long will that power be available?
I hate to think how much Las Vegas must be using in
the way of Kilowatt hours and how many millions of gallons of good,
clean water (I thought the water quality excellent) are going down the
drain from that collection of HUGE hotels along the 'Strip' as it is
called. Enough of my soap box for now, lets 'get in there'. |
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The view from my modest (3500 room) hotel window was
thus. The mountains surround Vegas on just about all four sides. |
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After a twenty hour journey from my home, as a
lighting person I appreciate the treatment of a nearby building,
especially against the deep blue desert sky. |
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The entrance to my hotel, The Imperial
Palace, is set back from the Strip by a hundred paces or so.
A few thousand light bulbs flash
continuously in some attempt to condition you to the Casino that you are
about to enter. |
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As I had just arrived, I decided to take
a walk in the balmy evening air just to capture the 'ambience' of the
Strip. |
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Ambience is the wrong word. Everything is 'in your
face' in Las Vegas. |
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There's 'my' hotel in the background. |
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Oh yes, you're never alone (anywhere in
the world) with a Big Mac. |
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On my way to my bed (huge, very comfortable room) I
had to brave once more the 1.8 million gamblers...oh no, that's the
population of the city...busy looking miserable as they frittered their
dollars away. |
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The brashness and noise of it all was just too much
for a simple, non gambling citizen as I. |
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The colours and reflections of the
myriads of lights, however, are enough to turn on the average
photographer. |
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Out there, on the Strip, a few more kilowatts
silently burn... |
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This is the exterior of The Venetian Hotel. It is
amazing, and one of my absolute favourites of my stay in Vegas. |
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Once inside, one is in a carefully
crafted realisation of Venice.
Yep, we're on the second flloor, and
there's a beautifully simulated sky and clouds above. |
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AND, canals with gondala's! Unreal, but
jaw droppingly engaging. Like, WOW! |
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Even a version of St Mark's Square. Unreal, but
fascinating to those of us who have worked in Television and know the
problems of set design and lighting. |
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