Living in San Giorgio di Pesaro and Kingston

The second show we went to see was “Divas”, a drag show in which the host of the show comes out as Joan Rivers and the other cast members come out as various pop stars such as Madonnaa, Tina Turner etc. Normally I am not a big fan of drag shows but have to admit this was very professional and very enjoyable. The Joan Rivers character was very funny if incredibly blue while the divas were supported by an excellent dance group plus great staging which meant the whole show went with a swing. The show has been running for 25 years so perhaps it is doing something right.

Dima very kindly got us tickets for a couple of Vegas shows. The first one was Jubilee which is similar to the Moulin Rouge in Paris – i.e. lots of dancing girls and boys. Apart from the routine dancing the show also had some very good acrobats, and a couple of extended scenarios which had great scene changes. The first scenario was the stoy of Samson and Delilah in which we went from lavish court live in the land of the Philistines where they meet, through to Samson being captured and his hair cut off and ending with Samson pushing apart the pillars holding up the Temple of Dagon and the whole temple collapsing before our eyes. The second scenario was the Titanic where we went from Southampton Docks as the ship prepares to leave dock, to the first class lunch where everyone drinks cocktails, to the engine room where a first class lady passenger comes down for to dance with  the  engineers. This scene was interrupted with the news that an ice-berg was approaching and followed by a scene of the ship sinking in the background while a row boat sailed through the smoke from the dry ice to the sound of the hymn “nearer my god to thee”. All in very questionable  taste.

Bill and I are slightly behind the times when it comes to gambling. When we put our first money in the “one arm bandit” machines we reached up to pull the lever. It didn’t move. Then we noticed the push button to start the machine rolling. With the slot machines we only used the “1 cent” machines. On our first day I lost 2 dollars on the machines and Bill won 6 dollars. The next day we again started to play and Bill opted to play a new “Batman”  game. The guy sitting beside Bill put in 40 dollars and lost it all. Bill put in one dollar and won 16. I also tried with a couple of dollars and immediately lost them. With Dima we went to play Blackjack where I bought 20 dollars worth of chips and again quickly lost the lot. Obviously Bill is more favoured by Lady Luck and so from now on he can buy the lottery tickets.

One of the reasons for going to Las Vegas was to meet Dima Zemskov. We hadn’t seen Dima for 15 years who when we first met him was a dancer with a touring Russian ballet company. Now he lives in Las Vegas and earns his living as a supervisor in a casino with some ballet teaching on the side. We met briefly our first evening on our first evening as he was working. He works 5 days a week from 8.00 p.m to 4.00 p.m.

 The second evening we went out for a meal in his favourite restaurant on the strip – a Frence restaurant whch we reached after a walk through indoor Paris street scenes. The restaurant’s terrace overlooks the Bellagio hotel which has a spectacular water fountain show every 15 minutes as well as being unde a half size Eifel Tower. We had a great meal and caught up on old times. Dima had to leave for work and so, on his recommendation, we up the Eifel Tower for a view of Las Vegas by night. 

eifel tower in vegas

view from tower

It was great to meet him again after so long. He was very kind to us during the stay, making sure we enjoyed our stay and very kindly got us some free tickets for a couple of shows.

view from hotel during the day	view at night

Leaving the Grand Canyon at 8.30, we arrived in Las Vegas at 1.00 p.m. We were heading for the airport and finding it was not made easy by the poor signage. One exit from the freeway had a small sign but once on the main roads signs were very few and some of them simply had the word “Mccarran” and not something useful such as “international airport”. On one 6 lane highway we were fortunate to notice the very small sign for the airport over on the left hand side and at the last minute Bill was  able to cut across a couple of lanes and make the turn.

Once we dropped off the car we went by shuttle bus to the Mirage Hotel. Its a hotel in the centre of the strip. Checking in we were offered a room with a view of the car park or for $10 a night extra we could have a room on the 23rd floor with a view of the strip. We opted for that and were really pleased with the room and with the view which included a view over the Venetian hotel complete with the campanile and the  Doges Palace.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon on the evening of the 16th Oct. We had the 17th there and left in the morning of the18th. The first thing we noticed was how cool it was. In the evening and even more so in the morning a pullover was needed. In fact the morning we left there was frost on the car. Luckily during the day it was beautiful, blue skies and pleasantly warm.

We went up to see the canyon in the morning. Having seen it 40 years ago I noticed that it hadn’t changed much. It was still awe inspiring. The thing that had changed was that I had a bit more cash this time and so was able not only to walk along the edge of the canyon but also take a helicopter ride. Yes, after our experience in Hawaii we were eager for more.

So at 12.30 we got into the helicopter along with 3 French persons. My school boy french deserted me and so we simply smiled at each other. Then to the sound of Frank Sinatra singing “fly me to the moon” we lifted off. It took about 10 minutes to reach the canyon but when we did “Wow”. It is even more amazing from the helicopter. It gives an even greater impression of the size. On the flight there was a commentary about the canyon in both French and English by the time they had finished we were flying, to the sound of “What a wonderful world”, back to the helipad. It was all over too soon. In fact, we both agreed that instead of paying for the 30 minute tour we should have paid for the 1 hour trip.

Which was better  – Hawaii or Grand Canyon? The canyon is more awe inspiring in terms of the size but the helicoper is enclosed and the flight is fly out, circle gently round and fly back. In Hawaii the scenery is spectacular and more varied, but with the sides open and the steep banking of the helicopter it was a really exciting ride. So for me Hawaii has it.

Our flight from Hawaii arrived in Phoenix just before midnight. We were booked into the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Glad we were only staying there for one night. I had first come to the USA 40 years ago and travelled across the stats on a Greyhound bus. The Crowne Plaza reminded me of the hotels we stayed in then. In other words, the hotel could do with a make over.

8.30 the next morning we collected our hire car and we drove to the Grand Canyon via Sedona. Sedona is situated in the “Red Rock Country” and has featured in many westerns. It has grown up into a tourist town and an “artistic centre”. As we wandered round the town we came across some italians. Another opportunity to find people from Pesaro. We didn’t even talk to these italians as we were able to understand everything they said, meaning they spoke very clear italian and therefore not from Pesaro.

The other thing that we noticed in the shops were indian carvings. These were Hopi carvings and each indicated a spirit or a power. We went to a store specialising in Hopi carvings (Kachinas), pottery, bows, arrows, peace pipes, feather head dresses. It was a great shop and we ended up buying a Kachina (not the one in the picture but hope we like the one we bought when we get home).

From Sedona we drove for another couple of hours to reach the Grand Canyon at about 5.00.

We had a really good holiday in Hawaii. Glad we went to the Big Island first as it is a really interesting island but not the image one has of Hawaii. Kauai was nearer to the image with its tropical vegetation, tree covered mountains and beautiful beaches. The hotel on Big Island was rather isolated and we ate in the hotel. At Kauai there were a couple of small towns within easy driving distance of the hotel. The small towns and villages are mainly main streets with one or two storey buildings on either side, all in various states of repair, and mostly consisting of cafes, bar and shops selling souvenirs. There were a few up market restaurants but most were mid price, very relaxed, with a laid back feel. As always in the states the portions were very big, iced water was brought to the table as soon as we sat down at the table and when we had finished eating the bill arrived on the table within a minute (very different from Italy).

Would we go back to Hawaii? Yes to Kauai and if wanting to try another island would go for Mauai which is meant to be very beautiful.

Our flight out of Kauai was on Saturday 15th Oct at 9.30 a.m.. We flew to Honolulu where we were to take a flight to Phoenix at 3.30p.m. So when we arrived at Honolulu we decided to go and see Pearl Harbour. We went outside to wait for a bus but after 30 minutes and no bus we opted for a taxi. As Pearl Harbour is on the airport side of the town we arrived there within 20 minutes having had an interesting chat with a very pleasant cabbie. He had come to Hawaii from Vietnam 17 years ago and he new wife and daughter are back in Vietnam with no likelihood of ever getting them to Hawaii.

At the Harbour we left our bags in the left luggage and then got our tickets. We were allocated the 11.15 tour. So we had time for a drink and a walk around the site. At 11.30 we were taken into a cinema and shown a really interesting film about the attack on pearl harbour. Exiting the cinema we boarded a boat for a five minute sail across the harbour to the memorial for the men who died on the HMS Arizona. The memorial is a covered walkway over part of the sunken ship and at the end of the memorial is a wall giving the names of all who died when the ship sunk. As always with war memorials the most touching thing is the age of those who had died.

One can stay at the memorial as long as one wants but we returned to the boat after about 10 minutes and by 12.30 we were getting a taxi back to the airport and our plane for Phoenix and the Grand Canyon.

On our last full day in Kauai we decided to spend the morning at the beach. Our hotel, the Westin, is set back from the coast but it has a sister hotel the Regis which is on the coast – in fact it is on 9 floors which literally descent the cliff down to beach level. Architecturally it is not a beautiful hotel but it has the benefit of being 5 star and each room has a fantastic view across the bay. As guests at the Westin we can use the Regis’s beach which means you can avoid looking at the hotel but still enjoy the sand, the sea and the view. As you can see from the pictures the clouds were rather grey but fortunately it didn’t rain until after we had left the beach.