It was 46 degrees today!

I can confirm it is hot in the desert! Today the temperature reached 46 degrees! I am hoping I will sweat myself skinny 😉 It sure does take some getting used to. We have a lovely pool to swim in and heaps of cold beer, so we’ll be right!

We went to the Nevada State Museum and they closed their outside walks as it was too hot! Nevada is rich in fossil history especially Mammoths – archeologists love this place. With the gold rush and the Hoover Dam, and now casinos…LV is a happening place. We saw scorpions and I learnt that the smaller they are the more poisonous their sting is. We also saw snakes and a chameleon, which we were part of a travelling exhibition.

So we have been here since Sunday afternoon, and were picked up at the airport by Katie [who house and three cats we are looking after]. We stayed with her parents for a couple of days, while she got ready for her trip to Europe. Now we are ensconced in her bungalow and making friends with the cats. Zeke the big guy is in charge. They are still getting used to us.

We have had a couple of relaxing days by the pool, done a bit of shopping at our very own supermarket [which sells NZ wine]

and generally just recharged our batteries from the madness of San Fran. We did do a small bike ride, but need to get up early to do any more of those!

On Monday, we walked along the strip and saw all the crazy mad hotels and casinos. It was so busy inside and out.

We visited the M & M Store [just to enjoy the air-con!) and I was amazed at just how big the brand is. Four levels of merchandise to suit each ‘personality’ – there was nothing you couldn’t buy. From t’shirts to socks, coloured candy to personalised candy, socks to soft toys and they even have babies clothes! Although I like the peanut ones and couldn’t find any, so got them at the gas station where we picked up our Uber!

We went inside all the big hotels, but the most outstanding was the Bellagio – it was just fabulous.

From the glass art hanging in the lobby to the unbelieveable conservatory and of course the fountains (which we are yet to see – they only run from 3pm) it was incredible. It’s current summer display is a ‘tour of Italy’ and is designed to give visitors a taste of the Amalfi coast, Tivoli and the Island of Capri. It is truly breath-takingly gorgeous. I tried to take a few pics, but it really doesn’t do it justice. One display is ‘lemons’ and the lemons are topiaries made with 1,400 stems of yellow and white carnations WHICH THEY CHANGE DAILY!! The water falls, gardens and other displays, including the Troubadour topiary [made with 1,000 stems of red and peach carnations and other flowers] were a wonder. They even had huge swans floating on the canal with real feathers [animal activists where were you?!)

Richard MacDonald is a sculpter, and his display of Cirque performers was truly fabulous. He does all the sculpting with live models and then casts in bronze – they were for sale BUT, as we had no winnings, alas no purchases were made.

There are so many Cirque shows on here, we are sure to see one before we leave. In fact there are so many shows in general, so all going well we should be entertained … from music to magicians.!

I am hoping that in five weeks … that we may have acclimatised a bit! And made friends with the cats!