Finiculi, Finicula

We are in Las Vegas at last. Perpetual twilight. Perpetual dreamland. This is the Venetian experience, an interior canal lined with restaurants and pricey boutiques, endlessly looping through a timeless self-contained universe. We sat right there by the railing, eating soup at a Mexican restaurant and watching the singing gondoliers. The sky is a huge ceiling lit from below. The water is real. The light never changes.

While I was expecting glitz and gambling and over-the-top spectacle, I was truly unprepared for the shopping experience: take your Anytown shopping mall and tart it up a bit and save yourself a long drive.