Salt Lake City

Even though it was Sunday I had to get up early. I had to get to down town and back to Temple Square. I was going to hear the Tabernacle choir sing. I caught the tram with seconds to spare, but I didn't buy a ticket. I had been trying to figure out the ticket machine when the tram had arrived. Honest! I got to the square with about fifteen minutes to spare, the Tabernacle hall was pretty full. The performance is broadcast live every Sunday on the Mormon radio station and throughout the whole of Utah on over a hundred radio stations. You can probably get it on the internet too.The choir was amazing, they even sang a show tune, which I thought was great. I was again asked if I wanted to receive the Book of Mormon, I politely declined and left the square.

I had a bit of time to kill before the library opened so I went back down to the shopping centre. I didn't really do a lot the whole, I think I had pretty much seen all I could in central Salt Lake City. You need a car if you want to take a look at the actual salt lake the city is named for or the salt flats. I think that would have been a cool thing to see, the Utah salt flats are where a lot of the land speed records have been set.After an aimless day I went back to Sam's and indulged my passion for t.v.. When Sam got back we headed out to a discount movie theatre. These places are great and I never knew they existed. It is a normal movie theatre but the movies are not the latest releases, they're maybe a couple of months old, but the tickets cost $1.50. I wasn't up for a horror movie so we watched the Proposal, I enjoyed it. Sometimes it's just good to watch something that doesn't require you to think, just pure entertainment.

Monday 12th October was another early start for me, the bus to Las Vegas left at 08.30, I didn't have a ticket and the bus station was half way across town. I walked down to the tram station and bought a ticket this time. The bus was fairly busy but I managed t get two seats to myself for the majority of the ride. I chatted with some of the guys on the bus and they were all really helpful on where to go and things to do in Vegas. One guy told me that I should be careful and shouldn't hang around the bus station as it's where all the crack heads hang out, his words,not mine. We made a stop at this petrol station in the middle of nowhere, it was so interesting I had to take a photo. From the outside it looked like any old petrol station. The inside was a whole different story, the walls were decorated with the stuffed heads of someones kills. Sorry guys, but only in America was the thought running through my head.

When you approach Vegas from the north you pass over some mountains and then it appears before you on the valley floor. There's not much to look at in the day, the guys on the bus said that you should really arrive at night for the full effect. It's a huge city, I can't think of another city where visitors will see so little of it. The two areas that people mainly visit are the Strip, where all the big hotels are and Fremont street, which is old Vegas and the scene of the car chase in the Bond movie "Diamonds are Forever". Needless to say I would be going there.