Today I got up determined not to have another Starbucks coffee and maybe to eat something for brekky. So up I got and into an Uber first thing to the Downtown area. Fremont Street…off the Strip for the first time.
I was a bit over-eager getting there just after 9 which meant it was like a ghost town, nothing much to see here. So I wondered up and down in search of the elusive coffee/ brekky. Eventually the best I could do was an all American diner, Dennys, which was exactly what you’d expect. Massive breakfasts of egg, bacon, hash browns and pancakes. I got the smallest I could find but of course couldnt get through half of it. I got a coffee, the filter type stuff for $4 but it was all you can. drink and not too bad. Better than yesterdays effort and I sat there until things started to wake up.
I took it into my head to go to the Mob Museum. And it really was surprisingly interesting. I immediately got into a conversation with a young, likeable, red neck who was lamenting the government for being so high taxing and started asking me whether we had a better system of government. I did say yes but you would have been proud of my diplomacy.. I didnt ask if he supported the current regime but I would have loved to.
The museum was interesting but amazing how much of it we are so familiar with from Boardwalk Empire, the Sopranos, Pulp Fiction, Godfather etc etc. The most interesting thing was a talk given by Frank Calabrese Jnr who has written a book about being part of the mob lead by his father and uncle. fascinating. Look him up!
When i left the museum Fremont St was alive and bopping with buskers, trashy shops, neon lights, overhead lights etc. Hedonism and misogyny oozing from every pore. I went into one of the older casinos for history sake but soon looked for an Uber place (you cant just get them on the street) and came back to familiar territory i.e. happy hour and calamari early dinner.
Tomorrow is Death Valley day. I’m looking forward to getting out of the city and having a completely new experience.