Atlantic City = What a Dump!

Sitting in the hotel room just about to leave for Philadelphia for a couple of days....it is sooooo hot here right now....it's 11 o'clock in the morning and it's 28 degrees Celsius here....unreal! I had to look it up in Ottawa and sure enough, it's 7 degrees....hard to imagine that we're only about 6-7 hours away by driving and there would be a 21 degree difference....but I'm not gonna be one of those people that throws it in a friend's face when it's unbelievably warmer.... :-)

So, hard to add to what I wrote for the title....except for the casinos, there's really not a lot happening here and what is happening here is really shady....we figured it out this morning that the three biggest industries in this town are the casinos, tarot readings and massages.....it's incredible when you walk down the boardwalk 'cause on every block, there's a casino, tarot reader and massage parlor....

The overall shadiness of the city is troubling as well.....there are a ton of dirty arcades/shops and the steel pier, which is the amusement park, was absolutely seedy....you just don't want to take your hands out of your pockets out of fear for getting pickpocketed....

There's about 10 casinos on the boardwalk and they're all pretty much the same....no one casino stands out above the rest, so after a while, there's no point in walking through them anymore because they're all the same....tons of slot machines with a few table games sprinkled in....

My plan was to not play any while I was here because I just don't have the gamble in me to risk a few hundred dollars while I'm on this long trip....If it was normal and I was just down here for a weekend, I would give myself a budget of a grand or so, no problem.....the funny thing is that in the back of my mind, I was hoping that one of the casinos would grab my attention and force me to play, but that wasn't the case....

We decided to be really brave and walk through the neighbourhood to get to the other three casinos that are off the Boardwalk, including the Borgata.....man, what a mistake that was....there was some shady times going through what was the slums of the city....no wonder everyone was taking a cab there instead.....especially when within the city limits, a cab will take up to 5 people and there's a 13 dollar max on cab fare....pretty good deal!

We ended up at this place called "The Irish Pub" and it was a pretty fun place that the locals would go to. Compared to the prices we were seeing at the restaurants and bars in the casinos, we were able to grab dinner for 3 and 9 pints for 53 dollars! That's a great price! A little game for those of you in Ottawa....try and find a place that will sell you just the 9 pints for 53 dollars after taxes! If you can, that just means that I have a new place or places to go to in Ottawa.... :-)

So, like I said, we're off to Philadelphia and I'm glad we're going for a couple of days because there are a lot of things to see and do in that city....but first, it's off to the beach to take advantage of this awesome weather!