Its a party.....a birtday party

I have to apologize as the next few blog posts will distinctly look like a travel blog but if you read my header of my blog you will notice that this would be true for at least half of what I write here......So here we go with me being a travelling boy from Johannesburg.

At the end of last week Ginger and I got to travel to Atlantic City to celebrate my 33rd birthday. We stayed at the Bally's hotel and Casino right on the world famous "Boardwalk". It was not the newest or best hotel but certainly good enough for what we were looking for. You have to forget everything you have ever read about Atlantic City and just go there with an open mind. It is sometimes overwhelming, though not as bad as Las Vegas but it is very overpowering in all senses of the word. If you stay on the boardwalk and you have a stroll on this legendary piece of walkway you notice that there is some absolute abject poverty on and around the strip area. There are more vagrants on the side of the streets than most places. Also inbetween the nice hotels there are some very poor communities living right amonst the casinos. The contrasts are quite vivid and sometimes a little upsetting. With me being in the casino industry I know that this poverty is directly related to the casinos and you don't have to look very much further than the mother and father having their 10 year old daughter sing on the boardwalk for donations to realize that these casinos have forced a family to turn to its youngest member for some form of income!!!!

Ok ok ok so it was rough to see people live the way they do but I'm not here to discuss the fiscal situation of the Atlantic City population but rather my 33rd birthday with Ginger.

We got to gamble a little (which was not successful at all but we had a great amount of fun) and Ginger also took me to a very nice restaurant for dinner. We went to one of the newest hotels in Atlantic City called the Borgata Hotel and we had dinner at a restaurant called the Old Homestead. The restaurant is predominantly a steak house but they have different fares for every pallete. Ginger got to have some Oysters from Toronto as well as the west coast of the US. True to form I got a big, juicy piece of New York Strip steak which was glorious. We got this very cute picture taken in the restaurant. Note the bull in the background which is the signature animal for this restaurant. Funny thing is the bulls name is Anabelle. Go figure!!!

Atlantic City is a great place to relax and enjoy some adult fun. There are shows, casinos, restaurants and clubs. Oh and not to forget the beach is but a few meters away from the boardwalk. Just don't have any pre conceived notions about the place. Just go there and enjoy it for what it is! Come on the hard six!!!!!!