We’re taking a break from a major project here at Eternally Cool to show you some snaps we took while touring the US in December. The trip took select members of the eCool team to the great state of Oklahoma, where they paid a visit to the famous Winstar World Casino in Thackerville.
A tip from honorary eCooler, Heather, had alerted us to the fact that the facade of the casino (if you can say that a casino housed in a giant inflatable building––we kid you not––can be said to have a facade) had been embellished in such a way as to recall some of the world’s greatest buildings.
We were, needless to say, excited to see the Colosseum right there at Oklahoma’s exit 1. The Arch of Constantine left us trembling (we dig that little door in the leftmost arch) though we are perplexed as to why the monument’s noble arches have been closed up.
But nothing delighted us as much as the creative take on the Pantheon (above). You’ll see that the building’s massive pediment and soaring columns have been adapted to serve as an entrance to the Winstar World Cathedral. For reasons that are utterly unclear, however, the designers of this faux-facade decided to shrink the columns dramatically, both in height and width, thereby lowering the pediment and making it appear that the building is buried deep in Oklahoma dirt.
We giggled to see “No Parking” stenciled on the curb in front of the building, we hoped we’d win one of those shiny new cars on display, and we admired ever so much the bronze statue of a Native American that stands proudly before this Roman temple to all the gods.
But that, eCoolers, was really just the beginning. We were able to pay a visit to Florence’s wonderful Palazzo della Signora (above) as well as Venice’s Ducal Palace (never mind the Tower of London and some lovely Asian monuments that we were unable to name without referring to our college art history books).
Once inside the casino––the money we make writing this blog was burning holes in our pockets (ha!)––the Old World tour continued and we began to feel quite at home.
We passed through an extraordinary triumphal arch and made our way to the free beverage station before taking our place in front of nickle slot machines. We try only to play those that are classically themed. You’ll want to note that the Pompeii machine has particularly good effects, for if you are lucky enough to win Vesuvius erupts before your very eyes!
And, taking breaks now and then from the one-armed bandits, we admired gurgling fountains and brilliantly-colored frescoes, including that seen above, which depicts the fall of Phaeton, which provoked a great debate amongst the eCool team: Is that really the best myth they could come up with for a fresco? What about Croesus? Didn’t everything he touch turn to gold?
We’re happy to report that we didn’t lose too much money. We suffered a bit from binging on the unlimited free Diet Pepsi. And we loved the place. We’re going to head back to the Winstar World Casino as often as possible. So, if any of you eCoolers are game for New World meetup, we’ll let you know the next time we’re headed to this Oklahoma’s classiest classical casino!
