Viva Las Vegas Day 4

All posts on this trip: Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4

Today we headed north up Las Vegas Blvd. to the Venetian, home of the gondoliers and all things faux Venetian. Their replica of St. Mark's Square has always been an interesting area to visit, but after doing so many things right at this hotel, I think they've really messed up what used to be a neat place. They used to have a lot of open space in this area, and although you clearly weren't in Italy, it did give the feeling of being in the actual square (sans pigeons). Now they've piled several restaurants in the square along with the everpresent timeshare sellers and have taken the magic from the area. Too bad.


From there we headed across the street to the Mirage. They have a beautiful lobby and entryway, but through the trees you can still see the lights of the slots:

On the way back from the Mirage we walked past the famous fountains of Caesar's Palace where the birthday boy had his picture taken with his two favorite teenagers:

There's another temple of sorts in front of Caesers, and it shows how strongly the Asian influence is in Vegas these days. Every hotel has Asian TV channels and other items geared toward wealthy Asian customers (including some of their favorite games), and Caesers has this Buddhist Temple right in front of the property:

The kids needed some kid time so we took them over to Excalibur and let them hit the arcade for an hour or so. Here they are collecting their winnings - a Star Wars character Pez dispenser set and a giant frisbee (you can't get that stuff just anywhere). Basically, the arcade at Excalibur is the starter casino for the youth set:

In the evening we joined my sister and her family (who are also at the Flamingo for a few days) and headed over to Cheeseburger Las Vegas at the Aladdin for dinner. Here's everybody waiting out a thunderstorm (which occurs every hour on the hour):

After dinner we walked across the street to watch a couple of the fountain shows at the Bellagio. They treated the Mrs. to an Andrea Bocelli number (Time to Say Goodbye), some European thing without any lyrics, and the Chairman of the Board singing "Fly Me to the Moon". My daughter was a little disappointed that they didn't have any classical in the rotation.

That pretty much ended the trip. There was a Day 5, but it consisted of getting up early, checking out, and driving home. Not much to talk about - sad that it's over.