That night we lay in our bed with sparkly visions dancing through our heads: castle, pyramid, Roman Coliseum, Eiffel Tower, Manhattan skyline, and so much more.
The next morning we hopped on the bus and wandered about Vegas to see it all by day. It was still mind-boggling. We disembarked at Caesar’s Palace to investigate the fountains, statues and hundreds of high-end shops. Oh to be rich! We whiled away our afternoon swimming in Excalibur’s four pools, relaxing in the numerous hot tubs and soaking up the golden rays of the sun.
Thursday was our last full day so we determined to make the most of it. Crack of dawn, so to speak, saw us back on the bus going around the Strip. This time we got off at Bellagio. Actually we got off at Caesar’s Palace and walked there because it was right next door. Took us a half hour, and we had to cross a busy street via a pedestrian bridge. Lesson learned – casinos in Vegas take up a lot of real estate and streets are scary busy with cars.
The Bellagio itself was unbelievably serene and beautiful. The exquisiteness of the outdoor gardens and fountains were more than matched by the allure of the indoor conservatory and botanical gardens. One could easily spend an entire day there.
Alas, we had places to go and things to do. Back we went to Excalibur. A quick visit to the pool was followed by My Lady’s desire to experience a wee bit of gambling. She found the perfect penny slot and inserted her dollar bill. Up and down she went for close to a half hour. I had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom. When I returned she was all ready to cash out. She handed the Cashier her voucher. The Cashier handed her a brand new dollar bill. Time well wasted.
That evening My Lady had a yen for a steak. What better place to seek one than right across the street at the New York-New York. We crossed over the scary street on a safe pedestrian bridge connecting the two Casinos. We wandered about the establishment then headed for the food area. There was no end of restaurants serving everything a human might want to eat. We found a Steak House offering steaks starting at $40. We found an Italian Restaurant offering “even better” steaks at “even higher” prices.
We chose to keep exploring and were well rewarded. The very last restaurant we found was the “America” complete with a gigantic relief map of the United States. Even better they had a four to seven special: rib eye steak, baked potato and seasonal vegetables for $14.95. It was mouth wateringly delicious. Yes indeed, there are bargains to be found in Vegas but you need to shop around.
Sadly on Friday morning, we had to get up and return to the great white north. Our flight was long but disappeared quickly with excited reminiscences of our wonderful Vegas visit and plans for more to come in the future.
