Tuesdays in VEGAS

Tuesday was an important day. It was the day that Jim had to fly the red eye back to Pittsburgh for the Westinghouse Hiring Event. Bob and I had to have Jim at the airport by 9:30pm (for an 11:30pm cross country flight). The game plan was this: cram in as much fun and excitement by 9:30pm as possible.

Since we stomped around the south end of the strip the day before, we decided to explore the middle. The 'middle' includes the Monte Carlo, Bellagio, Planet Hollywood, Paris, Caesars Palace, Harrah's, Imperial Palace, Treasure Island, and the Mirage. We definitely had our work cut out for us!

Later in the week I realized that we somehow neglected to go into the Monte Carlo, but Jim assured me that I hadn't missed anything special. It did have an awesome front entrance though.

The Bellagio was one of the most beautiful casinos. It was definitely for high rollers. Everything was very posh and elegant. It's no wonder that it was featured so prominently in the Ocean's movies. As you walk around the gaming floor and various other sections of the hotel/casino it's easy to picture Danny Ocean and Rusty Ryan surveying the security and scheming about how to rob the place. In fact, you can't help but start surveying and scheming yourself.
We walked around the casino for a while until we were thoroughly lost. We couldn't find the exit - it's almost like they designed it that way! We ended up wandering down a hallway that led to the conference room section of the hotel. I swear there must have been at least 50 different conference rooms. The majority of them were named after famous composers like Mozart, Bach, AC/DC, etc. (kidding with the AC/DC). At one point, while wandering around lost and confused, we happened across a cool second story balcony overlooking the strip. There was a single glass door leading to the balcony so of course I marched right through it. The door closed and I was promptly locked out! Thank god Jim and Bob didn't follow me because there was no one around and I don't know how we would have got back inside... Some security guy probably got a kick out of it though "hey look at that idiot! He's gone and locked himself outside haha"

Even the ceiling at the Bellagio was extravagant. Check out the the glass flowers in the picture below. Just this small section of ceiling had to of cost millions of dollars -- and it's the CEILING!

Besides being in Ocean's 11, the Bellagio is also famous for its fountain show. Here is a pretty good video I got of it. The accompanying opera music meshed well with the casino's overall motif.



The next casino we checked out was Caesars Palace. This place was HUGE -- absolutely enormous. As you can probably guess by the name, the whole place was decked out like ancient Imperial Rome. The exterior of the main theater (Cher is the current headliner) is modeled after the Colosseum. Everywhere you looked there were Roman architectural columns, statues, painted vaulted ceilings, etc.

Caesars Palace at night.
Attached to the casino is the Caesars Palace Forum Shops. The Forum Shops were way out of my league. It was a glimpse into the shopping life of the rich and famous. There were stores that I've never even heard of, most likely because I am not 'elite enough' haha. A little internet research did result in this factual tidbit: The Forum Shops are the most profitable square feet of retail space in the United States. (I got that from here, page 58).

A massive sculpture of the Roman gods Bacchus, Venus, Apollo and Pluto in the Forum Shops
Entrance to the Forum Shops with intricately painted Roman vaulted ceilings and a larger than life statue of the Roman god Fortuna.
Bob and I hanging out with Caesar (replica of Prima Porta Augustus), oddly enough he was pointing away from the gaming floor.
As dinnertime approached, we decided that we had to eat at one of the many Las Vegas buffets. Bob suggested we go to the Aladdin casino, as he had heard that was the best buffet around. We spent a solid half hour walking up and down the strip trying to the illusive Aladdin before we realized that Aladdin was no longer! It had been bought by Planet Hollywood and converted into the Planet Hollywood hotel/casino. At least it was MAN WEEK, so there was no one around to tell us that we were idiots for spending so much time looking for a casino that didn't even exist instead of just asking someone...but I digress. Planet Hollywood's prime rib and Alaskan crab buffet was to die for. I seriously ate 5 plates of food (it cost $35 so I wanted to make sure I got my money's worth)! Jim's dessert looked so delicious that I had to pull an Uncle Bob and take a picture of it. Check it out -- ice cream, cannoli, chocolate dipped strawberry, and a cookie.

A dessert garbage plate. After dinner it was beginning to get dark and all the lights came on. The strip at night is even cooler than during the day. The lights were unreal, there were literally millions of them. The power plant engineer in me liked what he saw!

The Paris casino at night was amazing. The casino sign itself is incorporated onto a Montgolfier Balloon. There is a two-thirds scale Arc de Triomphe and a five-eighths scale Eiffel Tower. Also, once you venture inside you're wowed by the legs of the Eiffel Tower slicing through the sky painted ceiling of the gaming floor. Don't believe me? Check out the pictures below.

Paris balloon at night with two people making out directly below.

Do you think France would surrender if the Nazi's threatened to blow up this Arc de Triomphe too? Probably...

Very cool Eiffel Tower at night.

The Paris gaming floor forecast: Mostly sunny with 100% chance of Eiffel Tower legs.Last but not least, is Treasure Island. During the afternoon we waited outside with a couple hundred other people to watch the "Sirens of TI" show. Unfortunately, the show was canceled at the last minute due to high winds. I was kind of disappointed - even more so when I saw the performers.

A little different from Peter Pan's pirates huh?

We decided to place a bet at the Treasure Island sport book. Game 7 of the Pittsburgh Penguins vs Washington Capitals was the following night and Vegas had set the line at Penguins +1.5. I figured Pittsburgh was on a roll and there was no way they were going to lose the game, let alone lose by two! We put $30 on the line and sure enough - the Pens won outright. Another Vegas victory for Bob, Jim, and I....

Treasure Island with the pirate ship main masts in the foreground. After a very long day Bob and I dropped Jim at the airport with plenty of time for him to hop on the plane and fly across three time zones. Afterwards, Bob and I went back to the condo and headed for the pool. The security guard finally kicked us out of the pool area sometime after 1am (it officially closed at midnight).

From the pool we wandered over to South Point casino for some $5 black jack. I lost around $90 and called it a night around 4am. Before I went to bed, I called my buddy Steve - who I work with - on his work phone to point out to him that I was just going to bed and he was just starting his work day (7am Ohio time). I also made sure tell him what an awesome time he was missing out on....