The Terminator

Day 3:

And unfortunately the last day. So the day was great, we started out having an excellent breakfast at Thomas Keller's restaurant, Bouchon. Now Keller is best known as the chef of French Laundry and was recently, loosely portrayed on the big screen by Adam Sandler in Spanglish.

This restaurant is also French, but they have a wonderful breakfast menu and rivals most. So we headed to The Venetian and ate an amazing meal:

Strawberry Croissant
Vahlrona Mocha
Croque Madame

Our table was outside on this patio with the Italian garden surrounding us. It was serene and quite relaxing. Next, after doing a little shopping, we headed to Mandalay Bay to go to the Shark Reef - holy moly the Bay is gigantic. The cabbie sort of warned us, but we didn't really understand until we got inside. We had to ask for directions twice and we were side-tracked by Star Wars slot machines, world's greatest invention.

I need to learn to quit when I am ahead as I kept winning, so I kept playing...so then I lost it all (hey look, it is only a penny slot - no biggie).

We spent an hour walking through the Shark Reef exhibit and Angie and I both longed to swim in the tank alongside the wildlife...apparently, they frown upon that here. I bought a mermaid t-shirt for Maggie and out the door we went. Unfortunately, we had to walk to the ends of the Earth to catch a cab, and then the line was 200 people long, so we had to wait quite some time.

Finally, it was our turn and the cabbie returned us home. We decided it was time for part 2 of the BlackJack saga and headed to the tables. We ended up with Rommel, a very funny guy from the Philippines. We loved him. He was really funny everytime Angie wanted to play against the odds...but alas, they have their rules and another dealer must come to relieve the main dealer once an hour for 15 to 20 minutes. Tis time, the floater's name was Michele...and she was The Terminator. She muttered to herself a lot and really seemed to kill my stack. But Rommel was too good and I couldn't give up my spot at his table.

After the 3rd break, Rommel returned and he kept Michele's karma and managed to deplete me and Angie of all our funds...so much for winning in BJ and moving onto Hold 'Em - that was my plan. So Angie and I returned, defeated, to the room to play a game we knew we could win or lose at no cost...Killer Bunnies. We played this for an hour or so and then headed down for dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Bar & Grill. Turns out, there was a wait, so we wandered to see the Lion Habitat and, oh yeah, shop some more. Once we worked our way back, it was time to sit at our table and eat more food...

Lemon-Chili Glazed Chicken Wings with Parsley and Blue Cheese Dressing
Prime Burger with Vermont Cheddar and Smoked Onion Marmalade

We ate and people watched before heading to the room to kill time before our 2nd Cirque show of the week, Ka. Ka was amazing and totally different from all other Cirque shows. This was more acrobatic dancing and storytelling than the rest and it all took place on a moving platform that was horizontal, then vertical, then diagonal - all the while having people on the thing! They climbed it, they slid down it, they sat on it - no matter what position it was in...this one definitely cannot go on tour. The music was incredible and now I have to have a CD.

We stopped off at The Studio Cafe to have some dessert and alcoholic drinks:

Cafe Americano
Chocolate French Silk Cake

Then off to bed and a short night's sleep before we got up to head to the airport this morning...all good things must come to an end. But next time, I'm losing my money at the Poker tables.

Back to reality once again...