Rome, Venice and the Great Air Hockey Competition

One more shot of New York, New York where we had spent some time the evening before.

The elevators over by the Chrysler building were appropriately Deco.

We arranged to meet the gang over by the Bellagio.

Of course we had to stop and take a few pictures.

But then they arrived - The Reservoir Dogs: Ms Purple, Ms Blue, Ms Gray and I don't know who that other one is!

We never could get enough food in Vegas so we had to stop off at Petrosians for a quick refreshment.

Then we headed to an art exhibit about the new City Center. It was quite interesting - quite a few notable artists and architects have been involved in planning the construction area that we had walked by numerous times. It will be quite interesting to see when it is finished. After the exhibit I got this picture - one of my favorites of the trip. It isn't a flattering shot, but I like the composition, the colors and the idea.

Don and I decided to make a quick trip to The Venetian to see what the structure was like.

The did a very passable job of making things look like Venice. The canals had gondolas and gondoliers and you could hire rides either inside or outside. Here is a ceiling near where we entered.

Here's the Casino.

The interesting parts were in the shopping area.

The ceilings had been painted to resemble skies and the buildings emulated Venetian architecture. There were several town squares.

The statues however were more realistic than the buildings.

These are actors hired to stand still and startle passersby with a sudden or subtle movement.

Here is an interior canal.

We also got to hear a few operatic songs performed in another Piazza.

Here is one more of the living statues.

Next we headed over to the Forum, but on the way we saw the Love advertisers sharing hula hoops with wandering children.

Caesar's forum was less exciting after the complexities of the Venetian. Maybe it was because we were now so tired. This part was impressive, but...

much of it seemed a bit cheesy.

These ceilings were nice,

...and I did like this Gryphon.

Some of the shops were pretty unique too.

There were more ceiling skies.

But the statuary was too stylized to match contemporary tastes and we walked a really long way

...past the FAO Schwarz trojan horse ...

So we could visit "Atlantis".

It sounds exotic, but the Cheesecake factory Neon Sign in the middle really did not add to the effect.

Basically it was a cheesy fountain with a fish tank in back. I think they could have done better!

Stupidly (or perhaps it was wicked cleverness) there was no way out at the far end, so we had to walk all the way back fin the direction from which we had just come. By the time we found the exit we were exhausted!

Somehow the statues didn't look any better the second time around either!

After our exhausting European tour, it was time for the big event - the whole reason for even coming to Las Vegas - the Great Air Hockey Competition.

The competition was fierce. Look at the fierce expression of pure will on the faces of the contestants.

Look at the power in the shots! The determination! The gleaming sweat, muscles taut and drilled for precision accuracy!

Years of training lacked in evidence and we had to work hard to keep from scoring points in our own goal areas.

Sometimes we failed.

games often resulted in intense discussions on the sidelines. The battle went on through the night, until finally ...

we switched over to something we weren't any better at!

Smart ball!

We lost at that too!

And then it was back past the now infamous meeting place (under the hanging pig men) on off to our rooms to dream happy dreams our las night in Vegas.