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.

Sunday in Vegas

I got a late start this Sunday morning because sister Pru and I were up late "playing cards". The others went to the Forum shops to check out the cheesy statuary and then to the MGM to see the lions. Don and I went to see the lions a bit later and took a few photos. The lion enclosure is very interesting.

It is designed to protect the lions from humans, so they can not smell or hear the people outside the enclosure. Trainers are kept inside so that they become a natural part of the lions' environment. Lions only spend 5-6 hours there a day and are switched out frequently so that they don't have to come repeatedly. They are kept at a separate lion conservatory elsewhere.

The enclosure was designed to keep them comfortable and happy and they did seem to be so.

Pru seemed happy in her natural habitat too. She developed an ingenious gambling strategy. By claiming to have promised to play a slot for everyone she knew, she could hide a growing gambling problem. Last time I can remember she was playing for our cousin Emo's girlfriend's yoga teacher's rabbi, but of course since she was winning we decided it must be okay.

For lunch we decided to go to nearby Wolfgang Puck's.

It was a unique experience. I had a very nice Tuna tartare there and an excellent salad.

And both the iced tea and coffee there were very good.

I was, however, very disappointed in the desserts. My suspicion is that it was a problem of naming. They called this a brownie.

It was really more of a mousse on top of a tiny little, teensy weensy layer of brownie crust. It was good, but when you want a brownie, this doesn't cut it. Even more disappointing was the Crême Brulée. This was really much more rubbery than creamy and was an egg custard rather than a crême. Pru who said she'd never had Crême Brulée liked it as did my husband who had ordered it, but I was painfully disappointed.

Somewhat better was the pumpkin cheesecake . It was nice and pumpkin-y, but very short on the cheese. Of course not a one of us ordered a pizza, so we can't weigh ion on that, but my advice at Wolfgang Puck's is stick to the standards. Mom's cuban pork sandwich was dry and unpalatable too. The coffee, as I said, was exquisite and the best we had in Vegas, but skip the dessert.

The exterior of the restaurant has these lovely hoops for privacy and it was a very pleasant dining atmosphere.

The MGM Casino is much more understated than most of the others we had been in. It was husband Don's favorite Casino because it was tasteful and somewhat muted - of course for this very reason I found it boring.

Meanwhile back at the castle, there were more interesting people to be seen.

And we had been informed it was time to practice for the air hockey tournament.

We all took it very seriously, in spite of the fact that none of us had played in ...ahem... several decades.

Of course, since we were already in the arcade, we couldn't resist trying out some of these less adult versions of the games upstairs. The point of this one was to use your mini-sledge hammer to bop the witch into a cauldron.

This one took unnatural feats of human strength. Alas, no spells would be brewed in those cauldrons on that day.

Our luck at the ping pong balls in the shallow dishes game was equally dismal, but it was a fun time and helped us pass the time until dinner and our next show.

Our Sunday show was chosen by Mom and was the Smothers Brothers at the Orelans. This image is not mine - I got it from FrankAyran's flickr pictures - but it is such a great representation of the Las Vegas spirit. Be sure to check out his photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankayran/3103529043/

Anyway, this is The Orleans, where we went to see the Brothers Smothers.

One enters The Orleans (they seem to love to capitalize the The in Las Vegas) through these doors.

Can you tell there is an alligator theme going on here? I chose the restaurant and had a choice between Prime Rib and Steak and evidently chose wrong - but we ended up at the Prime Rib loft. We wandered through the Casino and found our restaurant.

On the way, we passed the bar. Anything stick out about the bar?

The prime rib was good, but evidently someone thought the drinks were better. Who ordered all of those anyway?

Uh oh, Mom, I guess there'll be an intervention when you get back to Houston. You had better live it up while you can!

Then it was on to the show. I wish I could tell you it was a young, fashionable audience, but what we lacked in youth, we made up in exuberance. My sisters and husband were the youngest people in the room. It doesn't look like he wants to be associated with us, does it?

After great anticipation the Smothers Brothers took the stage. Were they going to be old, feeble shells of their former selves, tottering around barely able to manage their instruments after all these years?

No, indeed, they were still in fine form! They were indeed older. Dicky had become a bit gaunter than he was those odd thirty five years ago and Tommy had developed that aged roundness that so many of us seem to get. Still they were easily recognizable and just as vibrant and funny as ever.

They still sang beautifully in crystal clear tones and the jokes were not hackneyed and feeble, but as hilarious as ever. Tommy still embellished on the truth a bit

And Dicky played the perfect foil and straight man. We even got a vist from the Guru of Yo, the yoyo man.

Still in fine form, we got to see several yoyo tricks by the Master of Yo.

Just before the end of the performance we were shown a slide show of a brief history of the Smothers Brothers. It was good to see some of the old favorites. Tea with Goldie, Pat Paulsen running for President and pictures of the Smothers family.

We all laughed ourselves sick and left with a nostalgic tear or two in our eyes.

If you have a chance to see the Smothers Brothers definitely do so! They won't let you down!