Day Three -- 116 degrees? Could've fooled us!
Once again, up by 7, out by 8. Down to Paris buffet for breakfast. DH seemed to like the crepes, but honestly, I had trouble finding things here that I wanted to eat. I'm not much of a crepe eater. It wasn't bad food, but it was just OK. Coffee tasted sort of odd to me at first, but DH said it tasted fine to him. OJ had pulp (yuck!). Anyway, from there we headed out. We had a lot to get done since this was our last full day in Vegas.
Our next stop was the New Frontier. I always like to visit places I know will not be there next time I come through. The place has definitely seen better days, but we had fun. Although there was this smell.... Anyway, DH played craps for a while and did pretty well. I'm not big on craps (maybe that was the smell...) so I looked around until I found one of the nifty nickel roulette machines. Fun! But I lost about $20. I wanted a couple of pics of the sign out front, so we got a few and then walked across to the Wynn. This place was very nice. Smelled a little like money. We stoppped at a gift shop for much-needed water and my deck of cards. DH bought a Monty Python killer rabbit puppet for his little brother. As I was paying for my cards, I realized I had forgotten to get my New Frontier deck. So back across the street we went. As a side note, while we were walking, some guys in a car had their stereo turned up really loud and were singing along to some Backstreet Boys or Nsync song, hanging out the windows trying to serenade some poor girl walking down the sidewalk minding her own business. It reminded me of that song No Scrubs: "Hangin' out the passenger side of his best friend's ride tryin' to holla at me..."
We get to New Frontier and discover all their logo merchandise is 50% off, so I ended up getting 2 decks for the price of one (that sort of sounds like something you'd see on one of the porn slappers' cards. OH! Speaking of which -- the heat must be getting to them. We noticed that they've started wearing these hats with little umbrellas on them for shade! Pretty funny stuff. Anywho...).
We had never been to TI, so we walked up the strip to take a look around. I bought some nail clippers in a gift shop there because I was (and still am, really) having the worst hangnail problem in memory. Rested there for a few and then took the tram to the Mirage to pick up or will call tickets for LOVE! Knowing I would love the show, I bought a T-shirt for myself and one for my younger sister, who also likes the Beatles. She didn't ask for one; I got it because she helped take care of our house while we were gone. DH and I took lots of pics in the lobby, and we were glad we did it then because when we returned later, the place was PACKED!
From here we took a cab to the In-n-Out on Tropicana (which cabbie described as the second most popular destination in Vegas after the casinos) so DH could get his fix. The cabbie took us the back way and told us a fun story about Steve Wynn and a tiny apartment building behind the Mirage. Apparently this one property owner wouldn't sell, so they built the Mirage and everything around it. The building looks a bit run down, but I think it would be so cool to live there. Caught up with a taxi driver who had gotten lunch there, too, and he drove us back to Bally's, where DH changed shirts because he'd made a mess of himself at lunch.
Our feet were ridiculously sore by then, so we took the monorail (yay, 24-hour pass!) up to the Flamingo stop and walked to O'Shea's, where DH was finally able to get the chip for our friend. We then walked back to Bally's and took a cab to the Welcome sign. This was the first time in 4 trips we'd actually gone there with the intent of getting a photo. We'd only driven past it before. So the cabbie pulls over, takes our picture, and then drops us off at the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef entrance.
The reef was cool. Not my favorite part of the trip. Don't laugh, but it was really hot in there! I guess they have to keep it humid for all the wildlife. It was stifiling. And the people in line in front of us couldn't get their kid to quiet down. Luckily, we had the little handheld listening devices, so that helped block some of the noise. I think he either evenutally settled down or they removed him, becuase eventually I couldn't hear him anymore. DH bought a shark tooth at the gift shop and then we walked through MB, I bought a deck of cards, and we went back to Bally's to get ready for dinner at Andre's and Love.
We got dressed up and went to Andre's at the Monte Carlo. This place.... Okay. The food was outstanding. Service was excellent. Music, very good. Decor, beautiful. But it was a tad on the overwhelming side. I know which forks to use and everyhthing, but this place was just a little too... much. I don't know how else to say it. I guess that's what everyone was talking about when they said the atmosphere was better downtown. Is it more relaxed? We had a restaurant.com certificate which covered the tip nicely, but I sort of felt bad using it in a classy joint like that. But use it we did.
DH was feeling a bit uncomfortable, so we went back to the room, changed into something a bit more casual and set out for the Mirage to see Love.
This is one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. If you are any kind of Beatles fan, I highly recommend it. If you aren't familiar with their music, however, or if you are expecting mostly acrobatics like most Cirque shows, I can see how it could be hard to follow or you wouldn't like it. It was like an hour-and-a-half-long music video. People were singing along and crying and the experience was really moving. As we walked out I told DH that I wanted to see it again. To my surprise, he agreed. I bought the soundtrack the day after we got home, and have been listening to it nearly constantly. Word to the wise: Don't try to drink a whole 32-oz pina colada during the show. That's all I'm going to say about that.
On the way out of the theater, we were given free passes to the revolution lounge, but DH had changed into shorts, so we weren't allowed in. Very un-Beatleslike, if you ask me.
We happened to be passing by the volcano at the Mirage when it erupted, so we stopped to watch. On the same little strip of sidewalk, 4 guys were sitting on the curb in handcuffs, with bike cops standing around them. Not sure what this was about, but apparently at about that same time, the dude was shooting up the casino at NYNY. The things we miss....
Anyway, we walked back to our hotel, stopping to gamble a bit at Bill's along the way. Don't really remember how we did there. We considered going to Ellis Island but didn't think it looked like a safe walk at 1 in the morning, so we soaked our feet, took one last LONG look at our incredible north strip view, and went to bed so we could be fresh for our last half a day in Vegas.
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