Las Vegas Day 2

Another hot day in the desert so we went out reasonably early to walk the strip and have a look in some of the other casinos especially the Venetian. As we walked along we were quite often offered cards for shows and tours etc. Must be a hard job doing that all day in the heat and not getting many takers. I wanted to see if we could get a map of where the casinos were as even though you can see them all it was sometimes hard to figure out exactly how far away they were. I went into an information centre to get a map and the guy behind the counter tried to give us all free show tickets or $150 worth of tour or just $150! All I wanted was the map and it wasn’t until after we left that we realised there was a definite catch to taking what he was offering and that was committing to a tour of a new casino and apartments being sold in Las Vegas! Thank goodness we had the good sense to say no. We thanked him for the map and made our way down the strip to the Venetian. 

What an amazing sight this was. As we walked into the casino it immediately starts with the sky painted on the roof and as you walk around. It is essentially a shopping mall but with replicas of what Venice would look like right down to the Grand Canal and gondolas. 

Gondola ride inside

St Marks Square

Grand canal

Spanish Steps Vegas style

It is amazing what can be achieved with a whole lot of money. It was a nice respite from the heat as well. We walked back down the strip to Caesar's Palace where Grant had said there was a cafe where there were animatronic animals and the setting was a rainforest. We couldn't find it in there so asked the concierge desk and they gave us directions to where it was. We eventually found it and had lunch next to the elephants. We saw one of these in San Francisco and it was packed, we didn't realise at the time that there was a chain of them throughout the US. It was an amazing place which I am sure kids absolutely love. It is called funnily enough The Rainforest Cafe.

After lunch the boys left Cheryl and I went for a wander around the Miracle Mile shops. Basically like most shopping malls but with mostly glitzy  and high end shops. I bought my Las Vegas Pandora charm but that was about it.

By the time we had finished it was very hot and we retired to our room. We did have an idea we might go to the pool while in Las Vegas but apart from the fact that there isn't much shade where it is, it is filled with pretty young things in skimpy bikinis and their bulked up blokes. So we rested in the air conditioned comfort of our rooms. Mind you this is quite late in the day so we have fulfilled our 10,000 step quota for the day.

For dinner we found a lovely French Bistro called Mon Ami Gabi in the base of the "Eiffel Tower". It was one of the few places we haven't had to wait long to get a table.The food was excellent and was probably one of the nicest meals we have had. Off to bed as we have the highlight of our trip to Vegas tomorrow, the flight over the Grand Canyon.