saying Vegas was fun would be a disservice to the time spent there. it was awesome.

we arrived with zero problems at the Venetian around 12:30. checked in, went up to our room, had our bags delivered. i hadn't expected our room to be available that early and it was nice to be able to unpack and unwind.

our room was great. for those of you unfamiliar with the hotel, it's all suites. considering it's also the second largest hotel by number of rooms in the world, that's pretty impressive. the suites are nice -- a sunken living room, huge windows, a big bathroom with both a glass-enclosed shower and a very big soaking tub. they're large enough that my friend was able to have her, albeit small, wedding reception in one. in any case, we were very comfortable.

breakfast missed, hunger started to set it. so we headed downstairs to hunt for food. we found a nice italian place (the name escapes me) with an overhead view of the "Grand Canal" -- quite tasty food, and excellent service. throughout the trip, we both noticed how good the service at the Venetian was. i almost didn't book us a room there because of bad reviews on travel sites that described the service as awful. either the reviews were anomalies or the management had taken the feedback to heart and made some changes. either way, we saw the better side of the hotel.

after lunch, we wandered around the nearby hotels -- from the re-minted "Ti" (or Treasure Island, for those of us who wish the pirate ship show was still around) to the Mirage to Caesars to the Bellagio to Paris and back. without even dropping coin one into a machine we managed to soak up three hours just walking around. time and space have different meanings in Las Vegas. "oh, the hotel is right there, i can see it, it must be an easy walk," is a fallacy. so is thinking you can tell what time it is when inside a casino.

a little worn out from our stroll and lack of sleep the night before (as per usual, we left packing until the near last minute), we went back up to our room and took a hearty nap.

that night, after we dressed up for our evening, we met up with Corinne's sister and friend (who looks exactly like Catherine Bell) for about fifteen minutes before we had to scurry off to our dinner reservations.

it was Corinne's birthday and i'd made stealth reservations at a highly recommended restaurant, Aliz?. man, those recommendations were right on. it's at the top of the Palms hotel with floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides. when i made the reservation, i'd mentioned something about a birthday, not really expecting much to come of the request. but they not only accommodated us, they gave us the best seat in the house! we were nestled in a corner, facing the Strip, sitting side by side in a love seat. the Strip was all lit up and in background, we could see lightning in the hills. it was super romantic. Corinne got all teared up a couple times. which was reward enough for me.

the service was impeccable. our table was frequently visited by three waiters, the maitre d', and the sommelier -- which was good because he brought with him a phonebook-sized wine list that i'd have had no luck wading through without his help. they were friendly and attentive without being intrusive. they let us have our night but made sure everything was taken care of.

the food equaled everything else. from the amuse bouche to delicious lobster ravioli to melt-in-your-mouth angus steak to the little "happy birthday" dessert they brought us when we had to leave early to catch a show, everything was excellent. we ooh'd and mmm'd our way through the meal, happy as fat little clams. it was an epic meal.

unfortunately, i looked at our show tickets mid-way through the feast and realized it started a half-hour earlier than i'd thought. which meant we didn't get to eat the delicious beignet dessert we'd pre-ordered or linger over coffee as we stared out at the view, and instead had to rush out with quick thank yous to the wait staff.

we hopped in a cab with about five minutes to get to the New York, New York hotel, inside, and to our seats. oh well.

thankfully, we got the best cab driver in the city who flew. i think we were there in about three minutes. i threw money at him and we ran all the way through the hotel, rudely bumping into slow-moving gawkers, to the Zumanity theater, and ... found that the show didn't start until a half an hour later despite what the tickets said.

which wasn't really all that bad, though i certainly would have liked to have spent more time at the restaurant. there was lots of pre-show entertainment and we had a chance to settle into our seats before it started. i shouldn't have been surprised that we wouldn't be late -- the two of us have a knack for stressing about getting some place late and then arriving early.

the show was great. it was less of the acrobatics of Cirque de Soleil shows we've seen but had a lot of other qualities that made up for it. like bondage, drag queens, homosexuality, themes of love and body image, and lots of nudity. (kind of like living in San Francisco, although we could use a few more topless women walking around.) plus, there were the usual beautiful costumes, music, and sets.

in all, it was a great time and we applauded accordingly. unfortunately, i looked around to see more than half the audience not clapping. apparently, challenging their ideas about sex had freaked them out. which is odd considering the show is certainly advertised as being erotic. maybe they thought it'd just be a bunch of strippers.

after the show, we went over to Mandalay Bay to meet up with Jessie, Corinne's sister. she'd somehow talked her way into the Foundation Room, which is a semi-exclusive club at the top of the hotel. we'd all been to the one in New Orleans and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, so i was looking forward to it. when we walked in, though, Jessie whispered to Corinne that her friend, the one she was staying with, had gone home sick and that she might need to stay with us. this put a serious damper on our plans for the night and next morning but she's family and there wasn't a lot we could do.

we settled into a couch, grumpy as we were, and drank scotch and martinis and smoked cigars and watched men stick to Jessie like she were flypaper. we hung out on the balcony that had an incredible view straight down the Strip. we met Juan, who seemed to know everyone and insisted we stay after the bar closed. we talked politics with our new found friends in the back of some VIP room in the casino. it was fun. and, thankfully, Jessie got a hold of her friend and found a place to sleep that night. er, morning. because, by this point, it was 6:00am and time to go home.

the next morning came around noon, which sounds late until you realize that's less than six hours of sleep. we had breakfast brought up to us by the friendliest room service waitress and ate our snack looking out towards the mountains.

we spent the day lazily wandering around the hotels, half in a daze, and enjoying our meandering thoroughly. we stopped off at the Flamingo to gamble and i won a couple hundred bucks at blackjack, which went well with the $70 i'd won at some slot machine earlier in the day -- essentially i'd turned a twenty into two-hundred. with good luck on our side, we went back, changed, and headed out to win some more. after a couple snarly dealers made me grouchy, we found a table that worked and started winning. i ended the night even but Corinne was up $160! for someone who's really never played blackjack, she was pro.

the evening ended with some food at Paris and a relatively early (2:00am) bedtime.

the next morning, we checked out, stored our bags, and did some more wandering. i won $67 on nickel slots (!) and we ate at the relatively decent Bellagio buffet. after that, it was time to head to the airport. we hurried into a cab and got there on time. which was too bad because our flight ended up being delayed by an hour. and that gave me just enough time to loose another $20 in video poker.

all around it was the quintessential Vegas trip. we ate an awesome meal, saw a show with uncovered breasts, partied at an exclusive club until the sun came up, and won and lost money. about the only thing we didn't do was trash our hotel room. but we needed save something for next time.