trip report april 20-25 (day 2)

day 2:

woke up at around 9:30 or so. got ready and headed out to the paris for sunday brunch at the buffet. paris has a wonderful buffet, with many different kinds of cheeses and pastries. i highly recommend it if that is your 'thing'. after finishing, we walked back to the bellagio for a swim. i was actually quite disappointed in pool area they have. it comprises about 5-6 smaller pools that are all segmented, which might make it harder to find friends if you all don't come down at the same time. nothing like the pool at the Mandalay Bay or TI or even venetian. so, we swam for about an hour or so and then went up to get ready for our afternoon out.

we left our room about 3 and walked down to NYNY. we went on the rollercoaster ride and i'll have to say for rollercoaster in a casino, it was one hell of a ride! it felt like the 'old school' wooden rollercoasters because the thing was such a rocky ride! afterwards we walked around the foodcourt inside for a dessert and coffee. i was surprised to see many likenesses of nyc within that small area! it was pleasant and cozy...glad we had stopped by to take a look. then we headed over to the mandalaybay and made the usual rounds, looking over the rumjungle, house of blues and other nice restaurants. i wanted to go through the sharkreef, but we decided against it. we did catch a glimpse of the lazy river pool and were quite envious of the riders in it! we hit the blackjack tables there for about 30 minutes, cashed in about 150 and made our way back to the strip. we walked on the MGM Grand side and stopped by M&M world. tons of fun at that little place! we bought skittles of all things and this new dulce de leche type of M&M. yum!!!

we stopped by an internet cafe to say hello to friends/family and then headed back to the room, which was about 7. i made last minute reservations at shintaro, a japanese tepanyaki style restaurant (think bennihana) for 8:30. we took a nap for about 45 minutes, which left us refreshed and ready to go for the evening. the meal was truly excellent. the view of the bellagio fountains was breath taking and we had pictures taken from the balcony. the chef at the table was mildly entertaining and only because of 4 obnoxiously loud women who were at the end of the table (which holds 10), in a contest to see who could be the most annoying in the group. the other party of 4, a family from france had a good laugh with us over those women...

after dinner, we walked through the bellagio flower gardens and then had several drinks at the piano bar by the main lobby. we went back to the room at around 1. my gf fell asleep fast while i went down to the tables for an all night blackjack fest... didn't make it back to the room til about 9:30am.

day 3 coming up.