Vegas

Eileen and I took a one day, one night trip to Vegas this week. We stayed at The Venetian because we got tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera, which plays at The Venetian. Here's the trip in bullet points:

• The Venetian: The suite was fantabulous. But, the hotel was so-so. I still prefer the Bellagio or The Luxor. Although hotel/casinos are supposed to have confusing layouts -- in order to keep you inside and gambling -- The Venetian's layout was tremendously confusing. Split over two buildings, we could not find where we were at any time. What's worse is that the floors are confusing too (including a weird foot bridge). And, not to make things any better, the casino was split over two places in the same building -- separated by a canal and some shops. Ugh. The interior decoration is impressive, if you haven't been to anywhere in Europe. After visiting the Louvre, the interior of The Venetian just seemed all that much more fake.
• The Phantom of the Opera: Eileen had a luke-warm reaction to the show. I actually enjoyed it immensely. The spectacle of the show (falling chandelier, dude hanging from chandelier, the lightning and the fireworks) made it a fantastic show to see -- oh, and the music, singing and costumes were great also!  I have only seen Phantom as a movie before, so seeing it live was a treat.
• The Bellagio Buffet:  One word...Yum!  Eileen and I love this place for dinner.  But, since we were hungry at lunchtime, we checked it out of lunch -- and it was just as good as dinner, except for they didn't have chocolate dipped strawberries.  If you want a good buffet, The Bellagio Buffet is the place to go.
• Noodle Asia:  Noodle Asia is a Chinese noodle place located in The Venetian.  I had eaten here a few times when I traveled to Vegas for a show (back in the days when I worked for Sony).  This place is authentic and really good.  The food is served up hot and it is served up fast.  The only drawback is that the place is pricey -- the same authentic food can be had in a whole-in-the-wall Chinese place for ten times less.  Of course, Noodle Asia is in Vegas, so it is pricey.
• Cravings at Mirage:  Cravings is a buffet.  Eileen and I went to have brunch there before we left Vegas.  I was pretty disappointed.  The food was lacking.  The layout of the buffet was terrible.  The service was sub-par.  If we weren't so far from the Excalibur, we would have gone there for their breakfast buffet.  The Roundtable Buffet at Excalibur is the place to go for breakfast buffet.  Skip Cravings at Mirage.
• The President:  He flew in shortly after we arrived in Vegas.  He flew out shortly before we left Vegas.
• The "Free" Show and Dinner:  Back when Eileen and I were more naive, we got roped into one of these "get a free show and dinner" things -- which for us was a stupid timeshare thing.  We noticed this time in Vegas, there were a lot more of these people and these people were a lot more aggressive.  I wish they would go away and stop bugging us.