Vegas

Today leave Vegas for San Diego.

My first time in Las Vegas, and I've had fun.  We've stayed at The Encore, which has turned out to be a really really good hotel.  A very big, well fitted-out room with the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in, and the hotel has great facilities.  My only negative would  be that it's up one end of The Strip so a bit of a hike to most of the other casinos.

We went to the Republican Party of Nevada's election-night party (thanks to Paula), which was fascinating - and which I've already mentioned.  We went to Le Reve, the show at The Wynn / Encore and it was spectacular.  We ate at a good New York-style deli at The Encore (complete with matzoh ball soup and v good pickles), had a passable coffee at a Parisian-style cafe on a cobblestoned street at Paris and had an excellent meal at The Lakeside Grill at The Wynn.  The Lakeside Grill is situated on the Lake of Dreams, a man-made lake and waterfall inside the resort.  It is actually quite beautiful, and the restaurant elegant with very good service and food.  It was slightly jarring at 7pm, when a giant frog appeared at the top of the waterfall and sang 'What A Wonderful World'.  Actually I think it was lip-synching the Louis Armstrong original.

I played poker for a few hours at The Wynn/Encore poker room against a mix of Nevadans and some tourists and pretty much held my own.  Fascinating people watching.  One guy from New Jersey would not stop talking about how good the biscotti he bakes are.  At one point we had a dealer called Cowboy.  A talkative guy up the other end of the table had recently been to Guetamala, and the table was collectively amazed that one could possibly travel somewhere so far away.  I kept my mouth mostly shut and watched and listened and played and drank the free drinks brought by waitresses in extremely brief outfits. 

And last night we went out with Paula (a friend from New Zealand M has made on the Fellowship she's currently doing) for a buffet dinner at The Wynn - surprisingly good food - a walk up The Strip, and an hour or so of blackjack at Bellagio - I came out slightly ahead.