The day began beautifully, I awoke to a blue sunny sky. It took awhile to get everyone together, but we left the hotel and were off on the strip seeking out food. Mui had heard of this place called Ellis Island, but didn't know exactly where it was. After roughly half an hour of walking we found the elusive Ellis Island (turned out it was only 10 minutes from our hotel).
The restaurant was Denny-esque in food offering, but quality wise Ellis Island wins hands down. From the menu I saw an eggs and ham dish which included a description somewhere along the lines of order only if you're hungry. How big could the piece of ham be?
Holy @%&!, the ham was gi-normous, it didn't even fit on the plate, it even had a bone in it. Mui ordered a prime rib, which was phenomenal, it's not Keg quality but for roughly $10 it was unbelievable. Others ordered a chicken fried steak topped with gravy, mmmmm. Needless to say we were all very satisfied with our meals and would definitely go back again.
On the way back to the hotel we passed by a 7-11 to pick up some drinks. B and Herb picked up 32oz of Miller high life for less then $2, and I grabbed a $3 40oz Mickey's. I don't think any of us finished it all at once, but what a steal.
We explored Flamingo hotel for an hour or so, checking out the pool and the actual Flamingo habitat. The pools were still closed and would be for the remainder of our trip, but we debated on whether we'd come down in the middle of the night.
After resting at the room for a little bit we made our way South on the strip to Paris. We passed by the Paris Balloon thing and the Eiffel tower, both were quite a sight to behold. The inside of Paris was a little dark, but the shops all had sort of a European theme to them. Mui stopped to grab some dessert at one of the shops. After sharing a tiramisu dessert we went to a drinks shop not too far in, that's where Mui and Janger bought humongous drinks each. Mui bought a plastic Eiffel tower that was around 2 feet in length, filled to the top with pina colada. Obviously she didn't finish the drink, and so I had to. I officially hate pina colada, I wasn't a fan of it before, and after nursing a whole 2 foot drink of it, I'm definitely not a fan of it now.
Inside Paris was a liquor store, and that's where Ju found it, his holy grail of drinks: Ciroc. He pretty much wet his pants upon seeing it; he and B spent all of the previous night walking around Vegas looking for Ciroc. He immediately purchased a $35 bottle from Giselle the liquor lady. How do I remember her name? I remember it because after walking out of the store B decided to go back in and buy a Ciroc bottle for himself. Then when he came back out, Herb and I went in a bought a bottle. We pretty much cleared their supply of Ciroc.
We made our way in and out of Paris and then proceeded to Miracle Mile Shops in Planet Hollywood, I don't know if it was actually a mile of shops, but we did spend two hours shopping in there.
While everyone else were shopping for ridiculously expensive designer jeans, Mui and I enjoyed the artificial rain show inside the mall. Nothing special, I wouldn't say everyone else missed out. I tried to take pictures but taking pictures of rain is like making a system for gambling: you can try but it's not going to work.
Herb made reservations at Lawry's - Prime Rib for 7pm, but we didn't make it there till 7:40 ish. We were able to get a table but they had to open up a previously closed off wing for us. I thought it was because we were late, others thought it was because we were dressed like scrubs for this fancy schmancy restaurant, whatever the reason I enjoyed the isolation.
Ms. Tremble was our server (she really introduced herself as Ms. Tremble). Contrary to her name, we very much enjoyed her presence. Lawry's was unique in that when you ordered their famed prime rib, it does not come pre-cut, they have a carver, who cuts you a piece of prime rib from a large prime rib roast. It's unique that they would serve the entrees in this way, but because they serve it this way the presentation was kind of bland.
The other thing that Lawry's was known for was there spinning salad. Ms Tremble, who by now we nicknamed ah Ma cause she reminded us of our moms, came by with a big metal salad bowl on top of some ice. She would spin the bowl on top of the ice and then proceeded to mix the salad with salad dressing while the bowl spun in place: oooooo.
The prime rib I had was good, I don't know if it was $40 good, but ah Ma alone made the meal worth it.
After dinner, we dropped off all 50 of our shopping bags and walked to Bellagio to enjoy the famed Bellagio Fountains. We found a great spot pretty much central to the fountains where we were able to take in the enormity of the show. The fountains, highlighted by the underwater lights, flowed beautifully with the instrumental music that was being played. I took a video of the fountains, but it really is something that should be viewed live.
After the fountain show we made our way into the hotel itself to explore the lobby and the autumn garden they had on display. Decked out in designer stores, Bellagio is clearly a higher end hotel, and would definitely be on my list to stay in when I go back.
Monte Carlo was the next hotel we visited. I don't really recall anything worth mentioning about the hotel though. If I had a date with Monte Carlo it would be awkwardly silent.
While walking South on the strip visiting these hotels, we opened a bottle of Ciroc and drank it from the bottle. It was definitely smooth, I like it a hell of a lot more then Grey Goose. I haven't tried mixing either with anything, just straight up, it's the Russian in me.
New York New York was the last hotel that we visited, and the hotel was one of the busier ones that we visited that night, keep in mind that by the time we got there it was well after midnight. The hotel was lined with stores decorated to look like outdoor shops, it really did look like I was walking outside, complete with blue skied ceilings. After passing the entrance I faintly heard a song that I was instantly drawn to. I found a pub within the hotel and held within was a crowd all singing Oasis' Wonderwall. Peeking through the windows like a pervert I found the band that everyone cultivated around. The band was pretty talented, as they were just taking requests. The next request was Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, it was a little off as they were probably just winging it but B and I sat there and listened to the whole song.
We found a grocery store just South of New York New York, where we picked up some beef jerkey and drinks, then headed back to the hotel. Our legs were pretty sore from walking all day, and so we decided to take a cab back to the hotel. While in line for a cab, we got offered to ride in an SUV as we had six people (we would've had to take two cabs otherwise). Winston our driver told us it was a slow night and we were his second ride all night (this was maybe 2/3 in the morning), he gave us his card too.
It was today that I truly understood the enormity that was the Strip. And it was today that I started to doubt that we'd be able to do everything I had planned.
No comments:
Post a Comment