and just like that...we were Waking Up in Vegas.
Just like the Katy Perry song. We went to her 78th performance which was her second-to-last Las Vegas residency show entitled "Play". That was perfect for us because we went to Vegas simply to play.
Her concert was a great finale for us because it was high energy and full of silliness, just the way Katy Perry is. And we were feeling it after three nights in Las Vegas. "Get up, and shake the gutter off your clothes now, That's what you get for waking up in Vegas".
Here's what she said about her show: "I created this show after the birth of my daughter, Daisy Dove. When I met her, it was like all the love I was ever searching for finally showed up. This show is for everyone’s inner child and for the hope that maybe if we could all see life through the eyes of a child, we would be free. Because never forget, love is and will always be the key,” she said.
We went to Vegas spur of the moment because Bruce had a free companion certificate on Delta and we stayed at our vacation club affiliate at the Excalibur. Since it was a cheap, quick get-away, we upgraded for an extra $25/day room with a view. Good morning, Vegas!
We thought it was worth it. And the night-time view was really nice.
They played all their big hits, of course, and everyone was mostly standing up and dancing in the aisle, even Bruce who doesn't dance. Welcome to Vegas, baby!
Our first evening was a lot of fun until Bruce decided to hit the craps table...I mean, this was Las Vegas. I don't think he lasted 30 minutes until his $200 was gone, just like that! It was a nice table, though, and the craps dealers were trying to help me understand the game because I'm clueless about craps. Bruce loves it, though. He and Nick have done very well playing craps on a cruise that we went on years ago. But now we're in Vegas...
Unfortunately, we never did win. We played blackjack, too, and Bruce did get ahead by about $50 but all in all we lost about $280 on this trip. The dealers don't even shuffle cards anymore but have a machine that automatically, continuously shuffles six decks at a time so the playing never stops (except when the machine breaks and we had to get up and go to another table. That was sort of weird.) The lowest betting table we found was $15. No more $2 tables like the old days. I remember when $5 was a high betting table. So times, they are a changing; Vegas included.
We spent our second day sightseeing on the strip after riding the monorail up and down the length of it and looking at everything including the giant 550-foot tall ferris wheel called The High Roller.
We contemplated going on it but I thought it would be better to go on it at night and we were busy every night. Lauren went on it when she went to Vegas recently and she said each car is like it's own little casino with gambling and a bar. She loved it but she was with a lot of friends so I could see how it could be like a little party going on in each car.
We had tickets to go into the new Sphere and see "Postcard from Earth" that evening so we just killed time and walked around looking at everything on our first full day. We LOVED the Sphere experience.
The show was an immersive experience. The screen was huge, sort of like the IMAX theater experience only even larger. It eventually filled the whole inside of the theater, all the walls and ceiling so the movie was all around you.
The movie was a science fiction story about the history of earth and how humans eventually destroyed it and had to leave the planet to let it recover from all our destruction. There were a lot of nature scenes, of course, that were amazing and each seat would even vibrate so it felt like you were right there when action was happening. During storms, you could feel the wind blowing so it felt like you were in the middle of the storm. Anyway, it was quite thrilling. Bruce even bought a souvenir beverage with a cup that lights up in different fluorescent colors.
Like a lot things in Vegas, it was a little hard to figure out how to get to the Sphere. You see it from a distance wherever you go but everything is so much further away than it appears. We finally learned you enter the Sphere via the Venetian resort. I've always thought the Venetian was the coolest resort and I think it still is.
While we were sightseeing on the Strip, we also made a stop at the historic Caesar's Palace. (Remember when Evel Knievel jumped the fountain on his motorcycle?)
We also walked through Treasure Island and they still have the pirate ships out front but I don't know if the show on them still happens or not.
The Strip has really changed because the Formula One car race is happening this month and it's hard to see the front of many of the casinos with all the grand stands and the set-up for the race happening. The Bellagio fountains were going but they were hard to see. It's such a shame that they let that Formula One event ruin the Strip. We walked through New York, New York which is next to the Excalibur to get to the monorail where the first stop is at the MGM.
Las Vegas really likes their candy because we saw candy shops everywhere. This Statue of Liberty at New York, New York is made of red licorice.
Our favorite resort we walked through besides the Venetian was Mandalay Bay.
We just love the atmosphere here, sitting out on a veranda. We'd get the breakfast buffet and just like in 2012, all their options are so healthy and small. They even had chia pudding with healthy chia seeds.
Hannah Freese, RD always promoted chia pudding with coconut milk but I never liked it much. However, I liked this version because I could tell it had sugar in it...so, of course, I liked it! It tasted like tapioca pudding. They also had overnight oats which I love and have lots of recipes on this blog here and here.
Or you could get a lovely yogurt parfait with fresh fruit.
The buffet had lots of other typical breakfast choices like sausages, bacon, eggs, little donuts, cinnamon rolls, french toast, omelet bar, etc... Even the coffee was elegant.
Like I said, we ate breakfast here two mornings It was just what we felt like. But really, there is no shortages of good restaurants in Vegas. We never had a bad meal and always got exactly what we felt like. The first night, we ate at a sports bar in the Excalibur because the World Series was going on and Bruce wanted to see Texas win. He ordered a rack of barbecued ribs and I ordered a salad and ate some of his ribs. I was a little tipsy from the drinks at the Bee Gee's concert so that food tasted good to me! On our second night, we were planning to eat at Paris at another restaurant we remembered from a previous visit, called Mon Ami Gabi.
Bruce got a soup that was "a special" that was a squash soup with a crouton that was like a slice of crusty bread with jam on it on the bottom of the bowl and then they poured the soup over it. It was wonderful and Bruce loved it. We ate here before we went to the Sphere and after touring the Strip so we were very hungry. We ordered another "special" appetizer that was three soft cheeses, including goat cheese, with a tomato base thick sauce poured over the cheeses. You'd scoop out this dip with the most delicious French bread.
We eventually had to have more French bread brought to us since it didn't come out even...
This was smooth and easy to eat. The bread was crusty and salty and just perfect. We totally cleaned this bowl clean. Bruce ordered their famous roasted chicken for dinner and I got a salad and ate some of his chicken but I was really quite full after my soup, appetizer with bread and then my salad. I always love a place that puts together a perfect salad and this salad was perfect. I love butter lettuce with a perfect amount of oil/vinegar dressing.
This meal was a true exquisite eating experience and we savored every bite. We had to order dessert which was bananas foster made with a French crepe, of course. Lovely.
We thought this meal would be hard to beat but believe it or not, the next evening we had another amazing dinner. We weren't quite as ravenously hungry since we spent our second day at the pool and then took an afternoon nap.
I think we were finally relaxing, enjoying the weather, savoring all our good meals and taking in our room with a view. This was the evening of our Katy Perry concert at Resorts World (at the same location where the old Stardust Casino use to stand in the old days) so we were excited about going and made reservations for dinner at a restaurant called Wally's. They have a humongous wine bar and is known as a California restaurant where the celebrities eat. This is it's only location outside of California. The wine bottles made for a nice photo background.
This meal was even better than the night before. They had so many good things on the menu it was hard to decide what to get. We started with their Poached Shrimp Lettuce Wraps.
Again, my favorite butter lettuce leaves that were so perfect. The shrimp had this curry aoli, avocado, with various shaved veggies all mixed in. It was so good! The curry aoli really hit the spot with flavor. We each ate about three of these. Then we ordered the Moroccan Cauliflower.
I loved this dish, too. The flavor was subtle enough and not over-powering at all and they had three different colors of cauliflower. For the third course, I ordered their Truffle Caesar Salad and Bruce ordered their pork chop. Just look at this magnificent salad.
The lettuce in the middle was placed in a homemade circular crouton. I didn't really see this as a Caesar salad but the dressing did taste like a Caesar dressing. It was more like a regular green salad with butter lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, carrots, etc but I loved it anyway. I particularly liked munching on the crouton at the end and Bruce also munched on it. His pork chop was more like a steak, just so tender, melt-in-your mouth, cooked perfectly. I think we were members of the clean plate club. Easy to do at this restaurant.
But there is always room for dessert...
This was called Blueberry Lemon. It was layered with a honey almond cake at the bottom with blueberry creme fraiche cremeux, with fresh blackberries topped with flor di latte honey gelato. The decorative ring on top was lemon-flavored acacia honeycomb. It was almost too pretty to eat but we ate it anyway! It was a perfect way to end the meal, so refreshing and delicate. However, if we wanted we could have ordered an after-dinner drink per the menu below. How about a $1,050 cognac after-dinner drink?
This is Las Vegas, remember? They cater to high rollers and they never know who a high roller may be. The drinks were strong everywhere we went and big drink portions, too. At the sports bar where we ate the first night, I ordered a large sparkling water and they brought me a whole 34 oz.bottle of Pelligrino. I got tipsy twice after ordering a drink because they are so strong in Vegas. I don't drink alcohol that much anymore so maybe it just effects me more, I don't know. I just figured if they get you drunk, you'll gamble more. The complimentary drinks they bring you when you are gambling are weak, tho. Blah! But it's fun to be treated like a high roller with such good service everywhere you go, strong drinks, an over-abundance of everything and top quality food. Before we headed out, we had breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi, the French restaurant at Paris.
I ordered their Corned Beef Hash and Bruce ordered their French toast.
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