DINNER BY THE GRAND CANAL

DAY 16: Las Vegas

Midday arrived and we were still in bed so we thought we should get up. We knew we could relax when we realised there were no tigers or crying babies in the room and our teeth were intact.

As it was now lunch we skipped breakfast and headed out in search of a suitable eating establishment, although my body was still commanding breakfast. I felt cheated that I'd missed a meal.

The Bellagio has an amazing Fall (Autumn!) display in its atrium, with real pumpkins as heavy as a thousand pounds and water arches that shoot water from the bottom on one side, right up and over your head to the other side with nothing but gravity to guide it around the arch. What??? It baffled us, but it looked superb.

We next visited M&Ms World which I assumed would be a small shop where you could buy M&Ms, maybe in a few different variations, and maybe a few collectable memorabilia items. But no, this is Vegas. Four floors packed wall to wall with every conceivable item you could imagine, printed with an M on it somewhere. Even a full size NASCAR on the fourth floor! It also had its own 3D movie theatre where we watched a ten minute film for kids. It was great.

Next we headed to MGM Grand with its resident lions housed in a huge glass-fronted habitat. They are amazing, but we didn't like seeing them so enclosed, especially with all the flash photography going on. But we got some good shots all the same.

New York, New York probably has the best novel exterior with smaller versions of iconic New York buildings such as the Chrysler and Empire States making up the hotel, complemented by a replica Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty creating an awesome skyline.

We then caught the tram shuttle to Mandalay Bay (very nice) and Luxor, which is all inside a giant pyramid with a massive sphinx at the front.

MGM Mirage are currently building the new City Centre complex next to the Bellagio which consists of four or five hotels, nightclubs, casinos and event venues creating a city within a city. Funny, I thought Vegas was missing something.

On our way back we stopped at the Coca Cola shop which was similar to M&Ms World, selling some cool retro and vintage Coke products. After that we decided a few frozen daiquiris were in order before we headed back to get ready for the evening.

In light of our heavy night last night, and the fact the clubs wouldn't really be busy, or even open, tonight we decided to take it easy and explore the northern end of the strip.

After watching the Bellagio fountains from the front of the hotel this time, our first port of call was the Venetian. WOW!!! They have basically recreated a scaled down version of Venice inside the hotel which includes a replica of the Grand Canal complete with gondolas, bridges and St Mark's Square and many Italian restaurants. So it was only natural then that we sat down to dinner next to the Grand Canal for a traditionally Venetian Mexican. It was very good though.

The Venetian has the most impressive of interiors in Vegas (and that's saying something), mainly due to the imitation daytime sky that has been painted on the ceiling giving a convincing notion of being outside. It's incredible!!!

We decided to grab a beer and go gambling. Nothing like sinning - when in Rome (or Venice) and all that. Time to increase my $10 gambling pot. I managed to eventually get it up to $22 so I was happy with that. Embarrassing cashing in the chips though. I'd win the award for world's crappest gambler. Jen did well again, although ended up down in total I think.

We must have walked about 6 miles today, so after we'd taken in the Mirage's real-life volcano feature, we headed back pretty well beat.

TV ad of the day:

(ad for a ladies medicinal cream)

''We asked real women if they wanted to get rid of their vaginal yeast infection and 100% said yes''. 100%? I don't believe it.