Happy Birthday to me! Not a bad way to spend it, in Las Vegas!

I actually felt a bit rough this morning. Only had a few beers last night as well.

We started today at McDonalds...healthy though, I had porridge and Therese had fruit with yoghurt. Had a quick look on the net to find lots of lovely messages on Facebook wishing me happy birthday. Was well happy with that.

Then onto some sightseeing. First, Circus Circus. We played on a few of the fairground games, like the one where you roll the ball up to the holes and the horse moves along. I did pathetically bad at that. Think I moves the horse about three spaces. Played Air Hockey and then that other game where you roll the ball like bowling but then the ball flicks up into different slots for different points.
Circus Circus is very dated now, but it's still pretty good. They have circus acts going off all day too.

We checked out of Stratosphere this morning, and are staying somewhere a little better...The Venetian. It's an all-suite hotel and looks amazing. We got a cracking deal on it when we booked it a few weeks ago - $145 (£95) a night, when it's supposed to be $450 (£300) a night.

So, we drove along to The Venetian. Even getting into the carpark, we had to stop for a security guard - other places we've been aren't like that. Didn't bother with the valet...

We followed the signs for guest check-in through the fancy casino. Then turned this corner and there's a long hall with pillars all the way down and an arched ceiling with all these Michelangelo type (I think) paintings all the way down like you see in a historic catholic building. It was immaculate all the way down, like they constantly polish everything.
Once we'd checked in, we had to find our room. We actually stayed in The Venezia tower. We took the first lift to that tower and that was amazing again. Really long hall way that again has painting on the ceiling, marble everywhere and it was all lit by gas lamps on the wall. WOW, this is posh. Unbelievable what lengths they've gone to, to get that historic Italian building feel.

It was miles to our room, like a maze. We had to get two different lifts to it. Up on the 12th floor. Then we walked into our incredibly nice room. Two queen-size beds with fancy decor curtains behind them on the wall, with a huge TV in front. Then, the room was separated by like a railing, and there was a step down into the lounge area. A three seat sofa, two seats, a coffee table, a cabinet with another big TV, a dining table and a desk with office facilities. The room is massive.
Then, the bathroom has his-and-hers wash basins, a big deep bath, a huge shower, separate toilet, and a dressing table. Plus, in the wardrobe were two bath robes.
We're in absolute luxury.

I opened up an envelope, given to me at check-in, to find a message from my Mum and Grandma wishing me happy birthday, which was really nice and thoughtful.

There's so many restaurants in The Venetian, but we decided to go to Grand Lux Cafe for tea. It's actually part of the Cheesecake Factory. The food was, as usual, gorgeous. I had this lightly breaded chicken with mash and carrots in this creamy white wine sauce, and Therese had Miso Salmon with stir-fry vegetables. Such good food.
We had to kind of rush our tea a bit because somehow we were running late and we had a few things to do like print some tickets out. Therese went back to get ready and I went to sort stuff out.

I finally got back to get ready and got my new jeans out to give them a quick iron. They only still had the flipping security tag on!! Couldn't believe it. I'd already been rushing around sorting stuff like a headless chicken and now this. I tried getting it off but it wouldn't budge. Tried searching the Internet for ideas, but nothing. In the end, I just propped it up against the wall and jumped on it right in the middle. Broke off no probs. Sorted, back on track.

We both have new clothes for tonight, bought in the sales when we first got to LA. That's luxury too.
And by the way, we didn't walk through the hotel with our backpacks on, we just took a couple of bits out and put them in small bags. Didn't want to get thrown out.

So, once we were ready we walked down from our room along the long corridor that's lit by gas lamps. That looked extra nice because it was dark so it was dimly lit and the flames were flickering. Just a nice little touch they add to create that theme.

We took a taxi down to the Mandalay Bay. We had tickets to go see the Lion King show! We booked the tickets weeks ago and got a good discount online. We actually had VIP tickets as well, and were given a little goodie bag each that had a programme in and a baseball cap. Ok, not so much a goodie bag then. I didn't wear the baseball cap either, but Therese did.

We grabbed a drink, then walked into the theatre and found our seats - fantastic seats! VIP!
Well, the show was absolutely brilliant. The costumes were fantastic, the characters were just like the cartoon, the singing, the dancing, the scenery, the scenes, all of it was absolutely brilliant. And the seats were perfect.

After the show we got a frozen cocktail from Evening Call and had a look around Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalibur. Luxor is a weird one. It's the one that's a pyramid. Really strange inside. Mandalay is nice and had a cool bar called eyecandy but it was full of oldies so we left.

That's a weird thing they have here in Vegas, Oxygen Bars. Pure oxygen. We asked at one place what it was and the woman said it's pure oxygen and you strap it into your nose and all that. This American guy turned around with a big grin, looked high, and very enthusiastically said it really gets you going again if you're feeling sleepy.

We made our way back to The Venetian and went to a nightclub called Lavo. It was supposed to be $40 each, but we had free tickets because we're staying here - shweet! It seemed pretty dead at first when we looked in the bar. But that bar wasn't for the nightclub. We walked up the stairs and along this bridge type thing where they had all these bronze basins and taps running all the way along, and the music got louder. Went through these doors, and the place was absolutely bouncing! Really busy, dance floor packed and really good music.
Therese picked up a menu off one of the tables...they only sold spirits and only by the bottle from that menu! Went to the bar and got a bottle of beer instead. Still $8 (£5.50)!

It was a little bit too crazy at first in there. We were stood right near to the dance-floor, which is never a good thing because you always look well out of place. We went back near the bar, and then this random fashion show came on at the other side of the bar.

Before long we were strutting our stuff on the dance-floor. Brilliant music as well, hip-hop, dance, house, Motown, remixes...quality DJ and a really good sound system. They had female dancers up as well, as they do in all the clubs here. Then, every time someone bought a bottle of champagne, they were taken to this VIP area and a random little performance came on. The staff would dress up as something different - one time it was Mario Brothers and the Nintendo music came on, then there was spiderman, then girls dressed up and dancing. Very random and funny.

Brilliant night in there. Really smart club.

On the walk back through all the Venetian building, we spotted Grand Lux Cafe and decided to go in for late night Bailey's Coffee and Creme Brulee. Nicest Creme Brulee - one pot of vanilla and one pot of chocolate! That's my birthday cake!
Felt sick after.

4.30am by the time we got to bed!