Meg's Vegas involves meeting at the pool in time for morning margaritas. That sounded like fun. Glen and I had breakfast at the Caravan Café and discovered food portions in Vegas are huge. I ordered granola and yogurt. It was served in a large salad bowl with very fresh blackberries and raspberries. Glen had a Denver omelet that was about 6 inches long and 3 inches wide.
We waddled to the pool and enjoyed a swim but could not sit in the sun to dry off as already it was too hot. The bar didn't open until 11 so we never did drink morning margaritas. We planned our day while lounging on the deck chairs. First stop was lunch at Planet Hollywood in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. This meant wandering through the Forum and enjoying the colossal fountain statuary of Roman gods and the ever-changing sky that makes this place feel surreal.
After lunch, we did a brief tour of all the memorabilia collected from different movies in the Planet Hollywood restaurant then we headed to Mirage. I had already won $100 on video poker but wanted rub the mermaid there as she had given me luck in the past. Unfortunately, she was gone so we decided to see the dolphins instead. Turns out they were outside and the show cost $15 per person so we returned to the hotel lobby, rubbed the entranceway's brass dolphin's nose (for luck), then took the tram to TI (also called Treasure Island). Here, we did our first shopping at the Siren's Cove Shoppe before we headed across Las Vegas Blvd to the Venetian. We wandered along the canal, crossed a replica of the Rialto Bridge (with moving sidewalks) then entered Harrah's Casino which had a monorail station.
We played the machines at the Sahara and relaxed in our room before heading out to supper. We were excited to see the Tournament of Kings. Meg and Mike had enjoyed this experience on a previous trip and said we'd love it. They were right. It is loosely based on King Arthur and his round table. Merlin and the jester introduced the show as we enjoyed our bowl of tomato soup without using a spoon. Cola was served ad libitum and we ordered a bucket of beer with 4 bottles of Stella Artois. There were no utensils at this meal so when the whole chicken, baked potatoes, broccoli, and biscuit arrived we literally 'dug in'.
Each section of the stadium represented a country. We sat in one of the smaller sections and were to root for Hungary. We had some very enthusiastic people in our section so cheered and banged our tables whenever our 'king' appeared. He seemed to appreciate our support and went on to win a couple of the tournament challenges. However, there was a script and he would not be declared the overall winner. Meanwhile, we heckled the other kings, especially Russia and France who seemed to enjoy our boos. We had front row seats so saw all the action including some burly, bare-chested men who played the part of dragon knights. The horses were well-trained and the fights extremely well choreographed. Sparks flew when the heavy swords connected.
The show was geared to families and when it was over, one passed through a midway-like area where kids could play games for toys. They also had some of the older gambling machines that Glen remember seeing in the casinos when he first visited Vegas over twenty years ago.
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