Thursday. October 17th.<br><br>[color:blue] Casinos and Side Trips </font color=blue><br><br><br><br>Thursday morning i ate at Terrible's buffet. $5.35, the buffet wasn't crowded about 7:30am and i was seated right away. Made to order eggs. bacon, home fries, water melon and coffee was very good as well as the service.<br><br>Vegas is a place where the definition of "walking distance" has an entirely different meaning than most places. I think everybody, or most everybody, notices that inexplicable energy one has in Vegas. No matter how tired you actually are, it's not a fatiguing sort of tired, it dosen't hold you back from going out and kicking a$$, or maybe more accuately stated, getting your a$$ kicked, at the casinos for fourteen hours straight, day into the night. It's a place where the Bellagoi is considered by many people to be within walking distance of Mandalay Bay. <br><br>Terrible's is in a great location; the corner of Paradise and Flamingo. Paradise is an excellent road for avoiding strip traffic. Terrible's is also in "the Middle" of Restaurant Row. Morton's is right across the street. With a car, my definition of walking distance is the usual one. "Restaurant Row" creates an image of a group of restaurants being very close to one another, but after paying attention to the exact locations of the restaurants, this is not true, in most cases.<br><br>However, from Terrible's it's a short drive of a little over a mile, right down Flamingo and a right turn off the street into the Barbary Coast parking garage. I played $10 a hand Pai Gow in the Barbary Coast and lost $40, down $40 for the day. There was one other guy playing, he was new to the game. There's almost always a newbie at every Pai Gow game and the dealer was helping him and i was answering some of his questions about the game. I enjoy this aspect of Pai Gow, not only because of the social atmosphere, but with the situations that can occur and the dealer's and sometimes the Pit Boss' explanations, i can learn some helpful nuances of the game.<br>I visted twenty casinos throughout the last trip, but not the Paris or the Aladdin.<br><br>The Paris is impressive, but as far as city theme, i lke New york/New York much better. That day at the Paris is when i decided i don't want to stay in the center strip and the Orleans is the place for me. I walked by the Paris coffee shop. It was about 11am. There was a line out the door. I don't know about you folks, but for $80 more a night and a couple of beers too many the night before, i DON'T want to wait in line to get some coffee and bacon $ eggs in order to wake up in the morning. I wonder what the price of the coffee is at the Paris.<br><br>There were no Pai Go tables open at that hour. When i asked a Pit Boss in the area, at what time a table is likely to open, he said he'll open one now, he'll call for a dealer and to come back in about fifteen minutes.<br><br>I went over to Gustov's Bar, played VP, lost $20, down $60 for the day.<br><br>The Paris casino was busy, but it was comfortable moving around. People stood behind watching the Pai Gow play, some sat down, some moved on and there were at least three players at the table at any given time. This was one of my longest sessions of the trip, maybe as long as four hours.<br>$15 a hand, lost $120, down $180 for the day. <br><br>I walked through the mall passageaway over to Bally's, gave Bally's a walk through and walked back through the mall to the Paris casino, out the front entrance and over to the Aladdin.<br><br>The Aladdin is ornate and impressive, for the obvious expense that shows through in the detail, but i understand the opinion of a lot of people who feel that it's nice, but there's something about it. They're not in any particular hurry to go back. It's hard to put your finger on exactly what it is. <br><br>I walked, what's reputed to be, a mile long circle that's formed by the Passage Way Mall, starting and ending in the Aladdin casino. Along the way, i stopped at Merchant's Harbor Restauant. Someone in line at the counter wanted to charge a meal to their room and the employee of the restaurant, which is a small cafe sort of a place, said the restaurant was completely independent of the hotel and the bill couldn't be charged off to the room. Well, when this restaurant's contract is up, this place should be up. $10 bucks for a salad in a plastic container, like at a 7/11, you know, the salad even tastes like plastic and a real small soup. I got it because it was the "special" and went there in the first place because the "Rain Storm" was right outside and the restaurant was open to the mall and a view of "The Rain Storm". The restaurant has a few tables and chairs "outside" in the mall, like a sidewalk cafe.<br><br>I'll go out of my way to praise all things Vegas, but, "The Rain Storm"... lemmeputitthisway, i kept waiting for it to start, and then it was over. To be fair about it, i don't think it was designed to be an event, like the Volcano, Pirate Battle ect. more like, just something as distraction to "liven" up the area. <br><br>I went upstairs at the Aladdin and walkd through the high stakes area, then back dow to the main casino.<br>$10 a hand Pai Gow, lost $40. down <br>$220 for the day.<br><br>Bellagio was the next stop, i liked it the last trip and returned here a couple of times this trip. I played a rare session of Caribbean Stud Poker. $10 a hand, lost $65, down $285 for the day. I took a walk over to the Bellagio Sports, checked the line and bet the Bills to beat Miami.<br>One of the things i was looking forward to this trip and didn't spend enough time doing last trip, was hanging out at lounges, watching the bands, shooting the breeze with the bartenders. <br><br>The Bellagio is a great place all around and i took the opportunity to spend some time at the Fontana Bar. It was too early for the lounge itself to be open, but the bar is open to and sweeps around the lounge area with floor to ceiling windows affording a great view of the daytime Fountain Shows.<br><br>If Downtown isn't within walking distance, it's still worth the walk to see The Fremont Street Experience.<br><br>I had been Downtown before, but in the daytime. Another revelation this trip, was that i like Downtown, at night, alot.<br><br>The Freemont Street Experience came as advertised, they played The Bee Gees, it was great.<br><br>I ended another great day, or rather, night, in Vegas, playing Pai Gow at The Las Vegas Club in the middle of Downtown Las Vegas. I could not lose a hand, it was either a win or a push. It was late, i played longer than i planned to as it was.<br><br>I walked away up $65 and there was no reason to think that the streak wouldn't continue past that point.<br>$5 a hand Pai Gow, won $65, down $220 for the day<br>