Day: March 24, 2025

Dinner and a Show

We chose Battista’s Hole in the Wall for dinner, and boy howdy was that the right choice. It was an old-school Italian restaurant much like the Old Spaghetti Factory, where your dinner comes with courses.

We got a carafe of wine for our table, garlic bread, a salad, an entree, and homemade cappuccino.

I got chicken alfredo and Matt got manicotti. There was a split charge of $20, and we should have taken them up on that. It was a lot of food. We skipped the cappuccinos.

From there we walked off our dinner touring the strip. I don’t think these pedestrian walkways had been built when I visited in 1996, but they were a good addition. And you can see the consequence I got for sitting on top of the tour bus.

We watched a performance at the Bellagio fountains. Our song was “Billie Jean,” and the water did look like Michael Jackson’s moves from that era.

And then we headed over to see Zombie Burlesque. I wanted to see a showgirls-type show.

It was a fun and raunchy performance. The emcee was great with the audience, and the dancers were amazing to watch. One of them also balanced on unsteady things that got higher and higher in a nerve-wracking manner.

The show was tight and well-performed, and I think I could spend a good month taking in all the different entertainment options, given an unlimited budget for food, lodging, and tickets.

Bus Tour and Exit: Shadows Over Middle Earth

We started our day with a hop on hop off bus tour of Las Vegas. We hopped on and didn’t hop off until we got back to our starting point, but it was a very good choice for our first full day. We had a great tour bus driver, a Las Vegas native, and it was good to hear her perspective on things. I can tell you that she really misses the Mirage.

After sitting in the sun, I needed a nap, so we headed back to the hotel and spent the afternoon both resting and also playing a fun new Exit game.

Despite being only two dots out of five and much closer to novice than expert, we had some trouble solving and ended up with not many stars. It was a fun and inventive time, though, just like we’ve come to expect from Exit.

During our game time, people used a room key and unlocked our door. They had been assigned our room, too. We were on a timer for the Exit game, so we said “occupied” and they went away. After we were done, Matt went to investigate. No one at the desk knew what had happened. But no one else came into our room after that.

After wiling away the afternoon it was time for our evening activities.