Thursday we continued our casino crusade. After a filling breakfast at New York, New York, we went over to Excalibur for some photos and souvenir shopping. From there we walked over to Luxor to look at the Egyptian theme and take more pictures. After a stop off at our room to drop off the loot, we took the monorail up to the Venetian for lunch at Delmonico (Emeril's). Before lunch, we took a gondola ride through the canal weaving through the shoppes inside the casino. Our gondolier even sang in Italian for us while we were riding through the canal.

After lunch we went over to The Mirage to look at the wilderness habitat there. The animals there were(are) owned by Siegfried and Roy. You'd think the people in Vegas would take all the different animals at the casinos and create a zoo. After The Mirage we went across the street to the Flamingo to look at the bird habitat. The main attraction (for me) was the penguin habitat. Those little guys are so cute.

The main event for the day was a Polynesian luau at the Imperial Palace. It was a bit cramped. To get up from the table, everyone had to contort around their chairs and try not to fall on the people to either side or behind them. However, the food was good. The dancing got to be repetitive, but it was a decent way to spend the evening. I was a little ticked that they gave us pictures without saying anything about buying them. An hour after we had received the pictures, they came by wanting to know if we were buying them. It would have been nice if I knew this initially. Here's an idea: don't waste all the film (yes, it was a standard 35mm film camera), ink and paper without asking if people want to buy them.

After the luau, we went back to our room, but it was still early so I went back to Excalibur to play poker. It was a very frustrating experience. When I sat down, there were three people in their early 20s just throwing money around hoping to win. I have to wonder if they really knew how to play. They weren't around long, but there were a couple other players throwing money around as well. They were sitting at a $1-$3 table with $200! Why are you sitting at such a low-limit table with that much money? After an hour I left having lost $19. I was very irritated with the whole experience.