Quick Notes on my travails so far

[adelheid_p]

I saw the following "attractions": The Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. Pretty good for $16.00. They give you an "audio wand" which plays short bits based on the numbers you punch in. The numbers are listed outside each exhibit you see. These are very cursory and probably suitable for the average ten year old. If you have kids, this is a cool exhibit to see because, at a couple of points, you go under the aquarium and can see the fish and sharks swim above you. My favorites are the Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39 San Francisco and the National Aquarium in Baltimore, with the New England Aquarium also being in my top three. The other "attraction" I saw was the Tomb of King Tutankhamen at the Luxor. I have to note that right now I'm reading the Terry Pratchett Disc World Book "Pyramids" and I was at the point where the king of Djelibeybi (probably pronounce jellybaby because this is Terry Pratchett) is dead and they're preparing him for his afterlife, remarkably like the Egyptians. It's an amusing passage. Anyway, this colored my experience in the mockup of the Tomb. I found it a let down for $9.95 but then, I've been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York which has an extensive Egyptian collection including the Temple of Dendur and the Tomb of Perneb. For $9.95 you get a taped recording of an actor trying to sound like Howard Carter and talking about the rooms in the tomb and what was discovered and the significance of the items. Probably pretty neat if you've never seen anything like it before, but I had seen other exhibits of genuine Egyption artifacts and not replicas like what was in this "attraction".
A couple of other notes, then I must go over to the Mirage to buy celticmoons t-shirt size ** and see Cirque du Soleil. The casinos are smoking. I find this to be a drawback because to get anywhere, I have to walk through a casino. My room is a nice mini suite. I have a separate living room with a big flat screen tv and another tv in the bedroom and another small flatscreen in the bathroom. The bathroom has a nice big soaking spa style tub and a separate shower stall. I haven't had a chance to soak in the tub and watch tv, but I might try it later on this week.