Bellagio Pool 

Bellagio Lobby 

Back from Lost Wages

We drove over with Mark and Arturo on Saturday morning and since we arrived prior to Bellagio check in time, we went immediately over to the new Wynn Las Vegas Hotel, the ultra-fuh-fuh resort down the street. It's pretty spectacular. It has all the high end details and glamour that it should have. However, after lunching at the buffet ($23.95), doing a spot of gambling (a 5-cent slot machine featuring Steve Wynn, the megalomaniac owner of the hotel!) and strolling with all the other gawkers who can't afford to actually stay there, we all four agreed that we still love Bellagio best. Nobody does it better. So we tossed our ponytails over our shoulders and flounced back home to check in at Bellagio, where we were denied a lake-view room but they put us in the new Spa Tower- a 5 mile walk from the casino but with a private entrance to the pool. Later we went down to the Venetian to dine at Bouchon, out on the lovely 12th floor terrace (who knew?). There, I met the best Trout Almondine ($24) I've ever had the pleasure to encounter. Deevine. But, my Country Pate ($11.75) tasted store-bought. Gambled a bit back at Bellagio, lost.

Sunday
We all went our separate ways this morning. Hector and Mark to the pool, Arturo to play the slots machines downstairs, and I did my "casino ramble", ending up at Caesars Palace where I won $275.00 at a 2-cent Star Wars slot machine. Oh, Daddy! That got my juices flowing, so needless to say I was hovering around slot machines on and off the rest of the day. We did manage to squeeze in a show in the afternoon. A wretched mess called We Will Rock You, which I will now forever refer to as We Will Fuck You. It is supposedly a rock musical, celebrating the music of Queen and Freddie Mercury. But, believe me, Freddie is rolling in his grave. All the singers were great but it was an infantile premise and Hector remarked that it was like watching a high school production. There you have it. Save your $65 and put it in the Star Wars Slot Machine at Caesars Palace. After, we walked up to Mandalay Bay, to the new MIX Lounge on the 65th floor. Incredible views. Back to have dinner at Bellagio, then I went to bed while the others either drank or gambled until God Knows When. From about 2 am on, Mark and Arturo sounded like they were strangling each other with their bare hands but it turns out they were just snoring.

Monday
So much to do on our last day! Lattes in the foyer, a lovely visit to the spa: steam room and a couple of dunks in the cool plunge, long shower. Then we all met and lunched at the Bellagio buffet (on the house, since Arturo spent so much money gambling). After lunch, for our gambling finale, I won $150 twice on two separate machines. Glowing with wealth (me, not them) , we loaded our bags and hit the desert (107 degrees F! 41.6 C!) for our long 5-hour drive home.

Still in London

Lost in the Victoria & Albert Woods

Sunday 5/22/05
Slept the morning away. For lunch, we went around the corner to the small sandwich shop which served delicious baguettes but also served up some heavy attitude as it was run by French people. In a burst of exuberance we decided to walk all the way to the British Museum. 3 hours later we were greeting our old friends the Egyptians, the Rosetta Stone, the glorious Great Court and Reading Room. We had a bit of priceless refreshment upstairs, then slowly wound our way back toward Kensington-St. James' Park, snoop around B. Palace, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens. For dinner we celebrated Hector's birthday at Zaika, an exquisite Indian restaurant around the corner from the hotel on Kensington High Street. Mark insisted on calling out the chef, which he is wont to do as he is in the business- turns out the chef used to work in LA, knew San Diego well and was a delight to talk to. We all got loaded.

Monday 5/23/05
Slept late again. As we were preparing to leave the hotel, Jim and Chris appeared. Apparently unable to reach us by phone since none of the hotel staff spoke English, they decided to catch us in person in order to make plans for our trip to Bath the next day. That done, they left for Nottingham (where Jim once lived) and we left for the Victoria and Albert Museum. Visited ceramics, glass, jewelry and medieval treasures but my favorite was the installation of fake trees at the entrance.
Later, in our best bibs and tuckers, we taxied off to the Piccadilly Theatre to see Guys and Dolls starring Ewan McGregor! Now I won't become a critic here but I must say I had high hopes but low expectations for this show. It's one of my favorite musicals and it is a difficult show to keep alive. There's no big splashy effects, it just comes down to good old fashioned singing and dancing, and this cast was just great. Ewan sang and danced his little heart out even though he has the dullest role in the show. The show stopper was, of course, Martyn Ellis as Nicely Nicely Johnson. "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat" literally did stop the show. It was a very fun evening and I hope the run is successful.
After the show we met Jim and Chris at Regency Street, a bar, then walked over to Leicester Square for a boring Italian dinner.

Tuesday 5/24/05
Well, today the six of us did Bath. I love Bath. I wish I'd lived there 40 years ago before all these annoying tourists were crawling all over the place. We first took an open-air bus tour around the outskirts of the city, which I didn't remember seeing last time we were there. Some wonderful neighborhoods and homes tucked in the trees with remarkable views of the city. Every home, of course, costs a billion dollars. After the tour we had lunch at the tiniest place I've ever seen, Sally Lunn's. Six huge Americans were squeezed in upstairs like a bunch of oversized dolls in a dollhouse. We ate like the gluttons we are. Naturally, we toured the Roman Baths, I could do it every time I visit England. Then Bath Abbey, another gem. It's been meticulously restored.

We wandered around the city this time more than we did last time and I was unaware of what a shopper's... um... paradise it is. A bit much for my tastes, with all the shops selling T-shirts and magnets but I suppose one can't expect Bath to stay charming and quaint, they have to make a living, too.

Jim wanted to find the one gay bar (The Tap) mentioned in his gay guide for Bath and, after wandering around for an hour we came across it- boarded up. It didn't look like the kind of place I would want to spend the afternoon, even in it's prime.

After returning to Paddington, we said our farewells to Jim and Chris, they were off to Dublin the next day. Later Mark, Arturo, Hector and I had our Farewell to London dinner at Arcadia, a small Italian place around the corner from the hotel.

Wednesday 5/25/05
A nice surprise this morning- the front desk forgot to charge Hector and I for our upgraded room, quite a savings. (let's see...40 GBP per night = $72.50 x 7 nights = $507.50! Good God!) We quickly tiptoed out the door before they had a chance to realize their mistake.

The Slovak mafia collected us at 830 am for our 1145 am flight to JFK. I don't know why it had to be so damn early when we were the only ones in the car but we dared not argue. We had a $25 airport breakfast, finally got on our plane- same seats, same AIRPLANE as the one we came in on. I know because my seat refused to recline on the incoming flight as well. We even had one of the same evil-tempered stewardesses. Had an uncomfortable 5 hour layover in NYC, then our excruciating 6 hour flight home to San Diego. Exhausting midnight cab ride back to the house, goodbye to Mark and Arturo, I never want to see any of these people again as long as I live.

The Roman Baths, and Mark

Hector & Steve at Bath Abbey

In London

Steve taking break from tourism

Wednesday 5/18/05
Well, the trip was not too bad. We had bulkhead seats so I could stretch out these legs at least. Had a spot of dinner, got a cocktail and 10 mg of Valium in me and I slept most of the way from New York. Once at Heathrow we had to wait an hour for our car service which was run by a bunch of shady Eastern European characters. Finally at the hotel, Thistle Kensington Park, we got checked in and Hector and I decided to pay a bit extra to move from the broom closet into a Premium Executive suite with huge bathroom and small separate dining room, which we converted into the bar. And off to greet the city!
We walked through Hyde Park and caught The Big Bus tour, which dragged us through all the sights. Even though these tours are the height of touristy-ness, Hector and I always do them first when we get to a new place. It's a great way to get your bearings in a new city and after a long flight you don't have to worry about stumbling your way around. We got off at Covent Garden for dinner and by the time we made it back to the hotel, it was lights out.

Thursday 5/19/05
Today we toured the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and walked all over hell and gone. Later we met Al (going to school in London now) and his bf, Marc, at The Duke of Wellington for a cocktail, had some Chinese nearby, then went to Barcode for a drink. I really liked The Duke of Wellington but Barcode was like every cruise bar the world over-too crowded, too smoky, too noisy. Back to the hotel, stinking like a gay bar.

Friday 5/20/05
Today was Kew Gardens, which I LOVED, except there were people there, foul tourists. Had to cut the visit short, in order to meet Chris & Jim (San Diegans also visiting London) at Harrods. Too crowded to have lunch there but I managed to drop a wad at the Food Halls, then another wad having it shipped back to California. Tea, coffee, cookies and chocolates, same junk I could get at home only this was in a Harrods tin. Then we ate some Italian across the street. Later we returned to the Duke of Wellington, then a bar called Chambers. At 930 pm we rushed out to go to the Ceremony of the Keys at Tower of London. When that was done, we returned to the Duke of W, where we ran into Jim. Chris, apparently, was back at their hotel feeling ill.

Saturday 5/21/05
Wonderful early walk through Kensington Gardens. Funny old Russian lady in a mink coat and jewels with a poodle named Pushkin. After breakfast we met Jim/Chris (now well) at Waterloo for the trip to Windsor. Touring the castle was a treat, but we got drenched by a surprise downpour so we ran into a pub with the impressive name The Carpenter's Arms and gorged ourselves on pub food: meat pies, mashed potatoes, plowman's lunches and shandies. The skies cleared so we hobbled around the little town of Windsor which, other than the castle, seems to be mostly a shopping mall. Caught the train back- this time the proper train, so instead of an hour and a half, it took us 2o minutes to return to Paddington, via Slough, which I was thrilled to experience since it was where The Office took place.
That evening we made the trek to Al's flat in East Dulwich. We took tubes and trains and had to call for updates. When we finally arrived I would not have been surprised if Al had told us we were in France. But he and Marc made us a lovely dinner and we spent a few hours at their place. After dinner we all caught a bus back in to town to go to XXL, a huge bear bar tucked into some shame hole over by London Bridge. This was not just any bear bar but a bear bar with dance floors, a phenomenon unknown in Southern California. Our bears are not fond of dancing. But in London they love it so it was very fun. We stayed until sometime around 3 a.m. Al told us we'd never catch a taxi in that neighborhood at 3 a.m. but we flung ourselves out the door and there was one waiting for us. Home, James!

Innocents Abroad