From the king and the Romans

The morning began after everyone was awake, with coffee and the World Cup final on TV. After finally finding a TV channel that was broadcasting the game, we sat together with our coffee and watched a really entertaining and great final. ⚽️ Plans were made for what to do today and tomorrow before the flight to Hawaii. ✈️🌺

For Sunday, we decided to first go shopping at the Premium Outlets North, then watch the NBA Summer League, and later explore some of the famous hotels on the strip. 🏨

There's not much to say about shopping, except that we were all successful. 🤑 At Nike, everyone bought new shoes, some of which were even worn on the same day 😊👟

At around half past one, we headed towards Cox Pavilion, which is located on the campus of the University of Las Vegas. This is where the basketball and volleyball teams of the university usually play, but it becomes the venue for the NBA Summer League every summer. The NBA teams compete here with their young players or long-term injured players to get them fit for the upcoming season. So, if you want to see the big stars, you're actually in the wrong place. Nonetheless, we wanted to see it because it's somehow part of a USA vacation to watch a football, basketball, or baseball game. 🏈🏀⚾️ Depending on what's possible.

After finally securing a good seat, we watched the second half of the LA Lakers vs. Detroit Pistons game. At some point, Steffi said, 'Do we know that guy with the big golden watch?' Sabrina: 'Hehe, he looks like LeBron James.' Patrick: 'That IS LeBron James!' Sabrina: 'No way!' Steffi: 'I knew it, we know him!' 😂🙈 And then the phones were pulled out to take a close-up photo of the King himself. Just to let you know, LeBron James is the best and most famous basketball player since Michael Jordan. He recently moved from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the LA Lakers and signed a new contract worth $150 million over 4 years. And since we know that the King always has a say in who plays on his team and who doesn't, it made sense to see him sitting here and observing the game. It was definitely a highlight for us. 👑📸

After watching 3 quarters of the subsequent game (Toronto vs Cleveland), we decided to leave the event. Since I had found a vegan restaurant in close proximity to the university campus, my two companions kindly went with me to have something to eat there. Steffi dared to eat something there, while my husband is afraid of vegan dishes 😂 they might even taste good afterwards 😜🌱 anyway, I was in vegan gyro heaven and wanted to eat more, but after my portion of gyro with sweet potato fries, I couldn't eat anymore. Steffi's sandwich was also very tasty, so I was told that we can definitely come back here...yayyy 💃🏻

With full stomachs, at least for Steffi and me, we drove along the Las Vegas Strip until we reached the most famous hotels. The goal today was Bellagio and Caesars. Unlike 5 years ago, the hotel parking lots now charge parking fees, which we had to accept (2-4 hours for $15 😱). After parking at Bellagio, the lobby of the hotel was the first thing we saw and we could immediately understand why the rooms here cost upwards of €300 per night. 😍 everything was very clean and elegantly furnished. We immediately felt comfortable and would have loved to move in with all our suitcases 🙂 but personally, I prefer Caesars, which we visited afterwards. I just like that some hotels have a theme and are built and furnished accordingly. So, at Caesars, you can find everything in the Roman style, at New York New York everything in the New York style, and at Paris, you can find not only the Eiffel Tower but also the Arc de Triomphe and small cafes. Tomorrow, we will visit one of my favorite hotels, namely The Venetian, which is built in the style of Venice, including a gondola ride.

After Bellagio, we walked over to Caesars and strolled through the Forum Shops, where I found something again at Victoria's Secret.

At around 9pm, we walked back to Bellagio to watch the fountain show, which is shown every 15 minutes.

After that, we drove back to our hotel, where I went to bed and Steffi and Patrick went to Hooters to gamble. I'll let them gamble more often in the evenings now because an hour later, they came back to the room with a nice win 💰💰💰