Well you wouldn't think you could go to the Mall for a day's entertainment, but we did. Ceasars Palace Forum Shops are an architectural extravaganza.

As you may imagine, the theme is Roman with some huge statues of scantly clad women. But there is more to it than that, it is built to overawe you, just like the ancient Roman buildings. The entrance is four storeys tall with a floor to ceiling atrium. The ceilings are painted with beautiful murals and the statues are, well, statuesque.

Also, I was personally amazed at the two escalators that service the four-story entrance section. These escalators are curved! From the side they look like curved staircases with solid banisters. I didn’t know you could do that! It is quite an effect. If you want to see how a normal straight escalator is constructed have a look at our article on the AAA Encyclopedia How an Escalator Works. Having seen that, it is hard to imagine how they make it curve around.

The Shop have all the prestige brands, Gucci, Versace, Lalique, etc. etc. It was fun to window shop. We found a gadget shop and I got a magic wand that has a neon light display in the end and makes a “briinggg” sound. I was really jealous of the one that Ken got last year with the light at the end and the dragon twined around it, so I got one for myself. Can you believe the lengths a grownup will go to to indulge in toys!

We saw part of one of the light and sound shows. There are several, including a 3D ride which we didn't take in deference to our backs (Lesson learned: If your bones are creaking and can only take one set of jolting and bumping along on one of the simulation rides, save it for the Star Trek Experience).

The two shows involve animated statues in the fountains in the rotundas that are built into the length of the mall. One, the last one in the back of the mall, is the most elaborate with explosions and lighting effects. That fountain is built over a large aquarium. There seem to be dozens of these aquariums in Las Vegas.

But the best part was the FAO Schwarz toy store!! It has a giant Trojan horse at the entrance, and yes there is a keyboard you can dance on. We bought a couple of toys for ourselves, and two stuffed animals for the children in Austin. Ken had written them a story that said we came to America riding on animals. First we went to the zoo on the tram and then began the journey by land on kangaroos, by sea on turtles, and by air on eagles. Well ever since, they have been asking their Daddy "have they taken the trip to the zoo yet?" So, we bought a toy porpoise and a sea turtle, both very huggable.

Any way, we spent 6 hours or so wandering through the shops and the dehydration really hit us in the lower backs, so we came back to the hotel room and drank lots of water and (guess what?) Collapse!