Vegas, Here I Come: When I got the assignment to write about where to eat in Las Vegas, I gave myself four days to try 10 restaurants. I’ve written enough about dining over the years to know that I should be afraid. The schedule I planned went like this—Day one: lunch at 12:30, dinner at 5:00, dinner again at 8:30; Day two: repeat. I don’t want to sound like a billionaire whining about taxes, but I would say I had some trepidation. The truth is, we are not meant to eat one lavish meal on top of another. But with the food as good as it was, restraint presented its own challenges. The weekend was like a moralistic myth in which some hero wishes never to be hungry again—and then learns exactly what kind of hell that can be.

Never on Sunday: Still, in Vegas, what’s wrong is right. For me, playing poker is the ultimate vacation from respectability. I had made a point of traveling with a friend who likes to spend as much time at the tables as I do—Carol Fenelon, who happens to be the producer of the new poker flick Lucky You, starring Robert Duvall, Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana. On Friday and Saturday, every time I sat down at a poker table, I walked away with another $200 in my pocket. I was in heaven. But then Sunday night arrived, and I could not win. A woman wearing a diamond dollar-sign necklace who seemed to know every dealer in the room took all of my chips in 45 minutes. I moved to another table, where a mute man with pomaded hair depleted my stack in half that time. I moved to yet another table. I didn’t stay long. I finally realized that the room was filled with serious poker players, professionals who were not there for a good time. Sunday is their night. My fun was over.

Bring It On: Ah, well. I still had that evening’s second dinner to look forward to, as well as a show: O, Cirque du Soleil’s acrobatic, balletic, gymnastic tour de force that takes place in a huge swimming arena. The audience chatter was filled with foreign languages. Suddenly, I understood Cirque du Soleil’s fantastic success in Vegas (it has four similar shows, all playing in the city): You don’t need to understand English to enjoy these dialogue-free spectacles. Las Vegas is all about international languages, cards, greed, sex, food and theatrics, making it the true international city.