Honeymoon: Day 3

No alarms or places to be before sunrise today! I slept in until 8:30 a.m., made coffee, meandered around the room and then decided that I would be less obtrusive to Jason's sleep time if I just wasn't there. Off to the beach!!

This was the first day we actually had full sunshine. It's been a little overcast and we even got some rain on Tuesday, but not this morning! The sun was shining, I pulled out a beach chair, slathered on some sunscreen and lay back to listen to the waves. Jason got the note I left and came down to join me within the hour. We were even able to get in the ocean, it wasn't too cold and the sandbar goes out far enough that you can can float in the tide, but put your feet down if it starts carrying you out. After about an hour we abandoned the beach for the infinity pool and then went back to the room to get ready for a walking tour of Old San Juan.

With Fromer's travel guide in hand we took the bus or parada into San Juan and headed for the Plaza de Imigration. We walked the city wall and took pictures of all the status dotting the passageways. It was amazing to me that we were walking along a cobblestone pathway that had been there for 400 plus years, but could still get wi-fi! Once we made it half way through the walking tour we both needed something to eat so we stopped in a small cafe and had the least expensive and one of the most satisfying lunches of our trip.

Our next stop was to find Jason a hat. We stopped in four stores along Calle de Cristo until we finally found the perfect Panama hat. Good looking and functional! We talked with a couple people about the festival masks and decided we would come back on Monday to pick out the one we want to ship back to Birmingham. We made a quick stop at the Pigeon Park where people feed hundreds of eager and insatiable pigeons. As someone who has done this before we just stood back and watched. With my medical history who knows what one in a million illness I could contract from a pigeon and we didn't want to get any poop on Jason's nice new hat.

We strolled around downtown, then headed for Casa Blanca, the original home of Ponce de Leon. Unfortunately the home and it's gardens we're closed for renovations. We skipped that piece of history and headed to El Morro, the largest of the three Spanish forts guarding the old city. At this point we had been walking around for four hours and decided to only see the top three levels, we just weren't into another three flights of stairs up and down. The fort was amazing, with some great views of both the ocean and the city.

After leaving the fort we walked back to the bus station and caught the bus back to the hotel. I will take a $ .75 bus over a $15 cab ride any day. We met a couple and their son on the bus who were visiting from Virginia, their son goes to Alabama, even though I could swear I have seen him at UAB. Its a small world. Our dinner reservations weren't until 8 p.m. so we went and enjoyed the pool one last time with a couple if piña coladas to help relax.

We decided to save the best for last, at La Concha anyway, and went to their feature restaurant Perla for dinner. The dining room is inside a giant clam shell over looking the ocean, with low track lighting and hanging pearl chandlers that gave everything a soft pink glow. It was absolutely amazing! Our waiter Wilburto also did not disappoint, he was friendly knowledgeable and keeping with the setting always spoke in a just loud enough soothing tone.

Since it was our first married date we kicked things off with a bottle of malbec and split the roasted pear and gorgonzola salad. I don't like gorgonzola cheese normally, but this was amazing. Next were fresh baked rolls until our dinner came, surf and turf for Jason ( petite filet with crab cakes and fingerling potatoes ) and the grill filet for me served with black truffle mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus. Amazing. No other word can describe it. Everything was cooked to perfection the flavors blended perfectly, I didn't want food to disappear from my plate. So of course we ordered dessert. I got the chocolate soufflé with the chambored whipped cream and vanilla ice cream while Jason got the cinnamon nut cake. Both again were amazing.

Far from disappointed, very full, and after leaving a glowing review on their customer feedback card, we head to the casino to see if our luck would continue. For me at least it did. I found a 'Going to the Chapel' slot game that must have known I was recently a brief because after putting my initial $5 I walked away with $20. Yeah! We tried our luck and some type of number wheel and then decided to call it a night and were able to break even.

Even though we are looking forward to going to Veiques, were both a little sad to be leaving La Concha. Great hotel with great staff, highly recommended!