San Diego

Friday was more of the same dreary weather. We drove by Bread and Cie, another bakery and café for lunch, but it was busy and it failed to lure us in. So, we held true to our word and went back to Con Pane. It was just as wonderful as the day before. I couldn’t stray from the salami sandwich, Frank tried the turkey and we ordered a walnut chocolate chip cookie for dessert and a loaf of hazelnut raisin bread to go. The cookie was served warm, it was delicious. We dug into the loaf as soon as we got into the car. It was also terrific. Again, I was in heaven after another superb meal.

We stopped at Shelter Island after lunch.

From San Diego

From San Diego

We spotted the Seal Tour while there and thought it’d be fun. They reminded us of the Duck Tours in Wisconsin Dells. We saw they boarded in Seaport Village so we headed there next.

From San Diego

We couldn’t find where the tickets were sold. We gave up after realizing that it would be awfully chilly out on the water.

We saw the USS Midway Museum on our last visit and really enjoyed it.

From San Diego

We thought we’d check out the Maritime Museum this time. Admission was $14 per person, the Dolphin wasn’t there, so we decided against it. Maybe we’ll see it another time when all the ships are there?

From San Diego

From San Diego

Before leaving we stopped at the giftshop and bought a few postcards. Frank wanted to send them out. I thought it was kinda silly. I’ve never done postcards, I thought they were more for when you go on long trips – like out of the country long trips. But whatever, we filled them out and thought we’d find a post office easily since we spotted a dozen the day before. Well, this turned into a nightmare. Nearly two hours were wasted in search of postcard stamps. We gave up and returned our hotel for our last siesta. Before heading to the room we checked with the front desk and gift shop for stamps, they directed us to the post office across the highway in the mall near the Sports Chalet. We retired to our room. Later, hunger struck we headed out for dinner. We tossed around a bunch of ideas before settling on Giorgino’s Deli. They are known for their cheesesteaks, since our favorite place closed in Vegas, we thought this would hit the spot. The bread was the real stuff. The meat was good, I prefer a chunkier grilled onion and I’m not a fan of the white American cheese. I prefer Provolone. Needless to say, it was good, but it too lacked that something special.

We parked at Horton Plaza and figured we'd spend the rest of the night downtown. No movies caught our interest. We walked around a bit.

From San Diego

From San Diego

From San Diego

We had no better plan so we went back to Los Panchos for more margaritas. The mariachi band was playing. We kicked back with our chips, salsa and margaritas and pretended we were in Mexico. I told Frank we were going to make our own sunshine. It was a busy night, they ran out of margarita glasses after our first one, our next two were served in soda glasses. No complaints from us. After we finished up we walked a bit before heading back to the car. Parking was free because I noticed the validation booths inside the mall. Never noticed those before, they may be new? We picked up more Pacifico and lotto tickets before returning to the hotel.

All week I planned for us to visit Little Italy on Saturday and pick up goodies from a few delis and the Farmer’s Market. When I woke up that morning, it was dark outside. Who knew the clouds could get thicker? It poured, it rained, it drizzled. We packed up and checked out of the hotel. I told Frank I didn’t want to fight the rain so let’s skip Little Italy. Instead, we’ll grab a bite and head straight home. He agreed, but wanted to stop at the post office inside the mall beforehand. He had me run in from lower level parking. I take the elevator up only to find that this is an outdoor mall. Great for when it’s sunny, but real crummy for rainy days. I dodged the rain the best I could, but I got incredibly frustrated when I found the Sports Chalet and the post office was no where near it. I located a directory and pinpointed the post office. It was on the otherside of the mall by Macy’s Home Store. Joy. Finally, I arrive, I wait in line, I get my stamps and have them mail the postcards. Never again.

We consider a couple of the breakfast places on my list, but then asked ourselves, who are we kidding? We are going back to Con Pane.

I got my perfect sandwich one last time. Frank tried the Roast Beef. It rivaled my sandwich, simple and fresh go a long way. It was simply great beef, with onions, tomato and goat cheese smothered in between a French banquette. I think the perfect lunch would be a half of each sandwich.

From San Diego

We didn’t stop there. We ordered a cinnamon roll for dessert, and three more to go, as well as, a loaf of Gruyere and Chive bread.

We left a little sad, Con Pane was the highlight of our trip. I will miss that little slice of heaven.

On the five hour drive home, we ate all but one slice of bread. It was a true treat, light and fluffy with a crispy crust, a hint of onion with chunk of Gruyere baked in. Bliss. Pure Bliss.

From San Diego

Inside that box were the remaining cinnamon rolls we enjoyed them the following day.

From San Diego

We’ve had better times in San Diego. We weren’t prepared for the cool temps and lack of sun, but we handled it the best we could – with a lot of whining. It was just such a shock to the system. All month, we’ve had sunshine and temps in the 90’s. I heard on the local news we never saw temps below 64 degrees in the entire month of May. It never got that warm our entire time in San Diego, but we had loads of laughs and ate some great food. I can’t complain about that.