Extraordinary Adventure 2018 Day 3: All Aboard
We try to ease into our vacations the best we can so we didn't have a lot planned for our first full day in Milan. We both went to bed at around 10 PM last night and were up by 3 AM. We did watch three episodes of Magic for Humans on Netflix before falling back asleep. When we woke up were both somewhat surprised to see that the clock had already hit 11 AM. So we may have overslept a bit.
Not to worry I went to go work out and Jenn got ready. By 12:30 we were off and running. We didn't make it far from our hotel before we stopped for lunch at Pane & Tulipani. Jenn had the ragu ravioli and I had the carbonara. We kept things light knowing that we had a big multi-course meal tonight that we were really looking forward to. The lunch was good, not great, but hit the spot before we made our way back to the subway.
This time we took the subway to the Duomo, one of the big attractions here in Milan. We didn't spend much time there (as we are touring it tomorrow) but after snapping a couple quick shots we made a bee-line to the shopping district. Milan is known for great shopping and this area didn't disappoint. We first went to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which is a beautiful indoor mall, that might be the most picturesque one we've ever seen. I did stop at a small cafe to get a cappuccino before we kept walking.
We stopped at many stores along the way including one of the most beautiful Apple stores I've ever seen (and that's saying something). There were two beautiful fountains on either sides of the entrance that led down to a store that was below ground. But you couldn't tell you were underground because of the amazing architecture that allowed a lot of natural light in. After I geeked out for a few minutes we stopped at a couple more stores including Sisley (our Italy go-to) and Mango one of our new faves. I got a couple of jackets (winter is coming) and Jenn got a beautiful dress before we jumped back on the subway to our hotel.
After Jenn took a nap and I posted yesterday's first recap of the trip we went back out and got a quick coffee and donut to tide us over to dinner. We also did some light shopping near the central train station here in Milan. We came back to our room, watched an episode of Queer Eye on Netflix and left for our final destination of the evening, the Tram Ristorante ATMosfera. It's something we saw on the Amazing Race many years ago and it's a tram that goes around Milan and served you dinner.
We arrived and waited for the tram to arrive at 8:30 PM before boarding and going on our two-hour journey throughout Milan. When we sat down at our table for two we were poured champagne and had our first course a beef tartare on a small baguette. We also had a bottle of red wine waiting at our table.
When we booked this tour a month back we both ordered off the same "meat menu" and are so glad we did. Everything was spectacular. Our second course was a smoked beef salad with asparagus and parmesan. It was a nice light dish, and the combination of all the flavors was really nice. I think both of our favorite course of the night was the trofie pasta with pig's cheek, cream of broad beans, and flakes of ewe cheese. The pasta was definitely freshly made, and the pig cheek was out of this world.
The main course was the filet of pork with an apple and mustard sauce and a small salad. The pork was slightly overcooked (more medium than medium rare) but the sauce more than made up for it. For dessert, we had a lovely tiramisu with an espresso to close out the night. The tram ended two hours after it began and we were dropped off right where the trip started. After a lovely evening taking in the beautiful streets of Milan, we hopped back on the subway and were back at our hotel an hour before the day ended. It was such a great first day in Milan it makes me even more excited to see what the rest of our stay here has in store.
