Extraordinary Adventure 2018 Day 5: A Beautiful Contrast
When we were driving from the Milan airport to our hotel on the very first day of this trip I saw a billboard advertising trains to Venice. We hadn't thought about what to do on our last day in Milan and realized pretty quickly that we were going to hit all the major stops we wanted to see in the first few days so we booked tickets on the high-speed rail for this morning to Venice.
We woke up and walked the short two-minute walk to the Centrale train station to board the two-hour train to Venice. We boarded the first class cabin and by 11 AM we were dropped off at Venezia Santa Lucia where we burst out of the train station doors like two kids going to Disneyland after a long absence. And yet just like returning to Disneyland, it felt like we had never left. At least fifteen times throughout our day in Venice we pointed at a spot and said remember this, or in 2006 we went here. It's surreal to be in a place for only a few days in your life but have such a visceral memory/feeling when there.
Venice is and continues to be one of our favorite cities in the world. It's not a place we need a lot of time in, but when we're there we have this deep sense of joy that I'm not sure I'm doing justice. We walked straight through the heart of Venice, through the Grand Canal, and stopped in shops along the way. By noon we were ready for more Italian food and searched once again on TripAdvisor for a place to eat. We landed on (after a lot of searching) Trattoria al Gazzettino a small restaurant near Piazza San Marco. We sat down and were immediately greeted with free food. We each ordered a glass of wine and were given some pasta salad to start. Once we ordered our entrees they brought out some sardines (my least favorite thing in the world). For our entree, Jenn went plain and had the spaghetti pomodoro and I had the pappardelle with duck. After our entrees, we were full and asked for the check. We were brought the check along with a cake, some cookies, and two shots of their house alcohol. We left full and slightly buzzed.
After lunch, we went back out and just walked. We had no plans. Nothing really to do, or to see. The weather was perfect. Right around 70 degrees, which was perfect to do almost 8-miles of walking in a few hours. We just let the canals lead us with no real destination in mind. We stumbled into our favorite Italian clothing store Sisley where we've made purchases on each of our Venice visits (except for the first in 2006). Jenn bought a beautiful dress and I bought a work shirt. And from there we just explored. We landed on our favorite bridge over the grand canal and took a ton of photos. We finished our day in Venice at the #1 rated Gelato store in Venice, Suso.
At 4 PM we started walking back to the train station to make our 5 PM train back to Milan. Our train was right on time and we made it back to Milan at 7:30 PM. The one concern we had with booking this day trip to Venice was our final activity in Milan before flying out tomorrow. We've found over the years that some of our favorite memories are trying some of the best restaurants a city has to offer. I did some research and after searching for a reservation every day for almost a month was able to secure a table at the Michelin star awarded restaurant Contraste. Our reservations were for 8 PM so we ran from the train station to our hotel room, changed within a few minutes, and jumped into a taxi to take us to dinner.
We arrived fifteen minutes late but after getting through what appeared to be a random door we were escorted into a courtyard and into a small restaurant with a total of ten tables. After our jackets were grabbed we plopped down in a corner table and were given water and offered some starter drinks. We chose to go with two glasses of champagne which was far and away the best champagne either of us has ever had. We didn't know how much it cost when we ordered it but were relieved at the end to see they didn't gauge us. From there we were handed a menu with two options. One was the standard six-course meal with the options laid out. The other was a page with a mirror on it and the words "reflection menu". Its an eleven course (which turned out to be twelve) meal that they made based on our preferences. They asked us if we wanted more fish or meat, more fun dishes or traditional and if there was anything we didn't like. Really our only feedback was that Jenn hates lettuce, otherwise we said let's have some fun.
By the time the clock had hit 11:30 PM we had just finished our twelfth and final course of what was to this point the best meal of our lives. Each course was a surprise within itself. They all played on different ideas like pasta with an explosion of risotto, or a box with a key that you have to unlock to then dive into three distinct flavors (meat, sea, and land). One of our favorites was a lasagna donut a small lasagna in the shape and flavor profile that matched both a donut and lasagna. The meal ended with two fun desserts one that was inspired by pulp fiction that looked like a crime scene and the other in the shape of an apple that was an apple cinnamon dessert. Each course was just so much fun and there literally was not one crumb left of any of the twelve courses. We left the restaurant at almost midnight flying high after eating what can only be described as an artistic genius on a plate.
We left the restaraunt and walked to the nearby subway only to find it closed and instead made our way back to a nearby taxi stand to get us back to our hotel. We arrived back safe and sound a little after midnight with our bellies full and our joy running over.
