Twighlight of our trip Archives - Dave and Sara’s Excellent 2018 Adventure

This morning we woke up a bit earlier than usual to hit the gym. After running for a half hour we headed up for breakfast before hitting the town.

We set out on a walk with no particular destination in mind. We started by crossing the Academia bridge and journeyed around until we crossed the Rialto. The Academia bridge is currently being restored. Our trip took us through the neighborhoods of Dosoduro and Santa Croce.

After walking for about three to four hours we stumbled in to a wine bar, Vino Vero, we found on our last trip. It was one of the highlights of our last trip so we were excited to find it again. They have tons of bruschettas. They also advertise that they don’t have spritz because they love wine. Their selection is quite good both by the glass and bottle which they sell to take away as well. It’s along the Fondamenta Misericordia in Canneregio.

After we finished at Vino Vero we started to make our way leisurely back towards the hotel. We stopped at another bar on the way for more snacks. It’s like tapas in Barcelona where you can eat a little bite and then move on and eat a little more. All delicious bites on toast and a reason to stop for a little while on the walk. In the second bar we met a law student from Israel who lives in Bologna but comes to Venice to buy his supplies for Passover. The ghetto in Venice is still one of the largest Jewish communities in Italy. Nice guy, bought us each a little shooter of wine they drink here called an ‘Ombra.’ (Note: top photo is from google just to show what the ‘Ombra’ looks like)

Our day of laying low had us walking over 20,000 steps. We enjoyed many bars and was able to escape most of the rain. Also tonight we are expecting 1.2 meters of Aqua Alta around 11:30PM so the walkways are up. As we passed through San Marco the water was already bubbling up through the storm grates across the piazza. Gladly we will be back safely at our hotel before the alarm rings. (Anything over 110cm of high tide the alarm rings all over Venice to let people know it’s coming so they can get to where they need to be.) The walkways cover heavily trafficked routes in the the areas that are most prone to flooding.

Tomorrow is our last full day of the Sabbatical and we are understandably sad to see it end. Tomorrow we will try to get emotional and “shmoopy” about the trip unless we get too busy. If that happens you all will have to wait.

We said we’d make the most of our last Saturday in Italy and we certainly did! When we booked the trip we put ourselves on the wait list for Osteria Francescana, an amazing looking restaurant by Massimo Battura that’s won all kinds of awards and is considered the number two restaurant in the world (we have heard maybe number one). It has three Michelin stars. We’ve seen it featured on a bunch of shows and the chef is an amazing artist with food. He also does a lot of good for the community and gives the impression of being a pretty cool guy. So on Friday when we called to see if we could get a place off the wait list we were shocked when they said yes to two schmoes like us.

We spent the whole day walking around and only had a salad so we would be good and hungry for the experience. The restaurant was right by our hotel so we walked over, it’s very unassuming from the outside. Inside it’s serious, all grey and dim lighting and fairly austere. The staff are all outfitted by Gucci. (Sara had to ask because their shirt collars had these big embroidered bees on them.)

Everyone who worked at the restaurant was welcoming and extremely professional. Also there didn’t seem to be any women waitresses (Note, there were many women chefs)? We both ordered the 12-course (Tutto) tasting menu with wine pairing and they adjusted it to replace all the meat dishes.

The whole experience was something to remember. All the food was outstanding and the wine pairing (which also included some non wine items like a fermented honey liquor and Yuzo) was interesting and unique.

Hands down the best part of the evening happened at the very end after we paid our bill and started walking home. Around the corner from the main entrance the kitchen door was propped open onto the street. Sara stopped to peak in and take a photo when one of the staff stepped out with the trash. They started chatting in Italian and he invited us in to take a photo with the whole crew! Unfortunately the head chef wasn’t there but still, it felt incredibly special to be welcomed into the prestigious kitchen so warmly. We will cherish this photo and the memory of truly a great night in the twilight of what has been a life changing trip for us. Another interesting note, as you can see in the photo people come from all over the world to train in one of the best kitchens. This photo likely contains the next hottest chefs we will all read about in the upcoming years, we hope.