A month in Europe, away from construction dust and plastic walls at home in San Diego, as well as new adventures in northern Italy and a second stay in the apartment in Paris, was our plan for July. Our floating weeks in the Paris apartment during the second half of July spurred us to add on a cycling trip to an area we’ve long wanted to explore, the Dolomites. In the fall of 2024, we signed up for an 8-day Ciclismo Classico trip called Ride the Dolomites. We were the first two to sign on and it would require 5 to go, so for months we were on tenderhooks wondering if we’d have to come up with a Plan B. Eventually, another couple signed up, but we were still short one person. In March, we received word that the trip would go-with just us four! Finally, we could make arrangements to get ourselves to the starting point, Bolzano, the western gateway to the Dolomites.
With the help of a travel agent suggested by Ciclismo, Rosemary from Via Mondo Travel, a plan emerged. We’d fly from NYC to Paris CDG and continue on via a short ITA flight to Milan a couple of days before we were due in Bolzano. We’d never been to Milan, so we’d spend two full days exploring it before taking the train to Bolzano. After the bike trip, which would return us to Bolzano, we decided to spend a couple of days in another Italian city we’d never been to, Verona. From Verona, we’d return by train to Milan to fly to Paris Orly for the second half of the month.
Although we’ve done a number of cycling trips over the years, it had been since 2000 since our one and only prior trip with Ciclismo-a 10-day Tuscany extravaganza that we recalled fondly.
Thursday-Friday July 3-4, 2025
Since our Jetblue flight to CDG wasn’t leaving until evening, we spent the morning with Les at the Met seeing a John Singer Sargent show of his early and formative artistic years in Paris, entitled Sargent and Paris. Sargent arrived in Paris in 1874 as an 18-year-old and spent the next decade based there, making forays to other European countries and North Africa.
A few favorites from the John Singer Sargent exhibition at the Met: Smoke of Ambergris, 1880, was begun in Tangier, Morocco and finished at Sargent’s studio in Paris in time for exhibition at the Salon of 1880. It depicts a woman perfuming herself with incense of ambergris, a substance derived from sperm whales.
Another favorite from the Sargent and Paris exhibition at the Met in 2025: an unusually relaxed portrait of a French gynecologist entitled Dr. Pozzi at Home (1881).
Sargent’s best known work, from the Metropolitan Museum’s own collection, the infamous Madame X. Although now regarded as a masterpiece and an American Mona Lisa, it was not initially well received when it was exhibited at the Salon of 1884. It was regarded as brazenly sexual, leading Sargent to repaint the dress’ right shoulder strap after the exhibition (originally it was depicted as having slipped down off the subject’s shoulder).
Lunch was in the Met’s member’s lounge (a $40 lobster roll for me, $20 small crustless chicken curry sandwich for Steve), a peaceful retreat from the hoards thronging the understandably popular exhibit.
Another treat on our July visit to the Met in NYC: the Ceremonial House Ceiling crowns the newly renovated and expanded Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Kwoma artists from the Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea paint pangals, which are individually painted sago palm petioles, creating a map of the cosmos, mythical knowledge and clan histories.
We can usually manage to carry on for a trip to Europe, but having to take cycling clothes and helmets for a bike trip prompted us to invest in smooth-rolling, medium-sized Away bags.
We took a blue Revel Tesla to Grand Central to catch a LIRR train to Jamaica, to the Airtrain to JFK ($30 + $14 + $17). At peak commuting hour, this was a fairly painless alternative.
Because this was an overnight flight to CDG, I had splurged for JetBlue’s MInt, ensuring we’d be at least a little bit rested for an afternoon at CDG airport before our short ITA flight to Milan-Linate. We’d considered taking a train from Paris, but an 8-hour journey on top of a trans-Atlantic flight was too much. This proved to be a good decision, as we learned later via text from our friend Patricia in Paris: mudslides between Paris and Milan blocked train travel.
An air traffic controller’s strike mildly delayed our flight, one of a series of potentially disruptive events we repeatedly skirted or were only minimally affected by throughout this multi-part journey.
To our surprise, it was a breeze to take the clean and modern Milan subway from Linate airport, close to the city center, to our hotel, Room Mate Giulia, just steps from Duomo.
On the subway, Milan.
This was our first time staying in a Room Mate Collection hotel. The location could not have been better, practically inside the soaring Galleria shopping center and across the piazza from the Duomo.
The Gothic Duomo di Milano anchors the Piazza del Duomo in Milan-a breathtaking sight!
We dined at a pleasant restaurant in walking distance recommended by the hotel, Locanda alla Scala, enjoying veal carpaccio with dollops of tuna with caper berries, penne-like pasta with head-on shrimp for me and gnocchi with cherry tomatoes for Steve.
Milanese street scene, with the Duomo.
Saturday, July 5, 2025
Our good fortune with timing continued on our midday walking food tour with Davide, lucking into a private tour, just the two of us (the previous day there had been two groups of 15 people!).
Scene from a walking food tour in Milan, along a canal.
Our mistake was eating breakfast at the hotel, as the portions were substantial, including risotto with pear, tartare with capers and burrata, a Sicilian street snack called arrancini (rice ball with cheese and meat inside), coffee, and finally, gelato (hazelnut and pistachio).
We didn’t have as much difficulty making up our minds, thanks to our food tour Davide.
In the afternoon, I tried on jewelry at Prada with Stefano while Steve did street photography of the throngs of people in the Galleria.
Italy’s oldest active shopping arcade and one of the most beautiful, Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. It was designed in 1861 by architect Giuseppe Mengoni and finished in 1877. It is a Milanese landmark and common meeting place, known as the il salotto di Milano (Milan’s drawing room).
The line 3 subway and a short walk took us to Fondazione Prada. We arrived too late for the museum but our actual destination was the Wes Anderson-designed Bar Luce, with its mid-century color palette and appointments.
We loved this Wes Anderson (yes, the filmmaker) designed bar, Bar Luce, at Fondazione Prada, where I enjoyed the linea sandwich (bresceola, rocket, parmigiana, lemon), while Steve imbibed an aviation cocktail.
A protest was still ongoing (Palestians vs. the Isreali government) when we arrived back at the Duomo piazza.
Cafe scene, Piazza del Duomo, with the Galeria to the left.
Sunday, July 6, 2025
We met up with Raffaele for our Milan Highlights and Hidden Gems Walking Tour ($225) at Piazza de Mercato under the arches, near the hotel. In response to a Whats App message from him, I typed out Buongiorno, only to have the autocorrect change it to Bunion. Luckily, I caught the change before hitting send.
Piazza de Mercato was a nexus of urban life in times past, where one could pay taxes, etc.
Milanese piazza, with budding gymnasts.
Our walking tour took us as far as Castello Sforzesco, although the adjacent park was closed. A pleasant surprise was a small church, San Maurizio, which is subdivided into two halves, with the back half previously a convent where nuns (girls from privileged families who did not marry) lived. A fenestrated screen permitted the nuns to hear the mass and through a small opening in the dividing wall, they could take communion. The paintings were elaborate, covering the walls and ceiling, and decorating the side chapels, earning the church the nickname, the Sistine Chapel of Milan. Reportedly, the interior is more elaborately decorated than the Duomo itself. As we were not to make it into the Duomo itself, this was a consolation. It also has a version of The Last Supper.
We saw a version of the Last Supper in Milan, inside a small church, San Maurizio. No, not THE Last Supper by Leonardo daVinci, which would have required a 6 month leadtime to book!
We booked too late (in May!) to see Leonardo’s Last Supper, which requires 6 months of lead time! I also wasn’t willing to pay almost $900 for a private skip-the-line tour of the Last Supper which Rosemary found.
The interior of San Maurizio in Milan was covered with paintings. I loved this version of Noah’s Ark.
We took leave of our guide, who works as a journalist during the week and lived in the US (NYC and Miami) for 15 years, at Piazza de la Scala, where a large statue of Leonardo da Vinci presides over four smaller figures of his assistants and panels extolling his achievements.
We had lunch at Cafe Cracco in the Galleria. I made a quick trip to Issey Miyake in the adjacent shopping district, narrowly avoiding the siren calls of a cute asymmetrical navy blue wool sweater which would be tricky to wear.
At 4 pm, we made our way across the Piazza del Duomo to the Museo de Novecento, which highlights the achievements of the Futurists and Lucio Fontana of the slashed canvases. Fontana designed a ceiling with swirling lines along the same lines, as well as a suspended light pendant, in the museum.
While we were in the final galleries, a small crowd gathered at one of the few windows that did not have a drawn shade. The predicted storm had utterly transformed the piazza-the Duomo was now pale against an angry dark violet, violent-looking sky.
An astonishing sight, God rays emanating from the Duomo? Actually, for once, reflections from the windows of the museum from which this was taken were working for me.
Downstairs, people were streaming in via the automatic open doors, holding them open and keeping them from closing, letting in a torrent of water. The wind was sideways, sweeping across the plaza, as I watched a young man shielding himself from being blown over, behind a large square pillar.
I could see from the museum the Duomo staff’s efforts to secure the barricades and usher the stragglers out. We were scheduled to ascend the Duomo at 6 pm, but it seemed clear that would not be happening.
We did venture later into the subway for dinner at Da Giacomo (pasta with lobster, gnocchi with seafood, spinach, tiramisu). One of the hotel’s two generic long black umbrellas was missing from the stand when we departed, apparently the victim of a case of mistaken identity?
We really enjoyed our introduction to Milan. Many of the travel blogs we consulted said two days was enough for Milan, an assessment with which I would strenuously disagree, at least for those into art. Not to mention, the architecture, food and shopping…next time, Leonardo’s Last Supper, Fondazione Prada and the Pinocotheca. Next stop, at last, the Dolomites!
-Marie