FOUR DAYS IN MILAN, ITALY: The Duomo, Museums, Cimitero Monumentale, Canals, and More

Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II, Milan, Italy. 

Milan is the bustling center of modern Italian design and fashion. Even babies in their strollers are well-dressed. The city also has a long history, with countless churches, palaces, museums, and historic sites to entice visitors. In early June, Art and I spent four days in Milan at the beginning of a ten-day trip to northern Italy.

Display welcoming the 2026 Winter Paralympics to Milan/Cortina.

Like all of our trips to Europe, a nine-hour time difference from our home in California, we allowed several days to adjust to the time change. We arrived in Milan on a Sunday, and after checking in at our hotel in the city center, walked to a nearby pizzeria for a light supper, ending with our favorite Italian dessert, caramel panna cotta. Every meal we ate in Italy was delicious!

The Milan Duomo (Cathedral).

The next day our focus was the Duomo, the cathedral that sits in the middle of Milan like a giant stone wedding cake. As we stood in the piazza gazing up at the roof spires, we could see tiny people walking up to the top. We then made our way to the back of the cathedral to wait for our turn to ride the elevator to the roof. (We had bought tickets online ahead of time. Alternatively, you can climb up the 165 steps to the top—a cheaper ticket and different line.) Security is strict to get into the Duomo. Women are required to have covered shoulders and knees and flip-flop sandals are not allowed. If you show up in shorts or a sleeveless top you can purchase a thin white cover-up garment.

View of Milan from the roof of the Duomo.

As we emerged from the elevator we found ourselves on the first roof level, amongst the flying buttresses and 135 statue topped spires, and with a spectacular view of all of Milan. In the distance was the modern business center of the city, with its skyscrapers and the needle-like tower, the Torre Pirelli . Until it was built (1955-60), the Duomo was the tallest building in Milan.

Walkway around the roof of the Duomo.

As we followed the route around the roof we got close-up views of the elaborate stonework and hundreds of figures perched on the spires before our final climb to the roof peak. Once again we admired the view, and then from there descended the narrow circular staircase to the inside of the Duomo.

Marble floor of the Duomo. Woman wearing cover-up over her bare arms.

Some of the 52 pillars inside the Duomo.

Sculptured panels on the central doors of the Duomo.

We had purchased an audio tour for our phone to guide us around the inside of the Duomo and this helped us appreciate the history and significance of its various parts. Everything in the cathedral is over-the-top, from the huge stained-glass windows (said to be the largest in Christendom), to the marble floor, the pillars (52 of them, one for every week of the year), the numerous side chapels, and the huge paneled doors on the front.

Detail from one of the windows of the Duomo, displayed in the Duomo Museum.

Gargoyles from the Duomo, some from the 14th Century, moved to the Museum for conservation.

The construction of the Duomo began in the 14^th century but was not completed until Napoleon’s time. The Duomo Museum, next to the cathedral, displays statues, gargoyles, building models and artifacts that tell the Duomo’s 600-year history. A side doorway in the museum takes you through a courtyard to a small hidden chapel, San Gottordo in Corte, refreshing in its simplicity. A fresco from the Giotto School was recently discovered on one of its walls.

Courtyard leading to the chapel of San Gottordo in Corte.

Before returning to our hotel, we did a short tour of the Vittorio Emmanuel II shopping arcade, located at the side of the Duomo Piazza, and billed as the Rodeo Drive of Italy, with its glamorous designer stores. However, most people in the crowded mall were tourists, not shoppers, taking selfies under the magnificent domed roof.

Center of the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle II. 

The next day began with a visit to the weekly street fair and farmer’s market on Viale Pepiniano. The wealth of available fresh fruits and vegetables on display explains why Italian cooking is so good!  

Stall at the Tuesday farmers' market on Viale Pepiniano.

We purchased super-sweet cherries just in season. On our way back to our hotel we stopped to visit the Basilica and monastery of Sant' Ambrogio one of the most ancient churches in Milan.

Mosaic of Christ the Pantocrator (4th to 8th C.) in the apse of the Basilica of Sant' Ambrogio.

In the afternoon we met my cousin and her husband who live in Milan, who gave us a personal tour of some sites that I had read about in my guidebook but were outside the city center. (They had a car.) The first was the CimiteroMonumental, a burial ground for the rich and famous begun in Victorian times, that is more like an open-air art museum than a graveyard. (Entrance is free.) A map at the entrance marks the mausoleums and graves of particular importance. 

Reclining figure at the Cimitero Monumental.

Ziggurat-like sculpture at the Cimitero Monumental. Tomb of Antonio Berocchi, created by Giannino Castiglioni.

It seems that every Italian artist worth his salt has been invited to create a sculpture here. Themes vary from the intimate to the majestic, with many references to ancient history. The shaded walkways were welcome on the warm day of our visit and there were almost no other people there on a weekday afternoon.

The Bosco Verticale apartment building, designed by Boen Studio in the Porta Nuova area of Milan.

Our next stop was at the Bosco Verticale, or Vertical Forest, a unique pair of apartment buildings covered with so many trees and plants they appear as giant trees themselves.

Summer evening in the Navigli (canal) District, Milan, with its restaurants, shops, live music and giant video screens.

Our day ended with dinner at a restaurant in the Navigli, or canal, District. At the time that the Duomo was under construction in Milan, a system of canals was dug (including a lock designed by Leonardo) in order to transport marble from the quarries in the mountains to the city. In the last century, most of the canals were filled in, but a few remain. Today they are lined with shops and restaurants and have a lively night life. Next to the canal, a communal washing station is preserved, from the time that women gathered here to wash their clothes and chat.

Science Museum. Models of some of Leonardo's flying machines.

Science Museum. Cat drawings by Leonardo da Vinci.

We did not see Leonardo’s Last Supper, perhaps Milan’s most famous artwork. Limited tickets are available and need to be purchased months ahead of time, which we didn’t do. But, on our last day, we visited the Leonardoda Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology where most of the second floor is devoted to Leonardo’s life and many inventions, with models, drawings, artifacts and multi-media displays. One section focused on the many works of art inspired by and modeled on Leonardo's Last Supper.

On the bridge of the canal.

We didn’t visit La Scala, the Sforza Castle, or go shopping while we were in Milan. Not enough time to do everything. But we did see a lot and enjoyed delicious Italian food. And after four days we had made significant progress on our jet lag and were ready for our driving trip to the Alps.

OSLO, THREE DAYS IN MAY: Art, Opera, History and Sunshine

View of Oslo from inside the Opera House.

We landed in Oslo on May 1^st, our first stop on a two-week trip to Norway. We had three days to get over jet lag before traveling to Bergen, where my husband would attend a professional meeting. We wanted to see as much as we could of Oslo, knowing that in our short time there we would have to pick and choose. 

Pansies in a sidewalk planter in front of our hotel in Oslo.

Our hotel, the Thon Hotel Rosenkrantz, was located in the center of town within walking distance of most things we wanted to do.

Boat in the harbor, Oslo fjord.

On our first evening, after dinner in the excellent Italian restaurant in our hotel, we walked to the harbor on the Oslo Fjord, enjoying the evening sunshine of the far north spring. (Because it was close to midsummer, the sun didn’t set until nearly 10pm and rose again early in the morning!) 

Family of Four, Sculpture by Gustav Vigeland, Oslo.

In the plaza by the harbor stood “Family of Four,” by Gustav Vigeland, Norway's most famous sculptor. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to see the museum and park in Oslo that features so much of Vigeland’s work. 

A tiny painter puts dots on the side of a storage building at the harbor.

But we saw lots of other public art everywhere we went, including this whimsical painting on the side of a building alongside the harbor.

Nobel Peace Center, Oslo.

The next morning, we visited the Nobel Peace Center. (Gustav Vigeland is the designer of the Nobel Peace Prize Medal.) At the Peace Center we learned about Alfred Nobel (Swedish chemist and inventor of dynamite) and about the history of the Peace Prize and all the individuals who have received the award. I was reminded that Jane Addams, social activist and founder of Hull House in Chicago, was one of the early recipients.

Astrup Fearnley Museum.

All along the waterfront people were enjoying the warm weather, walking, sitting on benches, and eating at the many outdoor restaurants. Further along the Oslo Fjord we came to the Astrup FearnleyMuseum, one of Scandinavia’s most notable museums for contemporary art. The museum, designed by Renzo Piano, spans two buildings bisected by a canal. We walked over a bridge from one to the other. In one building, selected items from the Astrup Fearnley collection are displayed. They include paintings, textiles, sculpture, and other works by a wide variety of artists from around the world. There is also a room for children and families to create their own art.

Looking at Art Institute of Chicago 2, photograph by Thomas Struth at the Astrup Fearnley Museum, 2024.

Looking at Paris Street Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte at the Art Institute of Chicago, 2022.

We were particularly engaged by a photograph entitled ­­Art Institute of Chicago 2 by Thomas Struth. In 2022 we were with our family in Chicago in front of the very same painting depicted in the photo, taking our own picture! (See the second photo above.) Our photo in Oslo (with me in the foreground) adds another layer of reality.

Bird Cabinet by Leonard Rickhard.

On the other side of the canal, the Astrup Fearnley Museum building features rotating temporary exhibits. We chose to see the retrospective of the work of Norwegian artist Leonard Rickhard. (It ended on May 19. ) The exhibit was organized around repeating themes in Rickhard's work—a bird cabinet, the night painter, the model table, the birch forest, deserted barracks, workers sheds—often in combination. I was struck by the contemporary look of his paintings, even those done fifty years ago. (For more samples of items at the Astrup Fearnley Museum, see my June 17 post at my Art and Books blog.)

Inside the Oslo Opera House on the ground floor.

That evening we had tickets for the opera, performed at the spectacular new opera house, where the roof is also a giant patio. 

From the roof of the Oslo Opera House your can see the Munch Museum next door. It is dedicated to the work of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch and has three versions of his famous painting The Scream. 

The opera we saw was Cenerentola (Cinderella) by Rossini. The production was lively and humorous and easy to understand—a small screen at our seats followed the libretto translated into either Norwegian or English. (We chose, English, of course. Throughout Norway, at least in areas frequented by tourists, we found that almost everyone speaks English.) At intermission, as we stood on the balcony and gazed out the windows, the sun was just setting over the Oslo skyline.

At Henrik Ibsen's grave in the Memorial Cemetery.

On our second full day in Oslo we had arranged to meet an American friend who has lived in Oslo most of her life. It was wonderful to have a personal guide and insight on what it is like to live and raise a family in Norway. On the way to her apartment she took us through the Memorial Cemetery, a beautiful park-like area open to the public. It is the burial place of both ordinary citizens and Norwegian notables like Henrik Ibsen and Edgar Munch. 

Old Aker Church was built as a three-naved Romanesque style basilica.

From the cemetery we walked to the Gamle Aker Church, the oldest church in Oslo. It dates back to the 12^th Century and continues as an active congregation. The next day, on our visit to the Folk Museum in Bygdoy, we saw a 19th Century painting of the church. 

Our guide for our tour of the Folk Museum.

Our last full day in Oslo was devoted to a visit to the Folk Museum, a large park-like complex with museums and historical buildings from rural parts of Norway. Interpreters are dressed in traditional costumes. With a little imagination you almost feel as if you have taken a trip back in time. We took a one-hour English language tour that ended at the famous stave church, dating from the 13th century.

Stave Church at the Folk Museum. It is built entirely of wood.

We then wandered on our own, visiting a traditional farm kitchen, where young women in period clothes were baking lefse (a slightly sweet soft flat bread) on a griddle over hot coals. We bought two slices, served hot and slathered with melted butter. They were delicious!

The next morning we headed for the train station for the next part of our trip—a train ride over the mountains to Bergen. For a report of that journey and more about Oslo, see my post of May 27. We enjoyed our three days in Oslo, had beautiful sunny weather, made progress on adjusting to the time change, and felt we got a taste of the city. Someday we’ll have to go back and explore more.

At the Folk Museum with our two slices of freshly baked lefse.

MOUNTAIN VIEW CEMETERY: in Oakland, CA--Bankers, Chocolate Kings and Ordinary People

View of Mountain View Cemetery from the Fish Nichols plot

On a recent sunny afternoon, I visited Mountain View Cemetery in the Piedmont area of Oakland in search of the grave site of Juliet Fish Nichols, the lighthouse keeper on Angel Island from 1902 to 1914.  I had learned about her last summer on a trip to Angel Island and about her heroic efforts to keep the fog bell ringing on a very foggy night in the summer of 1906 after the devastating San Francisco earthquake. (See my post for July 30, 2012.)  After retiring, she returned to her home in Oakland where she lived until she died in 1947. She is buried in the cemetery alongside her husband, father, and mother.

Mausoleum of Charles Crocker (1822-1888) founder of Crocker Bank

I found Julia's tombstone in the family plot, high on a hill with a spectacular view and a host of impressive neighbors–Charles Crocker of Crocker Bank, Domingo Ghiradelli, the “chocolate king”, Julia Morgan, California’s first woman architect, James Folger, the coffee producer–and many more of the people who are integral to California’s history.  Luckily, we  had picked up a brochure at the park office near the entrance on our way in along with a guide to the cemetery and the graves of some of its notable residents--a kind of crib-sheet to local history.

Crocker's tomb, upper left; Samuel Merritt, right, with pyramid on top

The brochure also included a brief history of the building of the cemetery, which was designed by the well-known landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, the designer of Central Park in New York City. In 1863, Olmstead was in California writing a report on Yosemite in an effort to convince Congress to make it into a national park.  The city of Oakland, rapidly growing on the East Side of San Francisco Bay, had bought 220 acres of land for a cemetery in the Oakland hills and invited Olmstead to create a design for it, which he did.  His design, an elegant blending of art and nature with majestic avenues, winding roads, shaded paths and inspiring vistas, among beautiful plantings of trees and flowers, became one of the most prominent garden cemeteries in America.

Avenue leading to top of hill

On the day we visited we saw some families tending graves, but the cemetery is so large that as we drove up the hill to find Juliet Nichols grave, we encountered few people and were aware mainly of the quiet and peacefulness of the site.  When we got to the top, we had stunning views of San Francisco and the whole Bay Area.  We were there in December and the entrance of the cemetery was decorated with a large nutcracker figure for the holidays and inside they had a special display of holiday lights.

You can take free docent led tours of the cemetery at 10:00 a.m. on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month. For more information about visiting Mountain View Cemetery and learning about its historic residents go to  http://www.mountainviewcemetery.org/.

London: Highgate Cemetery, Victorian Splendor for the Departed

Final Resting Place for the Famous
(Excerpt from my diary of our three month stay in London in the fall of 1998.)

Entrance to Highgate Cemetery

On Sunday afternoon, we visited Highgate Cemetery, the burial site of Karl Marx and many other famous people.  We got there in time to see both sides (east and west) and take the tour. The cemetery, which covers 800 acres of hillside and has something like 80,000 graves, had its heydey in the Victorian era.  The average age of death at the time was 35!  The cemetery was opened in 1839 and was operated by a private company until the 1970’s, by which time all the plots had been sold and they were no longer able to make any money.  The company then abandoned the cemetery, and it became derelict. Highgate Cemetery is now operated by a the Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust and it is the ladies of this charity that run the tours. The west side, which contains the oldest section and most elaborate tombs, can only be visited on a tour.  The east side is still a functional cemetery.

Angels and Obelisks

Gravestones Amidst Undergrowth

   We started on the east side where we wandered about on our own.  Graves are topped by stone crosses, urns, broken columns (symbolizing a life cut short),  but my favorites are those with angels on top.  A forest and tangle of ivy and bushes has grown up around the graves over the last hundred years, so the angels often look like they might take off into the trees.  Egyptian themes were also popular in Victorian times, so we saw obelisks of various sizes, some of them tilted rakishly as if they were drunk, and even a sizeable  pyramid.  We were surprised at the length and variety of inscriptions on the tombs which often told the occupation of the person as well as when the deceased had “gone to sleep”, a Victorian euphemism for death.

The Notable Dead

Karl Marx's Grave

     To us the cemetery seemed parklike and peaceful, but I can imagine that on a rainy or foggy day, it would have a suitably creepy atmosphere.  Apparently, before it was locked up in the 1970’s, several horror films were shot there.  On our tour of the west side, we saw the grave of a stage coach driver carved with the whip and bugle of his trade and two upsidedown horseshoes to show that his luck had turned.   Other graves that we saw included one of the man who invented of the toothbrush; of George Williams, the founder of the YMCA, (significant to me because my father went to George Williams College in Chicago); and the crypt of a general in the Crimean War, built to look like the Crimean peninsula. 

The Menagerist

Grave of George Wombwell "Menagerist"

My favorite tomb, topped by a huge lion, was the final resting place of George Wombwell, a man described as a “menagerist.”  He started life as a shoemaker.  One day, he went down to the London docks, where he bought two large boa constrictors.  His plan was to turn them into shoes, but he found that people were so fascinated by the living snakes that he started touring the country and showing them off.  He gradually acquired more animals (including the lion--named Nero--depicted on the top of his grave) and launched a new career as a “menagerist.” 

Mussels at the End of the Day
    After leaving Highgate, we took the tube to Camden Town and emerged onto the street into a seething mob of teenagers.  This is apparently THE spot to be if you are under eighteen.  Music was blaring and  I’ve never seen so many shoe shops with those giant sneakers with oversize soles.  Our goal was Belgo, a restaurant that features mussels, french fries, and 100 different kinds of Belgian beer.  Luckily, by the time we reached Belgo, we had left the teenagers behind.  Art ordered a kilo of mussels, which came in a big tin bucket, and I got a platter of mussels cooked in butter and garlic.  They were great!  The waiter wanted to know if we wanted an order of rockets on the side.  We had no idea what rockets were.  A salad, he explained, and drew a picture of something that looked like dandelion greens.  It turns out that rockets are what the British call arugula.  The salad was excellent.  Belgo also gets my vote for the world’s best cappucino.

A few of the famous people buried at Highgate Cemetery:
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
Karl Marx
Sir Ralph Richardson
Jacob Bronowski
Christina Rossetti
John Galsworthy

Where is Highgate Cemetery?
The cemetery is located on both sides of Swain's Lane in Highgate, N6, next to Waterlow Park. The Main Gate is located just north of Oakshott Avenue. To get there by tube from London, take the Northern Line (High Barnet branch) to Archway (not Highgate). On leaving the station, you can take a short bus ride up to Highgate village or turn left and walk up Highgate Hill (which is very steep), past the Whittington Hospital until you get to St Joseph’s Church (obvious by its large green copper dome). Enter Waterlow Park on your left and go downhill across the park (past the duck ponds) to the Swain's Lane exit (below the tennis courts).  The walk can take up to 40 minutes depending on your speed.

Highgate Cemetery