It started in Portuguese (bem-vindo=welcome) with a seven hour flight on TAP out of Dulles to Lisbon and another two hours to Milan. Listening to the sibilant-gutteral tones of the attendants’ announcements reminded us of our 2017 Camino Portugueś to Santiago de Campostela, our third Camino, when we walked north from Lisbon.

Milan, on this, our first visit, impressed us with its beauty and vibrance at night. After weathering a long taxi line, we found out hotel only steps from the Duomo (thanks to the BEST travel agent, Ed), with an energetic crowd strolling and cycling at high speed, listening to street music.

On our first day we took care of various tasks, the most significant of which was securing our Via Francigena (VF) pilgrim passports. Caterina, a charming VF volunteer, and her vivacious cat, also helped us with local information. A one-man ferry over the Po River has recently resumed operations after the summer’s drought forced water levels catastrophically low.

We also squeezed in a bit of sightseeing. A thrill of pleasure ran through our bodies as we visited La Scala Opera House, scene of first performances of Aida, Don Giovanni, and countless beautiful works. Sadly, we are too early for the season to begin so cannot attend a performance, this trip at least.

PLEASE NOTE: BILL MULDOON’S FULL OBITUARY CAN BE FOUND AT KESSLERMAGUIRE.COM and shorter versions will be published on September 18 editions of the Boston Globe and St Paul Pioneer Press.