Our free three day weekend began on Friday. I was able to sleep in a little, relax my sore feet and explore.
Friday I slept in, and finally shook off my jet lag. In the morning Sarah and I relaxed a little and used the afternoon and early evening to explore the city of Milano. After taking the metro to the Duomo and stopping for some gelato, we turned down a small side street, and got lost. That was just what we wanted to happen though. We walked the small streets of the city for hours. Coming across second time around stores, with brands like Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik, small halls with older couples inside dancing and some other stores that were out of our price range. A couple hours into our walk we sat on a nearby bench and observed all the people that walked by. We saw adorable children, men wearing suits on bicycles and even women wearing heels on bicycles. As we sat there I reflected on their lifestyle and their easy going attitudes. No one was in a rush to go anywhere, it was so peaceful.
After relaxing, we were hungry and ate at a restaurant we found along the way. Finally I had my first Italian pasta meal. It was a spaghetti with a tomato sauce, lighter than the sauce from home, yet still delicious, with fish and of course a glass of wine.
When we got back to the hotel, we got ready for our night out with Fulvio, from FashionTimes. A bunch of us met him and a few of his friends at the Old Fashion Cafe to dance the night away. The picture below was our wonderful VIP stamps. Thanks for inviting us Fulvio it was a lot of fun!
Saturday we traveled an hour out of the city to the beautiful Lake Como. We arrived in Como in the late morning. The tour guide gave us about an hour and a half to explore the town before our 2 hour ferry ride down the Lake.
We boarded the ferry and began our tour of the shoreline of Lake Como as we headed to the small island of Bellagio. Along the ride, I learned about the history of the lake and the places along the shoreline. The view from the ferry was breathtaking with beautiful houses surrounded by mountains and peacefulness all around. In a way it reminded me of Moosehead Lake, riding on the Katahdin ( but Lake Como is a little higher class, no offense Maine).
We also saw George Clooney's house along the way.
When we arrived to Bellagio, we were all starving so Stephanie, Megan, the two Sarah's, Brittany, Cara, Bridget and I headed to lunch. After lunch we did not have much time to shop because we had to catch the ferry ride back to the bus. Before we had to meet for the ferry ride I had time to buy a little handmade bracelet that is green and means "hope".
While on the island, somewhere along the way an older man and his wife, from the tour, were separated. When it was time to board the ferry he was no where to be found. We stayed about an hour to wait around for him hoping he would show up. His wife felt so bad that we all had to wait around and had hope that he got on a ferry before and was waiting on the other side. That was not the case and after about 10 minutes he had been located on the island and was on the next ferry over. It was like a love story at the end when he ran off the ferry to be reunited with his wife. It was adorable, there were even some tears in some of our eyes.
We had a long bus ride back due to a big bus in very small streets and traffic along the way. I slept most of the way home. Later that night Sarah, Stephanie, Megan and I walked up the street to a pizzeria named Fashion 2 and I ordered a delicious ham, tomato and cheese calzone. It was one of the best I've ever had, but I think the fresh dough helped too.
Sunday morning I woke up, just in time to catch breakfast downstairs in the hotel. I then got ready and headed back to the Duomo do to a little more shopping with Stephanie, Blaine and Megan. We went to just a few stores and all I bought was a belt to wear for an industry visit this week and a pair of rose colored shorts. We also found a cafe which makes American iced coffee, it was heavenly. Then we went back to the hotel and I did some more homework, blogging and research for the week ahead.
Tomorrow morning we head to Florence! I will be spending 5 days there and will be going to G2 Textiles, meeting Angela Caputi and attending Piti, mens fashion trade shows. For my followers, my next blog will not be until next week because while in Florence I will have no internet. See you in a week!
