A day off in Como

Since the comON week ended theres been a general feeling among the group that we're all a bit segregated. Yesterday (at least it would have been if the internet hadn't disconnected.......in fact it was Thursday) we had the chance to remedy this for Ella's birthday! Zeffira, Tulay and myself were invited to her room for cake and coffee, which we enjoyed very much............along with the company of the other girls of course ;)

Perhaps sensing the divide the lovely people at comON kindly organised another trip for us on Friday!

We went to Biella, which ended up taking three 3 hours thanks to traffic. After an 8.15 start on a morning which we had understood to be a day off we were less than impressed when we arrived at yet another textile factory!

Unsurprisingly the day turned out to be a good one! We were told that Bielle is the wool and cashmere centre of Italy. Although we weren't told the name of this company (not sure y) we were informed that it is the big cheese of this industry and has a lot of important (but apparently covert) clients which we also weren't told the names of.

Here we are not observing a very clear 'please don't touch' sign!

Here we are being shown around their design department.

Thanks to the traffic on the way there our tour had to be cut short and we were wisked away to another company. When we arrived we went for lunch!!

I ordered a vegetable heavy meal but was quickly reminded that i don't like vegetables when my food arrived! Luckily vegetable lover Zeffira was on hand to help out ;)























The tour of Cittadellarte Fashion (this time we were fortunate enough to be told the name of the company) was incredibly short. It was long enough however for us to learn that they develop clothing for companies concerend with sustainable fashion. not in a half assed kinda way either!!

 On the way to our next location there was some excitement over some snow topped mountains, naturally i took a picture!

 

ahem..............lets try that again shall we...............?

Ok so......this isn't my best photography but give me a break i was in a moving vehicle!!

anyway, our final destination was at a company called Ermenegildo Zegna.

This company was also about wool and cashmere and it had everything! Museum, archives, factory, plus it was in a sick location!

Here we are feeling up some wool! we were taken for a tour of the factory which was interesting.......although it would have been more so if i could have heard anything over the sound of the machines!

What happened next made my day........we were taken to the roof...........

Look how happy we all are!!! :) :) :)

Filled with a new enthusiasm for the day's events, we went to the museum and archives!

This was of course the best part of the day! look at all the stuff we got to touch!! :)
Completely knackered back at the hotel, Tulay ran off to Milan to be with her boyfriend while Zeffira and I ate cake and played 20 questions, what a day...........