Day 3: Yamamay, shipping, Duomo and dinner

Day three in Milan found our group visiting the first of many companies. Yamamay is an Italian company that manufactures swimwear and underwear for women, children and men. Gallarate is a small town about 45 minutes northwest of Milan. The company headquarters are housed in a 10 story or so, modern building in the middle of suburbia. Reportedly most Italians don't come into work until around 9 AM so we were a bit early for visit. We waited in the lobby for about 20 to 30 minutes until all of the marketing and public relations staff arrived. We were escorted into a small very modern training classroom that houses the YamAcademy, and also has a small training display store. Company professionals with varying degrees of English language mastery walked us through the marketing plan, impressive 10% year on year sales growth, and production capabilities. Afterwords we walked through the design studios and met with employees and interns. Interesting to note that the company says it was inspired by Victoria's Secret, but many of their bath and body products bear a striking resemblance to what is currently offered in the Pink line.

We left Yamamay at a little after 11 and headed back on the bus with our tour guide Barbara. Back at the hotel it was a tossup between exhaustion and hunger, but hunger won out and five of us walked the short distance to a small café that served pizza, Panini, and sushi! We had a bit of a problem with the language barrier but overall it was a good experience and we left the restaurant refreshed and ready for the next adventure. Anu, Melissa and I wandered around shopping at Zara, a toy store and Yamamay. Then we headed back to the hotel to meet up with the group to try and plan our evening.

Robert, Bob, Anu, Melissa, Ashley, Mark, and I put on our walking shoes and headed towards the Duomo. While on our arrival day we had gone inside the Duomo, today our goal was to go climb up to the top of it. For seven euros you could climb the 260+ stairs, or for €12 you could take an elevator all the way to the top. We chose the former. The view overlooking Milan was absolutely stunning. We took pictures from lots of angles, and wandered along the center top of the roofline. Tina had challenged us earlier in the day to do something completely different and this was definitely it! Afterwards we bought gelato and wandered around shopping.  Some of the group went back to the hotel so that they could get ready for the opera at La Scala.  Melissa and I went on a hunt for a jacket at the Zara across town.  While it was successful, we got caught in the rain on our way back.  With no umbrellas, we were soaked by the time we reached the hotel.  

After cleaning up, we headed back to the same restaurant from our first night - Restaurante Romani. Bobo saw the six of us (Tina, Bob, Mark, Judy, Melissa and I) and immediately began taking care of our table. It was a very different experience from the prix fixe menu from Sunday.  Bobo started us with prosecco, calamari and caprese salad.   We ordered family style and shared risotto Milanese, gnocchi, a veal dish,  spaghetti, and grilled vegetables. Um wow! We had to order seconds of the spaghetti and gnocchi.  Dinner was filled with raucous laughter that had a few of the Italian patrons shooting death stares at us.  Tina felt so full that she took off her belt and placed it on the table, eliciting lots of commentary.    The meal was complete after some homemade limoncello and cherry vanilla ice cream, both on the house.  We tipped Bobo generously while confusing the heck out of the woman ringing up the checks.  I also apologized to our English neighbor for causing such a ruckus.   Back at the hotel for a drink and then off to bed.