shoes and cheese

Normally I do not enjoy shopping. I will put it off for as long as possible. Which is why I was frantically seeking shoes for the wedding I was to attend the day before my flight. I went into the other mall in my town, the one with the better shoe stores, and found a nice pair of strappy sandals at the first store at the top of the escalator. So, having time to kill before meeting my friend for coffee, I kept wandering to the other shoe stores, just in case, y'know. And found these
They are NAOT. The photo doesn't show off the lovely 'burnt copper' colour, which looks more burgundy to me. They are absolutely the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn in my life. It was like walking in my slippers. They were just as comfy with or without socks. I hiked up and down hills and around the streets and through the tourist sites and to various groceries, galleries and gardens...my feet blissfully unaware they were being made to work. They almost made me want to walk even more.

To walk around shops in Britain is much more fun than doing so in Canada. Don't know why, but when I am on holiday I love to shop. I could happily spend an hour in a grocery store admiring the different products, the packaging, the prices! And everything looks so different in the dress and decor shops - well they would, wouldn't they? Since I only had carry on luggage I was severely restricted in my purchases.

Which, in the grand scheme of things was fine as I was really spending all my money on things like coffee and food. Everywhere seemed to be busy with prospective buyers of whatever was available, though I am not sure how those Brits manage with the prices of everything. An example was one treat of a light snack of 2 coffees, 1 tea, and 2 muffins which came to a not unusual grand total of 8.25 BPS that translated to 18.15 CAD.

I fell in love with something called a Love Bar from Pret-a-Manger - eating my way through 6 of them while in Bath. I didn't even try to calculate the calories or the cost of the small but yummy bar. I pretended the almonds, pistachios and vanilla pumpkin seeds made it healthy.

I then moved on to devouring as much smoked salmon as I could. Which was no difficult chore. It was everywhere. In my scrambled eggs at the hotel, in the take out sandwiches at Pret and Marks&Spencer. In every restaurant and pub we visited, there it was on the menu just as if it were an everyday ordinary thing to include in a sandwich or salad like, say, tomato. Or cheese. Oh, and the cheese they offer? Not Swiss or Cheddar or Havarti. No, it would be Brie!

And then there is that little joy of buying wine in a Marks or Tesco's...

So, my shoes were the best investment I made.