Workshops

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Boots and Bidets


We hadn’t planned to buy shoes, but we just couldn’t help ourselves. Boots are the rage all over Italy, boots of all styles. Boots on the outside of pants is a very big thing. So are slouchy boots with ties. Here's a little bit of boot action that Howard caught while we were in Lucca the other day:




So, on our way to the Pitti Palace on Sunday, we found a shop that had lots and lots of boots for a very fair price.


I was trying to decide between three pair that I liked, and well, what can I say, I have a great husband because I came out with three (THREE) pair! Here they are:




After I got my boots, Howard scrutinized his sandals, the ones he has been wearing for the past two weeks. He decided a nice Ipair of Italian shoes would be in order for him, too. So after lots of window shopping, we found a really cool pair of comfortable, sleek, casual black shoes.




On the topic of fashion, here are some trends we've noticed:

Shiny shoes, especially metallic tennis shoes - for men and women.

Purple. Anything and everything in clothing is purple, even shades of purple (lavender). And the purple clothing is for men and women.

Orange pants are the rage on men. Red and yellow, too. I think I have Howard convinced to get a pair of orange ones ‘cause I really like them a lot!

Memo to self: I am getting really tried of staring at men's penises at eye level - COME ON!


Please note: Howard is not getting tired to seeing women's breasts - at eye level or otherwise!


Since this has turned out to be a rather random post, here is a description of our shopping experiences at the COOP, an Italian grocery store we frequented while in Volterra:



Upon entering a grocery store, carry baskets are free, but if you wish to use a full-size shopping cart, that will cost you .50 Euro. When selecting produce, you are required to wear a plastic glove. Once your pieces are chosen, you put it on a scale, bag it, weight it, and out comes a price sticker, which you place on the bag. At the meat counter, they have real live meat cutters who cut and wrap your selections. They also have large hunks of cured pig shoulders hanging all around in the meat department/produce area. Eggs are kept on the shelf at room temperature. Orange juice comes in paper boxes and are kept on the shelf at room temperature. And my favorite yogurt, KYR, comes in a little glass jar, similar to a baby food jar (and the jars that I kept from our hotel in Rome). At the check-out, the checkers are all seated and you bag your own groceries. Plastic bags are .03 Euros for a small one, and .05 for a large.

That's it for tonight. Howard has gone silent and is a lazy bum. He says he has writer's block, but I think he just wants to get some sleep.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Work it with the boots, mama! You too with your snazzy, shiny black ones, papa! I love you both...and I love that you are loving what you are doing!!! My heart warms each time I read your blog! Ciao bella! Melissa

Anonymous said...

one thing i have to say is your just lucky, dayna, that we don't wear the same size shoes... your pink boots would go missing very quickly!! of course even if we did, i really don't have one size anyway, at least for now. and what's with the bidet's?? do they just make the boots look good?! tell that lazy bum of a husband i want more stories from the road! luv ya, vicki

Destree said...

Boots Boots Boots! Those are fabulous kicks you got lady. The bidets in the background really show them off well. What's with the bidet anyway? And I never commented on the public toilet pics you posted before, but how the heck do you use them? I suppose they are more sanitary then our us counterparts, but what if you have bad knees like me? I can't imagine hovering that far down....hmmmmm.

Bridget said...

So, here I am at the Portland airport, getting ready to go to Oaxaca, and reading your blog, and just boiling with envy - those boots! OH MY GOODNESS!! WHOA NELLY!! The red ones? The black strappy ones? Hold me back . . . next time I go to Italy, I really need to go in the fall . . .

Deirdra Doan said...

Ha Ha Ha about the statues.....I never thought about it but mostly I was in Ireland, England,Austria, Denmark, I don't think I saw as many undressed people as you do in Italy!

theresa martin said...

I'm so jealous of your new boots - they are wonderful!

We saw purple in Italy too. In Salerno I saw a man wearing a gorgeous purple shirt and sneakers looking into a window display of purple clothing. Unfortunately, I was too slow with the camera to snap a photo.