No man-shoes for me, thankyouverymuch

When I look back at our time in Japan, I have to say one of the most difficult aspects of the whole experience was not my struggles with the language, not the squid guts for breakfast, not when Olivia wanted to write a letter to her class saying she liked precisely four of them (three boys and one girl), not the rock-hard tortillas I made one night in a bread-starved state of despair, and not even taking a small child with a head wound to a hospital in a foreign country.

No, what was truly the hardest part of living there for me (because NOTHING could change it or make it better) -- was that my size nines could not be squeezed into any of the gorgeous Japanese shoes that I saw every single day on every single woman's foot (aside from mine). My quest for beautiful Japanese shoes ended when I inadvertently bought a pair of men's shoes (which are quite comfortable and interesting, all things considered).

Well, that Cinderella problem is happily NOT an issue here in France, where the widely-available size 40 fits like a glove... and to celebrate, I purchased a beautiful pair of leather boots at a good price in Beaune this week.

Needless to say, I am quite pleased.

(EDITED TO ADD: I just looked at the pictures after I posted this and decided that, in fact, these still lovely boots still have a bit of a mannish look to them. Oh dear...)