There And Back Again

Well, I’m home. I feel changed in some way by the experience. Someone asked me to pick one thing from my trip that I liked best but I can’t really pick just one thing in England or Edinburgh that I felt was more inspiring than anything else. I think I expected when I left to be most touched by Stonehenge but I was awestruck by the simple beauty of the seemingly unmarred landscape and the ancient architecture intermingling with hints of something seventies retro but rarely anything more harshly modern.

Anyway, more on that as I finish sorting through my photos…

I think for now I’ll just review my shoes.

So, I wore the Keen Venice H2 sandals pretty much from June 23rd through July 2nd except when I was in bed sleeping. They are definitely a hardy shoe and they had no problem on the wet cobblestones in Edinburgh — unfortunately, they didn’t seem to offer any kind of support against the uneven cobblestone streets of the older part of Edinburgh and after a whole day of walking around on those beautiful streets, my poor feet were cramping and my legs were in terrible shape. This was probably not helped by the fact that I had probably been really pushing myself since June 25th with tours and stuff.

Anyway, I think that considering everything that I did despite my “condition,” my feet and legs felt pretty good and would have felt worse a lot sooner in tennis shoes, even my designer New Balance walking shoes or Rebok cross trainers. I definitely recommend these shoes for this kind of travel and everyday wear.

Except for the shoes that went with the bridal dress, if I wasn’t wearing the Keen sandals, I was wearing the Crocs. I called them my anime clogs. They were quite comfortable and they were excellent for rainy, sloshy days. I expected my feet to kind of sweat in them, but they didn’t. They did take some getting used to as they feel a bit cartoonish and big though they fit snugly. The little spikey things on the soles massage the bottoms of your feet while your walking which is nice and I like how easy it is to slip your feet out under the table while no one is looking. Really, I wore these more when we were just going about town doing pre-wedding stuff. I don’t think I would have done any heavy duty touristy things in them but I did see a lot of people on tours with them — then again, I saw lots of people with flip-flops on the tours, including one girl with a broken flip-flop, but that just seems so uncomfortable to me.

Anyway, I had a lovely time and I have a lot more to say, including some political things (bet you didn’t see that coming. ). I just need to organize my thoughts.

(Side note: Am wondering if I should make a category for shoes. :P)

Tags: UK, Keen Venice H2, Crocs, Stonehenge, shoes