I bought the running shoe. It is not black. They didn't have black. I was not in the mood to deal with going from store to store in search of a discreet black shoe, so below is the result. It is garish (well, more than I would like). The laces are crazy. It is about as far from a stylish shoe for Italy as I can imagine. And it's a whole size up from my regular size (the store guy wanted to ensure a wide enough toebox, and avoid foot swelling at the end of the day). On me, they look like little boats.

However, I wore it for five hours today and my foot felt completely normal. (For those who missed the last post, I have plantar fasciitis, with heel pain, and the Italy trip is in 8 days.) The store is Marathon Sports, and they're a serious place with gear for elite runners. The salesman first asked me to walk up and down the length of the store in my sock feet so he could see my gait. Based on that, he explained to me why he thought a particular shoe might be preferential to the one the podiatrist had told me to get. He also recommended an orthotic insert, which I got and seems to make a huge difference too. It looks like the sales clerk is on the money. He took time to get it right, and I didn't want to waste any more time. So I give up on having fashionable feet in Bologna, which is taking a bit of wind out of my sails, but at least I won't worry about extreme pain! I'm still waiting on the Romikas, and they may work too (I agree with Diana or whoever said that it would be good to have a few shoes of differing heights and types).

After that, I hit the Natick Mall and had some more luck. I found this trench at Nordstrom. The brand is Gallery; I'm totally unfamiliar with it but it looks quite well-made and is lined (not removable). It was on sale for $138, hopefully not a bad price. I'm just wondering about the citron. It is such a great color for women like Angie, Rae, Una, etc., but it's never been a color I was drawn to for myself....I may look washed out in it. But the fit is excellent. I think the waist hits at the right point, etc yada. So I'm leaning toward keeping it. You see a trend here? Not having much patience with shopping around.....

Thanks for all your great comments on my shoes and everything else of recent note. Tomorrow with better lighting I will try to throw out some pics of recent things I've bought for the trip.

Ciao!