Just a brief word about boots.  

Even though I was sorely tempted to take pictures of everyone's feet, I managed to resist. These are not my photographs.  The perfect place to look at feet is on the Metro.  It is the polite place to focus your eyes when you are standing hanging onto a pole.  It didn't take me long to realize when we arrived in January that I rarely saw a woman without boots.  Men seemed to be able to wear whatever they wanted, but a woman in Paris must have on her boots in the winter.  

Needless to say, I did not pack any boots in my suitcase.  I have had conspicuous feet for quite awhile.  Especially since I keep wearing the same outrageous Rocket Dog sneakers with my dislocated baby toe.  Even an American woman I met at church was wearing her knee high boots with spike heels.  She had come to Europe for a week.  Unfortunately she was in Paris for only a few days before flying to Barcelona where boots are not de rigueur.

However, the sun has come out here in Paris and I have seen open-toed shoes, tennis shoes, flats with no stockings, spiked heels.  The world of women's footwear fashion has changed dramatically.  A whole new world for me to focus on when looking down on the Metro.  However, about half the women seem to be clinging to their boots.  Apparently they are not optimists.  Personally I hope that I will soon be justified in not bringing any boots to Paris.