I left my shoes in Copenhagen

I left my shoes in Copenhagen...in the hotel: my black shoes, which were to be the dressy shoes I'd wear for dinners on the cruise. My foorwear choices were now limited to sneakers or the stretchy blue nylon jobs with the rubber soles I purchased at WalMart a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I have an narrow foot and cannot just pop into a store and buy shoes even if we did have the time to do so, which we didn't. I had to live with my mistake.

Nobody sees you, waist down, at dinner so for the most part my inappropriate foot wear wasn't on view. Entering the dining room was always a bit of a strain. The Maitre d' would greet us warmly and then I swear, his glance would drift down to my shoes after which he'd sneer every so subtly and pass us along to the wait staff. Zouzou, Debra and Richard kept assuring me that it wasn't so bad. Debra had eight pairs of shoes with her; Richard actually polishes his shoes everyday...I mention these facts to illustrate that I was not traveling with shoe illiterates.

Zouzou, the fashionista of our little group and always kind about my absent fashion sense, declared the combination of my little black dress and the stretchy blue shoes "iffy" which amused me to no end. In fact, I looked ridiculous.

The Oceania cruise line is actually quite casual..."country club" casual is the dress code. My shoes bothered me only when we entered the restaurants, after that....I just ate.