Barefoot in public

"Mrs. Dalloway's hot dogs" sounds a lot more appealing than "Oscar Wilde's Wieners."

I'd guess that photo was taken somewhere in Australia.

 

And here is the living proof of the truth of one Oscar Wilde quote:

Women are pictures
Men are problems

(from: A Woman Of No Importance, one of Lord Illingworth's witticisms)

:smilielol5:
(just kidding...)

About the location:
When googleing two of the street names in the photo, I get as a result: Toronto. So, it seems to be a Canadian barefooter.

wiggling toes that have been on stage (in shoes back then, sadly),

~*Ganesha*~

 

In the city of Dinkelsbühl (Northern Bavaria), there is an annual summer festival, historic military camp of the Swedes occupying that region in medieval/renaissance times and a parade in historic costumes , where some participants, mostly children and youths, in historic dress are barefoot (both walking and on horseback). The whole event is called "Kinderzeche", based on the occupation and siege of the city of Dinkelsbühl by the Swedish colonel Sperreuth in 1632 during the 30-year war.
(More historic information on http://www.kinderzeche.de - they also have pages in English there...)

Sometimes, the audience (and here, also mostly kids) are inspired by the participants and lose their shoes.

Some sample pictures:

Barefoot and bareback riding:



A merry band of barefoot boys and girls:



Another merry band of barefoot girls:



Barefoot audience:



There's more pictures from the "Kinderzeche" on these sites:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13566444@N07/
and/or
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/kinderzeche

In general, such historic/medieval/renaissance fairs are great places for barefooters, be they in appropriate garb or not.

I know, that this year, I will again visit my regular medieval/fantasy fair in Dortmund scheduled for June 27 & 28 this summer.

Wiggling medieval toes,

~*Ganesha*~

 

In cultural terms (architecture, painting, music etc.) the 17th century is neither middle ages nor renaissance, but the baroque era!

 

Canossa re-enactments must be a blast.

 

Well, the renaissance era was all over Europe covering a time span between the 14th to 17th century... there are differences between the definition of these epoques in art (painting and sculpture), music and architecture.
But let's not be too nit-picky about that.

One might say, that ancient Germany (back then the Sacred Roman Empire of German Nation) was a bit late in entering that phase. The late medieval times ended in the mid-15th century, and transgressed over the Reformation turmoil of the early modern times in the early 1500s and several princes and their wars to the 30-year-war between 1618 and 1648.

Well, perhaps the Germans were a bit slow in getting out of their dark ages.


The epoque of the Enlightenment, following the Renaissance was a bit later in Germany, with Immanuel Kant as its main German representative in the 1780s... France was a bit earlier with Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Anyway, those were times, when bare feet were not sneered at.

wiggling historic toes,

~*Ganesha*~

 

Cool! I'm from Sweden... We have the middle-age week in Visby inspired by the siege of Visby in 1361 by danish king Valdemar.
http://www.medeltidsveckan.se/default.asp?LanguageID=2
Plenty of occasional barefooters there...

 

Man I'm not from Sweden or any of these other lovely sounding places . I'm just from good old hometown Indiana. But I do walk around barefoot alot. If I still had a working digital camera I'd show some pics. Unluckily I am poor. Can't wait till spring so I can take my moccasins off and start lettin' my feet be free again.

 

Well, I don't know if you'll believe in my story about walking barefoot..
This happened last year September.. I don't remember the exact date but that was around 3rd week of Sept.

I was walking on my way to work when I felt that my shoe was kind of loosening. I just kept on walking and I knew that it could loose any time. Luckily, I was about 10 meters away from a mall, and on my way to the entrance.. it broke.. right on the entrance gate. I asked the guard where was the nearest repair shop cause I don't have much money that time to buy new shoes.. Luckily he said, it was just few steps from the entrance. I took off my other shoe and walked barefoot inside.
I know some noticed me walking barefoot, but I didn't mind them so I just walked normally (with a little smile on my face).

Finally, I reached the store.. but the repair man was not there (he peed for a while). So I waited for 10 mins.. then he came. When I told the girl on the store about what happened, she couldn't help laughing and so am I. Since I've been barefooted for almost 15 mins.. I borrowed a slipper from the girl (in the store) and she gave me one.. but double the size I have.. but it's ok than nothing.. and the floor was a little cold.

He repaired my shoes (he also repaired the other half) for 10 mins I guess. Then, back to the street to the office.

 

Well Indy Hippy, I'm from a small town of 15.000 people in central Sweden. It's not much to brag about, but I live cheap and with no problem. I'd probably like it in Indiana too!!!

 

thebfswede 15000 is small to you! I live in a small town (technically a village) of 2000 people. But what's so important about 'barefooting' or w/e. I don't wear shoes in the summer that much, and don't consider myself different from people who wear shoes.