my parents recently came back from yet another overseas holiday (they have a lot of them) where they went to sweden, russia, denmark and other places in continental europe, and then drove around the uk, up to scotland and down to wales. i asked them to get me something cool while over there, something that you can't really find here in australia.

...and my mum brought home these shoes:



these are victorian children's shoes. they are made out of really hard leather, with the brass clasp you can see below to keep them on. they also have brass studs all around the outside of the shoe near the sole.




they must have been incredibly uncomfortable to walk in... the sole is made out of wood, and has what looks like a horseshoe around the outside for support.



i don't know how old the kid must have been that owned them, but at a guess they could only have been about 3 or 4! and wearing little heels...
they are so interesting and different, and definitely not something you can buy over here!

thanks to my mum and auntie pat for the pressie :)