Successful Shopping Day

I spent most of my Saturday shopping in downtown Delhi. My first stop was the Cottage Emporium, a place I know well from the last time I was here. It's a government-run market where everything is fixed priced. I wasn't going to really buy anything, but I wanted to scope it out to prepare for Jennie to be here. :-)

After about an hour there, I went to Connaught Place to pay a visit to Vedi Tailors of Rangoon (where I got my tailored suits/shirts last time). We chatted it up for a while, and I ordered 3 more shirts. I'm planning on picking up a couple pairs of dress pants while I'm here, but I'm waiting for Jennie so we can have the fabric-shopping experience together.

From Vedi's, I walked across the street to the Embassy Restaurant for an Indian lunch. I had been there before and really liked the food last time, so I paid it a return visit. All the same waiters were still working there, and we shot the breeze for a while after I ate. A lot of tourists come to this area because it's the most famous shopping joint in Delhi, so I saw a lot of Europeans and a couple Americans eating as well.

The most exciting thing I discovered while eating was a place that makes custom dress shoes! One of the waiters told me about it, so I went there straight from lunch. I've never been able to wear shoes with no laces because my feet are so weird, so I was looking forward to making that small dream a reality. :-) There are a ton of different styled shoes there, and if they don't have what you want, you can bring in a picture of something you like and they will make it. I found a loafer I wanted, so here's how it works:

You take off your shoes and stand (one foot at a time) on a piece of paper. The guy traces an outline of your foot and then takes a couple key measurements around different parts of each foot. After that's done, they give you a big book that has a ton of different styles/colors of leather. You pick that out and that's it! My first shoe fitting is in 3 weeks, and they will alter them accordingly after that. Pretty cool huh?