Anti-Tourist Shoes

You've seen them - brand new pure white leather court or running shoes worn by guys on vacation in a big city.  Shoes bought only a day or two before the trip specifically for long days walking around a new city with the better half or family.
http://www.time-travellers.org/Historian/UglyAmerican.html - see No. 3.

These shoes, as ungainly as they are, are seriously practical.  Feet that aren't blistered and swollen after hours gawking 'n walking around NYC or San Francisco or further afield are much preferred over feet that have been chewed up by more stylish, but less practical footwear.

So what are you supposed to do if you want to merge a thousand kilos of style with a tonne of comfort?  Sneakers and cool-looking runners are the way to go.

Here's what I picked up in NYC to do 'touristy stuff' with the better half...

These Asics Gel Trail Attack 7 shoes made it actually fun to walk hours on end through Midtown Manhattan, dodging real tourists and native New Yorkers alike.  Just like walking on two nice fluffy size 10.5 marshmallows, and as boldly-coloured as they are, they look pretty cool.

Saucony ProGrid Razor

It's not often that you come across new technical running shoes that look like they should only be worn for running.  The Saucony ProGrid Razor trail running shoe has definitely got a heaping helping of style that would look nice on a dusty singletrack as well as with some jeans putting around downtown.

Light, waterproof, the cachet of being a red dot design award winner, and knowing that not everyone else will be wearing your shoes makes these very tempting.