Shoes aren't the first thing I'd build a museum for. But if I could handle the world's biggest chamber pot collection in Munich, I told myself, I could handle the Bata Shoe Museum. They have a surprisingly interesting, if selective, collection on display (there's more online, actually). I have to admit, though, that they started losing me when the displays went on and on, nitpicking about what qualified as a moccasin under the BSM taxonomy. The curators must be a real hoot at parties.
My favourite item on display was not a shoe, ironically enough. It was a letter written by the Duke of Wellington about how his boots still didn't fit right, and giving instructions on how to fix them--in other words, the commission for the first pair of Wellingtons. But the pair of Dr. Evil Hush Puppies loafers came in a close second (way cooler than Napoleon's socks).