as tourist: dressing up abit?

[Crankin]

I also tend to wear dresses in hot weather. That is the first thing you learn, when you live in a desert climate, as I did for 16 years. No horrible waistband making you sweat!
I love Athleta dresses and would buy them all if I could.
That said, I do bring nice clothes for vacations, even when we are cycling all day. I tend to bring 3 types of clothes: cycling/hiking stuff, casual pants/capris and tops for walking around/shopping after the sports part of the day is done, and some dresses or skirts to wear in the evening. I might stay in the pants/capris all night, too, depending on where we are going. I like choice and sometimes we're in spots where it can be 95 one day and a few days later, it's in the 50s, like when we went to the Czech Republic.
I love dressing up, but I wouldn't say I am totally dolled up on vacation like I would be if I was going to a fancy place in downtown Boston. When we take winter trips, focusing on x country skiing, what I wear at night depends on if we have to leave the inn and travel in freezing cold temperatures. In Europe, I dress as the natives do. I never, ever wear running shoes, or carry a fanny pack! Not that I do this at home, either, but frankly, I have been told I dress like a European at home, in a kind of mean way. DH gets this all of the time, because he wears capris, the kind guys wear in Europe, and wears really cool shoes that most American men don't buy.
I mean, what's wrong with getting dressed up and wearing make up on vacation, if you are going out in the evening? It's not like I do that when I am riding. Sure, last year when we went to the AMC lodge in the Maine Wilderness, I wore my hiking type clothes at night, but that was more like a camping trip, even though we slept in a cabin.
Oh, and I have that Athleta dress. I have to wear a camisole under it, though, or the cleavage shows way too much. I tried wearing it sans camisole last year, at dinner one night in Spain, and I ended up running upstairs and putting the camisole on, because I felt uncomfortable.