I found the Monterreys...

I intentionally spelled it wrong above, as in, I spelled the name of the Spanish General correctly, but not the name of a type of Birkenstock that we thought was long out of production.

Those are the Monterey, a style of the famous hippie sandal (that Germans only wear in the house as slippers and think Yanks who wear them outside the home are a little nutty) that is slightly different from the ubiquitous Arizona.

Once shopping I unknowingly purchased a pair of the Montereys only to notice they were ever so different than the normal Birk, and fell in love with them. And then I could never find them again.

That minor difference, of course, being that the strapping covers more of the bed of the sandal. Here are some pics for comparison:

The Arizona

The Monterey

It's a slight and subtle difference, and I'm not sure the practical realities of that extra length, or why I got so obsessed over it, but it's back! And a whole c-note more expensive! So there's that...

But they do look pretty sleek:

..in a hippie sort of way...