Subject: Digital cameras
Hi, all -

I agree with the advice about extra batteries and memory cards. Last year, traveling in Italy, I had no trouble finding a photo shop to transfer pictures to a CD, but later in the year, in Romania, I wished I had purchased more memory cards. I even considered buying one in Kolozsvar, but blanched at the price - about twice what it would have cost in the US.

So - buy what you need at home and take it with you. The battery charger for my Pentax Optio S4 (the camera that fits in an Altoids tin) takes up very little room in a suitcase, and I have been able to plug it into any European socket so far encountered, with an adapter. In Italy I traveled with a friend who has the same camera - we shared the charger, and still could keep all our spare batteries ready to go.

In Rome we even purchased camera cases (Altoids tins don't have room for anything but the camera) -- tiny leather change purses, in one of the leather and raingear shops you find everywhere in Rome.

Julie (In uncharacteristically sunny Seattle)