Florence, Italy: First Technological Casualty

I witnessed, and I guess caused, my first technological casualty in the trip just a few minutes ago. My charger for the rechargeable batteries I use for my external flash for my camera is now out of commission. Plus there’s a little brown spot on the electrical socket by my bed. It all started when I plugged my charger into the socket. I thought I’d read all the directions beforehand, but for some reason I forgot the most important one. My charger came with a converter for the European outlets. What I forgot to read, however, was that there’s a switch on the back of the Plug that you also have to toggle to take it from 110V to 220V. I should have known since I’ve been so careful with all of the rest of my electronics. Within 10 seconds the fuse blew for the entire apartment and I immediately knew what I forgot to do. I unplugged it and then went and switched the fuse. When I came back I saw that I’d melted half of the adapter and it reeked! Oh well — since Florence is such a tourist center, I know where a couple of camera shops with cheap rechargers are. Tomorrow is Jen’s (one of the girls on the trip who’s also a Disciple) birthday and so we’re going out for dinner soon and then out for drinks afterwards!