Travel Woes
September 22, 2006
Tuesday ... what a day.
I lost my camera. Well, I don't know if "lost" is the word. I left my camera in the back of a taxi coming down the hill from the Vomero neighborhood to the Piazza Bellini. More about these locales in a later entry.
My camera was not really anything special. It was a Canon Powershot A10, the very same camera that I bought in the spring of 2002 when I was planning a trip around Central Europe. Since that model of camera was already over a year old in 2002, I was able to pick it up then for a mere $120 at J&R in Manhattan.
The camera had lots of drawbacks. It produced photos of only 1.3 megapixels. It was very slow to start up. It took a second or so between when you pressed the button and when the camera would take the picture. All the same, I really liked it. And I figured out how to take good pictures with it.
And I always thought to myself that since it only cost me $120, I would not mind if I lost it.
Well, I've lost it ... and I mind.
No use crying over spilt milk, however.
Tuesday afternoon, Mirko, the young "mystery Balkan" who works as the superintendent of this building, told me where to find an electronics "superstore." Yesterday morning, I walked up the Via Toledo to the shop. Magically, the store staff spoke English and helped me acquire a new Canon Powershot at 150 euros, which was quite within my budget.
Even better, while I was waiting for the electronics store to open, I acquired several new t-shirts and pairs of underwear and socks from a street market in the area in front of the Central Post Office.
And, even much better than that, I discovered a bookstore nearby that belongs to the Touring Club Italia and had for sale some fairly amazing travel supplies, including very detailed maps of the various islands in the Gulf of Naples. I picked up a couple of these and also the Touring Club guide to the city, which is similar in style to the Eyewitness Guides that are available in English, but with much background text and other information.
The rest of Tuesday was taken up with prosaic errands (like figuring out where to buy toilet paper and ground coffee and how to use the subway and the like). Not exactly that exciting, but necessary nonetheless.
I wish I still had my camera, but I guess that all is well that ends well.