Super thanks to Peter & Martina for hosting us in Germany for a few days. We had a great time there, in France, and later in Italy.

Now the Geek Report! smile

There were several unexpected equipment issues during the trip:

1. My new-ish spare camera battery (no-name BP511A clone) died on the first day. I eventually found a replacement for EU22 in Riems.

2. My backup hard drive (for photos, trip journal, etc..) died while visiting with P&M. This was a pre-production first-gen Sandforce SSD from OCZ inside a $5 DealExtreme USB enclosure. We had to run out and find the only shop open on Saturday night to purchase a WD USB drive to use for backups.

3. The Canon EF-S 17-85mm-IS lens for my DSLR started having troubles during the first week in Italy. This is my MAIN LENS for the camera, and it's quite a bit lighter in weight than the others I had brought along. So I had to put up with aggravating my injured elbow (tendinitis) and used the much heavier and less convenient EF24-105mmL-IS for much of the rest of the trip. Now that we're home, I've ordered the $25 replacement part for this common lens repair.

4. My LowePro "Omni Traveler" camera bag first lost a zipper pull, then had a seam rip, and finally saw a second zipper completely disintegrate. I'll probably try and repair it, but first need to check on warranties and availability of an identical replacement.

5. And lastly, it is my sorrow to report the passing of an icon.. no not the turtleneck dude, but rather my Aussie hat: veteran of many empeg meets and world travels. It got left in the rental car at CDG. frown On arrival in Milano, we found a hat shop and picked up a canvas replacement for use during the remaining three weeks of the trip. Gotta re-order the real thing now that I'm back. (I use the hat as a sunshade, since sunglasses would interfere with camera use)

Cheers