Cautionary Tale

Most people who come to Europe with chargeable American electronics (laptop, cell phone, iPod) know they need an adapter. We knew, too.

Plugs look like this in Europe.

Outlets here provide a 220V current, whereas in the US they provide a 120V current. Maggie and I came with 8 adapters - some we'd accumulated over the years, some we bought just to have for this trip. Out of all the gadgets we brought with us, only one used a charger that couldn't accept a 220V current - my Phillips SoniCare toothbrush. (Maggie's newer model was fine.)

So I bought a converter. Not to be confused with an adapter, which merely changes the shape of a plug - but does nothing to the current - a converter actually changes the size of the current. My toothbrush charger could only handle a 120V current, so the converter took the outlet's 220V and magically turned it into the needed 120V. Until tonight.

Converters are much bigger than adapters, and often have LEDs.

I set up my toothbrush in its charger, plugged in the charger using an adapter, and came back later to find that it wasn't charging. Well, yeah, of course - because I didn't plug it into the converter. And because I didn't plug it into the converter, the 220V current fried my 120V-loving charger. And now I can't ever use it to charge my toothbrush again.

Moral of the story: never confuse an adapter with a converter. Try not to bring electronics whose chargers won't accept a 220V. And don't look too closely at my teeth while I wait for my new charger to arrive.

Weekend Update

My bank account is fully open and fully functional!

I opened an account with EDF (Électricité de France), which means we won't get our electricity shut off!

I re-visited the Musée Marmottan-Claude Monet, in part to re-see a bunch of Monet's Nymphéas (Waterlillies) with Robert, but more to see two exhibitions: one of incredible aerial shots/footage of Paris by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the other a 50-year sample of the photography of Lucien Clergue (thanks to Just Another American in Paris for shamelessly plugging these exhibitions).

Yann Arthus-Bertrand did a whole video/book of shots like this one.

Lucien Clergue's photography focuses on the most elemental aspects of nature - textures, forms, color contrasts. He's also known for his focus on the human figure in its most elemental state.

This evening, Robert and I just barely managed to make it to services on time, because when you get off the Métro at Porte Maillot and enter the Palais des Congrés, you first enter a really swank mall, and there were no signs pointing to services. We finally asked some police officers, who pointed us to the Grand Amphitheatre. All we had to do was go through metal detectors and not get lost in the huge, 3,723-seat hall. The service was nice, albeit in French (Robert tuned out everything that wasn't in Hebrew).

Back at home tonight, on our late-evening walk to the Parc de Belleville, Panda and I stumbled on a cinéma en plein air (open-air film). Apparently there's a whole series in September - exciting!

Finally, L'Shana Tovah, Happy New Year!