More Travels

I did get myself a souvenir back from Prague: a Meopta Flexaret Automat VI. It was made from 1961 to 1967, and judging from the serial number mine is from the mid-1960's. It's not in particularly good condition; some chrome and paint has flaked off, there's a few rust spots, and the leatherette is starting to come off in a few places. There's no case or lens covers, and I didn't get the 35mm film adapter.

A Flexaret VI and a pile of Czech-made Fomapan.

But the lenses are clean and free of scratches. The shutter and film winder both work fine. It was pretty grimy and dirty when I got it, but it cleaned up quite well. It'll never be a collectors item but it's a perfectly usable beater camera, well worth the (quite low) price I paid for it. I'm curious to see what the pictures are like; I expect this old lens will give them a fairly soft, low-contrast look.

And since I was in Prague, I used up my last Czech Krone on a small pile of Fomapan film for the camera. Fomapan is made in the Chzech republic and a fairly popular film in Europe. In fact, I rather regret not buying a whole tray or two when I had the chance, since it costs only half what it does home in Osaka.


We're off to Europe again, this time to Sweden. My brother and his girlfriend are finally getting married, after eight years, four children and a house. Nobody can accuse them of rushing into things. Seems the weather will be great — a high of about 20° and lows of 11° or so. It'll be a welcome change after the past couple of weeks with 35°+ temperatures at home.

After the wedding we'll spend a few days in Istanbul for our summer vacation. I've never been to that part of Europe so I'm very much looking forward to this. We'll wander the city, eat lots of Turkish food, and make time for a cooking class. And I'm not even going to think of work the whole time.