Weekend in Rome

So I've just came back from Rome. This was definitely family weekend with not too many opportunities for taking pictures. Although I'd like to show some crap photos and share some feelings about the city and trip itself.
First the flight. We used norwegian.no and it was my first good experience with cheap airlines (previously I used Wizzair and easyJet). From Warsaw to Rome they chartered Hola Airlines and we had spanish stewardess on board - quite good experience and opportunity to listen to some spanish language! From Rome to Warsaw it was much better equipped and newer norwegian aircraft with polish crew. That was even better service. So I can honestly recommend flying with norwegian.no!
Second the hotel. I was nicely surprised with the hotel quality - it's called Four Points Sheraton, but it's more like Sheraton - good rooms, nice vicinity and service. Only the swimming pool was a bit disappointing, but we somehow used it. Hotel has a very good shuttle service to the city center and if you've a schedule, you can use it quite effectively and what's important, it's included in the price. I had a very good promotional price, so I must admit that hotel was perfect for the family stay.
Third shuttle service. This got me a little nervous especially on our way back to the airport. I decided to use Airport Shuttle, because it was relatively cheap and possible to be securely paid over the Internet. On the way from airport to the hotel I was happy with their services, but on the way back we requested driver to be in front of the hotel at 8:30 AM and he wasn't. At 9:00 I managed to call the office and they told something about accident and other weird explanations - I didn't believe them and asked for another driver. They sent him after next 3 or 4 calls!!! And he came about 9:45 - 1:15 h after scheduled time! I had only 1:20h to the departure when we finally arrived to the airport. I definitely DO NOT recommend this shitty company. Please avoid it! And be warned that they also support London and Paris and probably some other cities and they can easily blow off customers because you have to pay in advance!
Fourth the city itself. Very nice and overcrowded. I can't stand walking through the city while all the time I had to avoid bumping into people. Of course you can visit Pantheon or Fontana di Trevi, but the only thing you can see are people, zillions of people everywhere! It's disgusting. You go Rome and see people, not its monuments or relics. It also means that you can't take picture without people - it's like mission impossible. And besides Rome is crowded and still very expensive! You've to pay 8 EUR for a beer! It's thieving! At least food is quite good - expensive but acceptable quality. And italian people are nice - you can talk with them and they're very polite and well behaving. What can I say more? You should visit Rome, but please be patient and do it off season. And see some of my pictures...

1. The Vatican

2. The Arch
3. Chairs...

4. The Colloseo

5. The Pantheon

6. Basilica

7. Square Colloseo

Enjoy!

Trip to Rome

Tomorrow I'll go to Rome for the 4-days weekend. I'm taking my whole family with me. Plan is to see as much as possible and have a lot of fun. But we'll see. I was in Rome two years ago for a training and I've good memories - weather was nice, good food and quite nice hotel in remote area. This time I had to find cheap hotel, because of number of people coming with me. Fortunately Sheraton Four Points is not very expensive, although located a bit far from the action. We decided to stay there, because they offer a free shuttle to the city center.
And coming back to my memories, I've to tell you something about my recent discovery in Rome - it's nothing new for polish people living here 20-30 years ago, but can be a bit surprising for them. That is Pewex store. In Poland you can't find this chain any more, but I found one store in Rome! It was very surprising to me. Unfortunately on that day I had only my mobile phone, so pictures are a bit crappy, but nevertheless I decided to attach them to this post. See it with your own eyes:

New laptop

So finally I've my new computer - instead of big old junk, I have new 17" Toshiba X200 laptop. Currently I'm migrating all my software and data to the new machine and as usual I've to complain a little bit. First, operating system. If you want to buy a new computer in Poland you've to buy it with Windows operating system pre-installed. It itself is not bad, because as you can expect price is low enough, but you're convicted to use POLISH version of OS. And I can't stand using polish software, because of obscure translations - I can't figure out how to do what - even shutting down machine could be a problem. Moreover I was convicted to buy Vista, not XP - and this system is something new - not exactly worse, but it requires some time to get used. That's why I ordered english version of Vista for additional 250 pln and of course used original software key from the bottom of my new laptop - it works! I can't understand why it's so difficult to have a choice.
Because of this small whim I spent last week installing all the additional stuff and drivers that you originally got with new laptop, when you like the original language producer force you to use. But I somehow overcame it and started data migration. And suddenly came across first obstacle - Outlook to Windows Mail migration. Of course I figured out how to import .dbx files, but Windows Mail is a piece of shit and it doesn't work correctly - it loses mail folders and simple messages all the time and every time you run it, it has a different folders messed up. I gave up and installed Thunderbird. It's also not perfect, but has one advantage - it simply works! So I warn you against using Windows Mail!!!
Besides I'm quite happy with my new machine - it's big, has good screen, is fast and has a good video card - now I hope to process my pictures faster and have more space on the table. And to be honest, even Vista is not bad - it's just different and works quite fast. So no complains anymore! Let's enjoy what we have!

Pics post-processing

I don't have too much time recently. All my spare hours I spend on post-processing pictures from Phototrip 2008. Unfortunately this process is rather slow and you've to wait some more time to see all of my pics. And today I want to show one of my squirrel pictures from Zion NP - of course it's not the best one, but I think it's good enough to share with you. So here it is:

Now you can comment on it, please.
Besides I spent the whole weekend in Wejsuny. We had a very special event there. It was party of my high school class - we met after 18 years, but atmosphere was great! Although my additional goal was to take some interesting pictures. Unfortunately I hadn't time for nature pictures - I spent all my time on taking photos of all my drunken friends. Of course I can't share these pictures :)