Adam Parker's Blog - Italy

Blurb Italy book has arrived

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:00:38 EST

Well, the book is done and is here. It looks great!! The 138 pages was thinner than I thought it would be, but it is still a pretty big book.

see all the sample pics here

So it took about 6 days to print and 8 days to ship. The wait was painful, but it arrived on time. Looking through it I noticed a few things that I would take note of.

1) Quality of the Shot Matters

I noticed that the difference between dull and sharp was highlighted in the book. Those are differences I may have noticed if I had put the book together using better displays, but it should be useful to note that the sharper the print you can get, the better results you'll have. My exceptionally sharp prints seem to just pop out.

2) Print Quality Issues (spots)

Prints on black backgrounds or with lots of black in them seemed to have a tendancy to show spots on them. In my mind this is to be expected, but I mention it so that you aren't caught off guard when your first order arrives. Most of the spots are solo and they only occur on a few pages. There are 2 pages towards the back where the spots are more prominent (see picture).

3) Print Quality Issues (color abnormalities)

I've printed one other book before and it was from Apple. In the book there were 2 shots where a certain shade of blue was missing causing a pixilated effect in 2 areas. Something semi similar occurred this time as well.

The yellow area should have printed white, but came out yellow for some reason. Since this only mildly detracts from the shot and it only happened once, I'll write it off as the gamble of cheap, custom, printing. Since this was the only mistake, I would say that a > 99% success rate is wonderful.
This error turns out to be mine, upon further examination of my original print, there is indeed a tint of yellow in those clouds as you can see here. Sorry blurb! This is another reason why creating a photobook on anything other than the best display is like playing russian roulette.

Summary

So, again, I am very happy with the book. I'm sure it will sit on my coffee table for years to come and be joined by many more creations. For the size and quality, the price can't be beat.

After seeing the results, I would recommend blurb to everyone.

See the Final Product Here:

Ten Days in Italy

By Adam Parker

Book Preview

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Italy Book Finally Done - Blurb

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:17:34 EST

Wow, so it's been a month since I've been back and it has taken me this long to finish my book. I placed my order yesterday and it will take up to 2 weeks to be printed and shipped here, I can't wait!!

The end result is 138 pages with one or two pictures per page. I decided that I would forego writing a story and just let the pictures speak for themselves. Of the ~1860 pictures I took, only 160 made it into the book. I only put pictures that could stand on their own and I think the overall quality of the book will be improved because of that.

I chose blurb as my publisher. Through their software application I was able to easily create and order my 11" x 14" hard-cover book. The total cost will come out to be $95 including the standard ground shipping, which is not bad considering a 20 page softback by Apple cost me around $20. Extend that out and it would be almost $200.

I'll post a follow-up once the book arrives, I just know it's going to be well worth the time, effort and money. Check out the preview on the right.

Ten Days in Italy

By Adam Parker

Book Preview

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Italy - Day 10 - Milan

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:04:18 EST

This will be my last day in Florence. The stay here has been wonderful with some great opportunities for day trips to other parts of the country. I woke up at 7am and started to get ready to leave.

I got one more of Clara's breakfasts and was sad to learn that I would be missing another dinner that night. I debated staying later to have dinner, but Clara insisted that I go see Milan.

After breakfast, I packed my bags for the trip. I am going to just carry my larger bag like a duffle bag since I don't have far to go. And I'll cary one more bag worth of gifts with me since they wont all fit in my bag. I dropped the keys off on Clara's desk and headed out to do some gift shopping.

My first stop was to head over to Massimo's to get the buttons on my coat re-done. They were coming loose and I wanted him to fix it while I was in town. He was a great guy and took care of it right away. Another plus in my eyes for his store and his service.

Then I went around and picked up various gifts. I won't go into detail about what I got, but I picked up a few Christmas gifts and a few things for myself. I eneded up spending all the cash I have on me (except for about 2 euro). If I can survive on credit card for the next 20 hours I'll be set.

After shopping and getting my coat fixed, I headed back to Albergo Paola for my stuff. I had one heck of a time re-arranging with all the new things I had to carry around now. The airport tomorrow will sure be fun.

I huffed it over to the train station and caught a 1:14pm train to Milan. It is much colder today than it has been. That must explain why I was greeted with the wonderful view of fresh snow about 20 minutes north of Balogna. I should be arriving around 4pm and hope to grab a hotel room somewhere near Milano Centrale.

I was able to find a hotel only one block from the train station. It is called Hotel Florida. I kinda silly name, I know, but it is clean and close and only 70 euro a night, so for my last night I can splurge. I'll get a hot shower and breakfast at 7am.

After settaling in and getting my flight info squared away I went over to a local cafe for some Ravioli and pinaple (called Anana in italian). I then went to check the price for the bus over to the Malpanse Airport and tickets look to be 7 euro. It's a shame because I only have 2.50 euro left, so I had to take out more from the bank and the smallest amount I can get is another 50 euro. This way, however, I can be more certain that I'll have all the cash I'll need to get out of here.

My flight is at 10:40am and I'm going to re-pack my stuff in the morning. I'm hoping to get up at 5am so I'm going to go to bed right after posting this. Italy sure has been quite a trip, but it's not over yet. I still have two more exciting events left, 1) getting to the airport, 2) making it through customs.

As sad as I will be to see Italy go, I'll be glad to be back in my own bed in my own house.

Thanks you all for following along. I'll be putting pictures up in the next few days (and inserting them in these write ups). I'll also do one final recap where I can cover the things that went right and the things that didn't on this trip plus any other learnings I have to share.

Until then...Ciao...Arriverderci!!!

-END DAY 10-
Click here to see day 9
Click here to see day 11
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Italy - Day 9 - Cinque Terre and Pisa

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 13:51:04 EST

I woke up at 6:30am well aware of the fact that I now have a small cold. Fortunately it is not bad and it shouldn't hinder the rest of my trip. I am sad to miss breakfast today, but I have to catch the 7:51am train to La Spezia. The ticket for the 2 hour ride was 22 euro. The train is older and I'm riding in a 6 person cabin with 2 other guys.

We were delayed 24 minutes leaving Florence and the older gentleman in the car seemed a little bit perturbed. I think he was able to get a refund after talking with the conductor. We picked up 2 more passengers in Pisa (along with another 10 minutes worth of delay).

About 20 minutes outside of Pisa there was a great view of what I assume are the southern part of the Alps. They were gorgeous, I am sad that I wasn't able to get a picture before they went out of view. I am sad that I did not get up to Switzerland for this trip.

I arrived 27 minutes late in La Spezia which pushed back train rides for the rest of the day. A brief stop into the information center provided me with a map, train-schedule and day pass for Cinque Terre (8 euro). I hopped onto the 11:10am regional train and rode it to the 4th of the 5 cities, Vernazza. Walking all 5 cities is supposed to take 5 hours and doing only 4 should take 3 hours. Since I want to visit Pisa tonight, I'll have to only do the 4 cities.

Finding the bay was easy enough once getting off the train. The path back to Riomaggiore was tougher to find. I saw a small sign with an arrow pointing up some stairs with the words "Corniglia" on it. Since that was the name of the next city over, I thought would give it a shot. I thought that any second I would wind up inside someone's house, but the stairs ended up taking me to a stone path that lead to an overlook of the city. This is when I realized that my trip here was an awesome choice.

The architecture and ocean were beautiful. The weather too was good, I would guess the high 60s or low 70s. I had to stuff my coat in my bag because the combination of weather and climb made it too hot with the coat on. Let it be known that this is not a trek for the weak hearted. There are some serious elevation changes and it truly is a few hours of hiking, but it was great. Being low season, I only passed about 20 people the whole 3 hour walk back. I felt like I had the trail all to myself.

One thing that helps to know is that the trail is marked every so often with two parallel lines painted on the walls. The top one red, the bottom one white. These help you know which way to go, especially as the trail cuts through the small towns.

Everything was beautiful, I particularly liked strolling through the olive groves on the side of the cliffs and my favorite parts of the trail were the views overlooking Vernazza and Manarola.

In fact, one of the more unique parts of the trip was the cemetery that overlooked Maranola and the ocean. It surely would be a beautiful place to be buried. There were a great number who were interned in the early 50's and there probably wasn't a single better view of the Cinque Terre than that point. I would have to say that this ranks right up there as a highlight of the whole trip.

The walk was supposed to take 3 hours, but I finished in 2h 45m and was able to catch a train to La Spezia shortly after finishing. By now the temperature was dropping and my cold was starting to bug me. I was also a little disappointed that the next train to Pisa was not arriving until 4:06pm and, on top of that, it was 15 minutes late. Since the sun sets at 4:30pm, that guarantees that I won't have any sun for pictures in Pisa. And to top off the disappointment, I purchased some McDonalds at the train station while I waited...what was I thinking!!!!

click here to see all of the Cinque Terre pictures

Pisa

From Pisa Centrale, it is a 20 minute walk straight north (over the bridge) to reach the tower. I was able to use my GPS some here to guide me up to the tower, it took a while to acquire the satellite, but once it did it proved fairly reliable.

The tower is hard to see above the buildings of the town. You actually have to get quite close before you realize you are there. I am sad that both the tower and the cathedral are closed already. This will make 2 times that I've been to the tower and have been unable to go up.

I stuck around for a few pictures that should look good in B&W, but I determined that it was too cold to stick around any longer and for 4.50 euro, I caught the next train back to Florence. I arrived back at Albergo Paola at 8:30pm and was so glad to be back 'home'.

click here to see all of the Pisa pictures

Mama Clara made me some hot water with honey in it for my cold. Yet more proof that this is by far the best place in town to stay and that Clara should be given sainthood. With the cold and the hours of walking, I was glad to get to bed by 11pm after uploading some of the pictures from the vatican. I am so behind on getting pictures uploaded.

Tomorrow is shopping and then to off to Milan for my last night. This trip has indeed gone by fast.

-END DAY 9-
Click here to see day 8
Click here to see day 10
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Italy - Day 8 - Venice

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:48:07 EST

I had not originally planned to see Venice on this trip, but after hearing that others had done it in a day from Florence, I figured why not. Since I had not let Clara know that I would be skipping breakfast, I stayed and ate (and that's never a bad thing). After that I caught the 10:38am train and was scheduled to arrive at 1:30pm.

At the train station I ran into Sylvia from Melbourne. Her train was delayed, so we sat and kept each other company while we waited. She had been a dear that morning and given me some throat losenges to help with the sore throat I woke up with, a bad sign of things to come.

I was able to plug-in my laptop on the train which was great because I could write up the summary for a few more days as I traveled. I was also able to work on getting some pictures ready for the web. I had a set of 4 seats all to myself for the whole ride and got to travel through Bologna and Padua before arriving in Venice.

My trick for finding Piaza di San Marco was to head straight south from the St. Luciano station. After winding through the labyrinth of streets for 45 minutes, I managed to find my destination on the south end of the island. I'm glad I had the setting sun to use as a reference. The secret key for navigating through the city is to know that the big yellow signs everywhere point you to the major landmarks, so as long as you follow them and know where they are in relation to one another, you should do all right.

I walked around the waterfront and enjoyed the good weather. It was no colder than Florence has been. I took a number of pictures before grabbing a bite to eat. My victim for lunch was a huge calzone. They are quite different from calzone's in the U.S. due to the very small amount of sauce used in them.

Unfortunately there was some construction going on. Some on the cathedral and some as preparation for the Christmas season. That will make for some slightly less attractive pictures, but that's the way it is sometimes.

I decided to walk back over to the Rialto bridge for sunset and am glad that I was there in the off season, that place must be packed in the summer. Then it was back over to Piaza di San Marco for a few night shots. The piaza at night is very impressive. I would love to come back and stay here just to enjoy the atmosphere.

After a few minutes I had to go. I knew that I would probably get lost looking for the Alle Ferrovia and that's just what happened. I ended up a little to the west of where I wanted to be, but could see the train station and made my over with 30 minutes to spare. Definitely give yourself time to get around this city.

So, after another 44 euro, I was on my way back. The power didn't work on the train this time, so I was only able to do 2 days worth of write ups on the charge I had left. I think I got some good pictures on this trip and I am very glad I decided to go over for the day.

click here to see all the pictures from Venice gallery

I let Clara know that I would not be there for breakfast in the morning and was able to post the write-ups for day 3 and day 4 before going to sleep by 1am.

Tomorrow will be early as I head over to La Spezia and then to the Cinque Terre.

-END DAY 8-
Click here to see day 7
Click here to see day 9
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Italy - Day 7 - Siena

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:43:45 EST

After another amazing breakfast, Aaron and I headed to catch the buss to Siena. The buss station is located just one block south of the train stations and it is in a courtyard which makes it more difficult to find. We did find it however and caught the buss out to Siena. It cost 6.50 euro for the ride which lasted about an hour.

Once we arrived in Sienna, we used the two towers as landmarks as best we could. Siena is very much like Florence except it has more hills. This makes for different pictures, but not so much of a different experience. The pace of the town changed depending on where we were. Some parts were quite crowded and busy, but other places, like the piaza, were quite empty.

We found the Piaze and the cathedral without too much trouble. The 6 euro to get in was worth it, the interior of this cathedral had a unique zebra design inside and seemed much more in-use than the Duomo in Florence. There were more little things to see inside. I'll admit thought, that the ceiling of the dome was not as impressive as the others; and, by this point, one church was much like any other (almost).

We walked back over to the piaza to climb the town's tower. The climb cost 7 euro, but it was worth it. If you are claustrophobic, then I would suggest not going up, there were several points where I can't see how a large person could make it through. The tower just seemed to keep going and the view at the top was spectacular. It makes me wish I had climbed the tower in Florence, but I think the rolling hills of Siena offer a more enjoyable view. The stay at the top is only granted to 5 people at a time and stays are only for 15 minutes, but it was low season so they seemed to be lax on the rules.

click here to see the Siena gallery

After I took a few shots, we headed back to the buss station to get some tickets over to San Gimingano. But when we got there, we couldn't even see anything indicating a buss to Florence, so we went to the counter and asked. Of course there was a buss to Florence and it wasn't until after we purchased our ticket did we realize that there was indeed a buss going to San Gimingano. Oh well.

My overall opinion of Siena is that there are other, better things to do. Perhaps staying there yields a different outlook on the place, but from my short stay, I wasn't able to see how it was so different from Florence.

Durring the buss ride I was almost asleep. I guess that all the walking was catching up with me. We made it back and I headed over to the river to get some more pictures. I then walked back to the hostel for the night.

I went to dinner with Gargi at the Trattoria Nerone. She's an interesting girl. Very unique to share dinner with her and gain some more perspective on how other people live and get out of my box a little.

Then it was sleep so I could be rested for Venice the next day.

-END DAY 7-
Click here to see day 6
Click here to see day 8
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Italy - Day 6 - Florence Summary

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 01:42:47 EST

Today was the official tour Florence day. I woke up at 7:45am and stayed for Clara's breakfast. I ate quickly because I had a 9:30am appointment at the Uffizi Museum.

Uffizi Museum

The Uffizi is about a 20 minute walk from where I'm staying located near the Piaze di Signoria. Getting there was a piece of cake even thought I was about 5 minutes behind schedule. That's the price of a good meal I guess.

Click here to read about the Uffizi

Boboli Gardens (again)

After the Uffizi I headed over across the bridge again to try to get a panoramic of the city. www.Weather.com said that the day would be overcast with a 30% chance of rain in the evening; and, of course, they were wrong. It was a beautiful day with beautiful skies. I headed up a hill to Fort Balvedere hoping to get a good view and stumbled upon the other side of the Boboli gardens. I asked if there was an overlook here and they said yes, so I paid the 7 euro again to get in.

I did indeed find the overlook, it was one of the gardens. There were better vantage points to get the shot I wanted, but I would have had to jump some walls to get there. I decided I would get what I could without risking getting thrown out. I think things will turn out fine, I've still got to stitch together the results, but the lighting was pretty good. I stayed around there for about 2 hours and probably took 60 shots to make sure I had at least one result that was print worthy.

Towards the south-east end of the gardens, directly back behind the palace, was a great overlook viewing the countryside around Florence. I sat up there for a little while and did some more journaling of the days activities while enjoying the view.

After the gardens, I headed back to the hostel where I met some of the new arrivals. One was Kay from California who was over for her first trip to Europe. The other was Georgi (pronounced jargie) whow was from Liverpool.

Several of us went out to eat dinner that night and the food was great. I had a calamari and pasta dish and some tira masu with chocolate gellato for desert. Throw in a bottle of Rosa di Montelcino and I was set.

Upon returning, I finished my writeup for day 2 (finally) and posted it. I also asked Clara for one more night. I figure that 1 day in Milan will be enough and I would rather stay here for one more night where I can keep my stuff secure and then just pony-up for one night at a hotel when I'm in Milan. This also allows me to do another day trip from here.

I have also been adjusting to make room for pictures on the laptop. So far I've taken 1200 pictures and am running out of space for them on the PC. I started with ~9GB, but I've had to free up another 3-4GB since I've been here. I hope I don't need all those programs I've been deleting. That has been a whole lot of fun along with the dirt that I have discovered is on my sensor. From now on I'll have to try to use a low aperture as well as being prepared to do a lot of photoshop work to get rid of dust spots later... Oh well.

Time for bed before my first day excursion tomorrow, Sienna.

-END DAY 6-
Click here to see day 5
Click here to see day 7
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Italy - Day 5 - Florence Summary

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:39:23 EST

Clara served us our breakfast to our room at 9am. We had cereal, yogurt, toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, juice and fresh baked bread. Everyone in the room sat around and ate. There was Aaron from Australia, Joss from Australia, Karen and Jennifer from Canada. We all got to chat about our experiences and what we were planning to do that day. After breakfast I headed out to see the town.

I headed straight over to the Duomo. This was perfect because the weather was in the mid 60's and only partly cloudy. Clara had warned us that it would rain later, but thankfully that didn't happen. I took pictures inside and outside the Duomo and then headed over to the Piaza di Signoria where 6 amazing statues are on display. I particularly like the depiction of Hercules killing the centaur. The level of detail that is put into the work is simply mind-blowing.

click here to see more pictures from the duomo (cathedral)
click here to see more pictures from Florence

I found a coat shop and found a jacket that I liked as much as the 400 euro jacket I found near the square the day before. I'm much more content spending 380 euro than I am spending 600 euro.

I crossed over Ponte Vecchio, the famous shop-covered bridge of Florence. It must be amazing to work in those shops because they all had amazing views of the waterfront.

After crossing the bridge I began looking for a hill on which I could take a picture of the skyline. While walking I stumbled upon a side entrance to the Boboli gardens. I paid the 7 euro entrance fee and wandered around the beautiful grounds. There was almost no one there and I found a place back off by itself where I just sat down and wrote up notes about what happened during that day and the day before. It was so secluded and peaceful and such a change of pace from the city.

I walked back to the Duomo. The GPS actually kinda worked on the way back. I was able to follow the old city walls back to the river and the over to the cathedral. On the way back I found a shoe shop and picked up a pair of shoes for 20 euro. Much cheaper than the 70 euro they push in the market.

I then headed over to Massimo's Leather shop (click here to see more) and bought my jacket*. Figured it would be good to get it before someone happened on it and stole it out from under me. Not likely, I know, but I'm the type that would rather get something quickly than wait around thinking about it.

dinner

Clara is making us dinner tonight. So I had to be back by 7:30pm. She only makes dinner when she decides she wants to and boy am I glad she wanted to. When I got back, I was able to sample the food and I knew then that it was going to be a very good dinner. Clara let me taste some of the fresh Tuscan olive oil and see why the flavor of the food was so good. So now I have to bring back a few bottles of olive oil with me or else I'll never forgive myself. Even just the oil on a piece of bread was good.

Dinner was served at 7:15pm and was all that I hoped it would be. We had red wine, vegetable soup, potatoes, Chicken with Sausage and a banana chocolate cake for desert. Clara charged us 10 Euro and let me tell you, that was a bargin. In addition to having a great meal the 9 of us who shared a meal together were able to become well aquainted. There were 4 Ausies, 2 Canadians, 1 Mexican and 2 of us from the U.S. After we finished the meal and the 3 pitchers of wine, we stayed up until 1 talking. We even went out and got 3 more bottles of wine to keep the party going. It was a lot of fun and I'm sad Clara didn't cook more.

Unfortunately, Clara didn't join us. Besides having plans to go out, she makes it a habit to not eat with her clientel. I think that's a shame because we would all be better off having shared a meal or two with her. Like I said before, Clara's a sweetheart.

I tried to help Dina with her memory card problem. She had her pictures burned to DVD and her cards still had the pictures on them, but her camera wouldn't take pictures on the cards. I helped her out by getting pictures off of one of her cards so she could take pictures until the situation was straightened out. Luckily she was able to get everything burned again correctly the next day and the problem was resolved.

Then, with a happy and full stomach, I went to bed. What an awesome day.

-END DAY 5-
Click here to see day 4
Click here to see day 6
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Italy - Florence - Massimo Leather

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:47:01 EST

So when I was in Florence, I got it in my head that I wanted a nice winter coat. I only had one and picking one up when I was there would probably be a good buy. I shopped around the market and went to a few shops to try on coats and found some very nice pieces but at prices that were a little steep for my budget.

Then, on the way to see the city my 2nd day in Florence, I came upon Massimo Leather (website here). Massimo was located conveniently for me, right between my hostel and the heart of florence. Just south of the Piaza di Mercato Centrale.

I had a great experience there. I never felt pressured, the selection is great and Massimo and his wife were blasts to talk to. It did him a great service to constantly have people in his shop who were long-time clients. Several times he would talk about a friend who owned a certain type of coat and then that friend would walk in several minutes later and verify the story.

I "wrestled" with the idea for a day or so, but ended up going back an purchasing the coat that I wanted. A lovely brown coat with a wool collar. I think that even though I should have haggled a little, I got a pretty good deal. I paid 200 euro for the coat or about $320 and I'll say that I am pleased with it so far.

I was also looking for another coat as a gift. Since I was larger than the person I was giving the coat to, Massimo tracked down several 'models' from the market to come and show me how the coat would look on them (thanks Anka and Carla). This was above and beyond service in my eyes and helped me to know that I wouldn't have to send the coat back, that it would fit right the first time.

The service there was great. Massimo treated me more like a friend than a customer. I even had some buttons that were coming loose before I left and Massimo replaced them all while I did some gift shopping in Florence. He was courteous, fast and did good work.

I would recommend Massimo to anyone going to Florence. You'll find great stuff at a great price and you'll end up making a friend.

- Thanks Massimo

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Italy - Florence - Albergo Paola

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 18:37:01 EST

Initial Arrival

The Albergo Paola is located on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator. Once you walk in, you'll see Clara's desk and the sole computer available.

I met Clara and checked in. She gave me a map and highlighted the points of interest in the town. She then proceeded to go over the rules. Breakfast is at 9am. If you don't want breakfast you have to tell her the day before. You get 4 keys. One for the outer door, one for your door, two for lockers and a code to the hostel's main door.

Beyond that there wasn't much. My room was quite red and I was on the lower bunk of a very comfortable bed.

Everything was clean, there was free wi-fi, a computer to use that had skype on it. There was fruit available in the kitchen. Basically my first impressions were good enough to make me forget that it was raining and cold outside. Shoot, this place is so good that I would pay just to see the view from the bathroom (literally).

- Go back to Day 4 summary -

click here to see pictures of the Albergo Paola Hostel

Read below to see my overall feelings about the place.

Overall Thoughts/Review

If you stay in Florence, you almost have to stay here, especially if you are traveling alone. For 20 Euro a night this place is a steal. I felt secure, welcomed and compfortable the whole time I was here.

I guess now is the best time to mention the breakfasts. THEY ARE INCREDIBLE. Scrambled eggs, bacon, cereal, yogurt, toast, fresh bread, juice...everything to make for a good meal. While having to be at the hostel at 9am can be a burden, the home-cooked breakfast makes it a good sacrifice. And in addition to the quality of the food, the fact that she brings it to the room almost forces everyone to sit and talk with one another. It was very easy to get to know the others in my room because of this.

Find out more at the website http://www.albergopaola.com/

THE GOOD -
Just about everything about this place was good. I don't even know where to begin. The bathing facilities are great, very well kept. The food is great. The staff (Clara) is great, she is truly a sweetheart who is willing to help and wants you to feel at home. The lockers are a big plus. It helps going out knowing that your things are secure, especially if you are going to do any shopping in town. It was nice not taking my laptop around every day. The location to the train station is excellent, less than 5 minutes.

THE BAD -
There aren't really any bad items, but, in all fairness, here are my thoughts. There could be more power outlets. They exist, but they are either hard to get to or they are sparsely located. I could also see that the 2 showers are not enough when the place is full in the summer. There are showers in the room, but I don't know who would use those.

So out of a possible ««««« (5 stars):

Staff - «««««
Cleanlieness - «««««
Extras - ««««
Security - «««««
Location - ««««
OVERALL - ««««« (5 stars)

Thanks for everything Clara!!!
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