Tag Archives: Apple

Short trip to Rome

The thursday before Christmas I went on a small trip to Rome. After a 2 hour flight and about 45 minutes by bus and metro I arrived at my bed & breakfast, Cicerone 28. It was is a nice old building with a very small open square in the middle of the building. From the B&B it’s a 20 minute walk to Saint Peter’s Square or the Pantheon. A nice bed & breakfast and the people are very helpful.

I’ve visited Rome before, and seen the ‘usual’ stuff that you should see. But this time I also want to see, feel, hear, taste the more local Rome. The places, squares, coffee shops, restaurants that the residents of Rome would go to.

For that I used 2 iPhone apps. Foursquare and TripAdvisor City Guides.

Foursquare

Thanks to the great Explore function in the Foursquare app it’s easy to find good coffee places and find restaurants. Luckily most tips are in English, so that makes it easier for me to judge it. Because Foursquare is mainly used by citizens of Rome, it is an excellent way to find good spots.

Via Foursquare I found Castroni, an awesome deli and coffee spot, and Da Francesco, a great restaurant where I had a good lunch while surrounded by Romans and right next to the pizza oven. That’s what I wanted!

TripAdvisor City Guides

This is not the ‘standard’ iPhone app of TripAdvisor. With this app you can download a whole city to your fingertips. It includes the map of the city and the metro, a list all the restaurants, nightlife, shopping, hotels and attractions. Each list can be seen by best in your neighbourhood or best in Rome based on reviews on the TripAdvisor website. Just like Foursquare it has reviews and tips for each place. And because you download it first at home you simply don’t need any unsecured wireless internet. With the offline map and your GPS location you always know where you are, so you don’t need a paper map. Unless the batteries of your iPhone died.

Via TripAdvisor I found Giolitti, a great place for an espresso and ice cream, and Trattoria Palazzaccio (Dal 1971), a really traditional Roman restaurant where you can enjoy some pure Italian food. Try for dessert the Tiramisu.

Two app to find your way around the city and explore great places that you otherwise wouldn’t find. Both are available on iOS and Android.

Instagram

There was one other app that I loved to use. Instagram. It is just a lovely way to share my pictures of Rome. Here are a few of them.

Spaghetti with black truffle at Trattoria Palazzaccio
Coffee shop
Caprese at Trattoria Palazzaccio
Pizza at Da Francesco
View from St. Peter’s Basilica
Playing chess
Coffee at Castroni
Saint Peter’s Square
Coffee at Giolitti
One of many scooters
Pantheon
Sunset

And more on Instagram

So Rome was worth it. Again. Even at Christmas when I expected it to be a lot more busier.

PS. bring a big suitcase so you can take enough pasta’s & wine home.

Steve Jobs – How to live before you die

Update 1 dec: Steve Jobs’ Vision of the World in 46 seconds.

When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money.

That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.

Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.

Update 6 Oct: Two things I learned from Steve Jobs that changed my life: 1. Think Different. 2. Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish. May he rest in peace.

At his Stanford University commencement speech, drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple and Pixar, urges us to pursue our dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself.

“Stay hungry, Stay foolish”

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.

They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify and vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things.
They push the human race forward.

And while some may see them as crazy, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

“Think Different”