Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Switching Lenses + No Food Pics + Rides


Scattered clouds filled most of our weekend. And so on Saturday we decided to go cycling again! My regular routine would only involve a few steps in the apartment and that also meant rarely stepping out the front door. So cycling three days in a row has been an interesting adventure and definitely more exercise than i had ever imagined.

I'm not complaining.

I actually don't mind it. I'm just happy that there are bicycle paths to follow. And majority of the time bicycles share the same path as pedestrians, so i'm not squeezing past parked and moving cars. Which is a good thing for the cars as i have this fear that i'll lose control of the bike and end up scratching them.


We took the path through the forest again but his time taking another route that brought us to a spot that explained the towns' involvement in developing the area to be more green.


There was a freestanding pane which one could look through which indicated the new dunes and what the area used to look like prior to 1996.

And so we took the opportunity to take another photo of us.


J's been really stressed out at work. And combined with the lack of gratitude and trust, not to mention having to work over hours without getting paid, it's obvious it's starting to take its' toll. He deserves so much better.

So anyway, back to our adventure...

I've been meaning to get the screws on my glasses tightened and to get my eyes checked. It had been over three years since i got them examined and wanted to know if they had gotten any worse. I'm not exactly blind if i don't have my glasses on, things are just blurry without them. I am short sighted and would much rather see things without squinting.


So we went to an optician and walked into Knipschild - a family run business that has been around for over 40 years. And the man, who i can only assume was the owner, was super nice and spoke very little English. He sat me in this old school looking chair with a contraption which swung out and that stopped just in front of my eyes. He then told me to read out loud the letters on the far wall whilst he twisted the knobs and made the necessary adjustments.

I had never seen anything like it. It looked so modern despite him saying that it was a much older model.

Gone were the days when the optician would place weird looking glasses on my face with several slots for the glass plates.

Well turns out my eyesight has only slightly gotten worse but not so much that i have to change my glasses. Which is good to hear because getting that stuff changed here is super expensive.

I explained that previously i had been using monthly BIOMEDICS contact lenses but since moving to Germany i switched to some cheaper brand that was easily found at the supermarket. But that still cost me 10 Euros for just a pair of monthly lenses. And since i usually don't wear them continuously anyway, i often stretched the time to nearly two months.

Which probably explains why my eyes were always irritated and red.
He then suggested i try DAILIES which says have "blink-activated moisture released from inside the lens with every blink — all 14,000 of them per day! A great choice if you have sensitive eyes." [source]

And so the optometrist gives me a free pair to try.

I immediately felt a difference and decided to buy a box of 30 one-day lenses for 24.90 Euros. I know there are several online places where i can order them for slightly cheaper, so if it works out i'll do that.


We then had a super yummy lunch at an Asian restaurant in the middle of the city. It's been ages since i had Chinese food, so i was excited. I'm much more of a Pasta kind of girl but i do occasionally enjoy a hot meal with rice.

So anyway, i took photos of the food as the portions were massive and the prawns were really fresh. But as i was going to pay, the unfriendly Asian chick behind the counter told me to delete them and went on to say i wasn't allowed to take photos.

Had she of smiled and been a bit more nicer about it, maybe i would have mentioned the restaurants' name and encourage others to go and eat there.

But she wasn't nice. So no promo for you!

Perhaps she had some kind of superior I-AM-ASIAN-AND-SO-ARE-YOU complex which made her think she could speak down to me like i was just some kid. I mean she was super friendly to everyone else except with me.

J said, i should have called him over and pretended i didn't understand.

Oh well whatever.


We then made our way to the funfair that's on for the next few days. And had we of not eaten so much i'm sure we would have gone on a few more rides. So we were careful to choose rides that wouldn't make us hurl.

We chose a tame looking roller coaster. It looked somewhat slow from below. And since nobody was screaming, it couldn't have been that bad.


That was until i got on.

There was one section that made a sharp 180˚ turn that made you feel like the cart was going to fly off. I'm one of them people that can't stop laughing on rides and depending on the shock value of the ride, i do like to scream.

It was fun though.


We then went on the ferris wheel since J had never gone on one before. I imagined it suddenly breaking down or parts falling off as it squeaked and swayed slightly as the wind blew.


We soon found out it could even rotate giving us a 360˚ panoramic view of the town. It wasn't exactly the most exciting as the average building in this town is no higher than a few floors. So all you could really see in the vicinity were the roofs of houses and tree tops.



We didn't make it on this ride because we knew we'd feel spewy after that. Instead we watched many look paler than usual after the ride was over. Definitely not for the weak of hearts.


So after having spent a great afternoon in the city together, we made it home just in time for the sunset. And so that J could play a few rounds of that game i like to call, The Clicking Little Ships game.

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