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Jan Doudna

 

Monday the 24th we had some more great experiences in Koblenz. Don took the more vigorous tour to the Marksburg Castle. I am certain that he has some lovely photos on his phone.  I opted for a cable car ride up and over the Rhine to Ehrenbreitstein fortress.  The views were spectacular!  First was the German Corner, Deutches Eck, where the Moselle River joins the Rhine.  There is statue of Kaiser Wilhelm with state and national flags.  It is a UNESCO world heritage site.

At the fortress the guides are actors dressed in period clothes and speaking of the events current to 1836.  It was fun to learn about the fortress units manner.  The fortress was really impressive.

General Patton was also in Koblenz in WW II.


While we were touring, our ship moved on to Braubach where we reconvened at lunchtime. We sailed the Middle Rheingold under a cloud cover and occasional shower. There was also a demo of Rudesheim coffee plus tasting.  I am bringing the recipe home.

Sunday, August 23, we are touring in Cologne, Germany. It is a beautiful old city.  The weather is definitely cooperating.  We did the walking tour of the city. Since it was Sunday we were only able to see the interior of the great Cologne Cathedral briefly.  Then mass began.  Also most stores were closed.

The ship was docked quite conveniently near the Chocolate Museum. We saw the history of many aspects of chocolate, from growing, harvesting, roasting, etc.  There were at least 3 floors of displays, many had interactive components. Then we walked amongst production machinery and had a sample from the chocolate fountain.  Finished our tour in the shop, buying our own bars to enjoy later.

We also crossed one of the city bridges and sat on the patio to taste a Kolsch beer.

Our cruise director gave a presentation on Germany that afternoon, also.

Saturday we did a walking tour at Kinderdijke, the Nederlands.  It is designated a UNESCO world heritage site.  There are 19 windmills that were used to drain and claim land, basically peat in this area.  We were able to tour one completely.  As the breeze came, the canvases were opened on the blades.  Then the whole roof is turned to catch the wind power. Pretty ingenious workings.  The later mills were built of wood instead of brick and were octagonal instead of round to better distribute them weight.  As fascinating as all this engineering is, we left the tour and walked back to a shop torent

Today we are starting a new adventure. We will arrive in Amsterdam on Friday morning and leave Friday evening on the Mimir river cruise ship. We are with our traveling companions who are part of our church family and good neighbors.  We have taken vacations and expeditions in all seasons over the last dozen years or more. We always have a wonderful time.

From: Jan Doudna

Hi! How are you? Breaking news http://manager.kz/twenty/sweet.php It works! Jan Doudna Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad

Visit to the Retina doctor

Officially it has been nine months since my surgery.  There was the post surgery doctor's appointment in 24 hours.  Then there was another appointment in a couple of weeks.  And I saw the doctor again in November before we left for the winter.  There he took another photo--some topography of the retina to see how it looked.  It had definitely smoothed out some from the original photo.  I could see a couple more lines on the eye chart and he had me read a card for close-up reading.

I was aware of night time halos in just a couple more weeks.  That indicates a cataract.  After the surgery a cataract usually forms within a year. Three months for me.

Now that winter has ended we returned to Iowa and I went to the doctor again.  I can barely see the BIG E with the affected eye.  Next step is to make an appointment to have an evaluation for cataract surgery.  That is scheduled for late July.  Guess that you can't be in any hurry.

I went back to the internet and reread about this epiretinal membrane.  Most articles say that you will not get all of your vision back.  Most also say that recovery occurs within the first three months after surgery.

I will visit the cataract surgeon in July.  Hopefully I can get that surgery in August.  Then I am desperately praying that there will be some improvement of my vision.  I have given up playing tennis.  It is too hard to time the ball and see it if there is much pace.  My other complaint is depth perception.  I have a fear of missing the bottom step because I can't see.  Maybe I could use my lack of vision as a golf excuse???