A more casual day was had on Saturday.

The impression I got this year is one bathed in wine. Maybe it was the international influence of this year’s theme, but every other stand seemed to be a wine bar with appropriately highly priced tapas or nibbles. I felt that finding cheap-ish eats was easier last year and I think the wine bars were to blame. The elegance factor seemed to be ramped up a notch as well, but perhaps that was due to attending on a Thursday when everyone was still dressed up from work.

The other impression I got this year is that it was too loud. The stage speakers were blasting and several of the booths had their own music cranked up to drown out the stage. My ears are easily overwhelmed by loud noise and I felt it was difficult to carry on a conversation even on the opposite site of the Vrijthof.

We ate at that long table.

The three of us ended up in a little wine bar set up by Sofa that was serving Turkish (I think) cuisine. They had a large wine selection of course, but I wanted to save some tickets for dessert, so we went with the least expensive option (2 tickets). My drink turned out to be a decent, slightly sweet white wine. Judy had a cute little mini-wrap, I ordered bread with a mix of tasty dips, and Dan ate a flat bread, cheese-less pizza. the best part was probably his sun-dried tomatoes which were just right.  We wrapped up at the Sofa with their cheese platter which included dates, figs, nuts, and three sorts of cheese.

I loved how they built their tent around the fountain.

Next we ate at a stand selling miniature foods including the smallest hamburger you’ve ever seen. Instead of burgers we shared a miniture set of five desserts. The chocolate cream cake and raspberry sorbet were my favorites. After dessert we ended our evening in the CoffeeLovers tent to avoid the rain. But the loud music soon drove us away and home.

Ultimately it was a fun evening, made better by the chance to share the event with another. Did you attend Preuvenemint this year? What did you think?

image is (cc) meddygarnet via Flickr

My glasses & contact lenses came in much sooner than I expected and after a period of instruction (and lots of false starts), I was able to see through contact lenses for the first time.

Completely surreal.

If you have 20/20 vision you probably can’t understand this, but the feeling of being able to see clear to the back of the adjacent store was phenomenal. The plates on the back shelf were clear enough to crisply gleam. I’m use to living in a fuzzy world. Plus there was none of the bending you get with glasses, which means my new, stronger prescription doesn’t make me dizzy with the contacts like it can with the new glasses.

After struggling on my own with the contacts for two days, it’s this sense of euphoria that I’m hanging on to to push myself through the trial period which I get use to putting them in. For all the difficulties they pose, and the fact that I think I look funny without glasses now, I’m hoping the contacts work out. Seeing with them is totally different than seeing with glasses.

All that isn’t to say that my glasses stink. In fact, I think the frames are pretty cute and the new prescription is right on the money; if quite a jump from my previous prescription. You can see an obnoxious close-up of my new glasses below:

What do you think?

Only time will tell if I decide to keep going with the contacts. Do you wear contacts or glasses? What’s your preference?

The contacts image by meddygarnet is license via Creative Commons.

You can read more about this years Preuvenemeint in my Maastricht Region article: Preuveneint 2010: A Taste of the World

Or read about our experience at last years events in: Preuvenemint 2009: Eatting Our Way Through Maastricht

Preuvenemint 2010 will run from 6 pm on 26 August through midnight on 29 August. Drinks are generally 1 preuvenelap (ticket), and food starts at 2 preuvenelap, but can run up to 10 for fancier dishes. Proceeds of the event are donated to various charities.

My old glasses. I'll miss them. My new ones are a brushed green metal.

The first thing that impressed me was the ease with which I was able to get my check-up; I just walked in. Unlike in the US where we have to see eye doctors to get a prescription, opticians in the Netherlands are certified to come up with your basic prescription and (I imagine) work out things like astigmatism. I spoke with the woman who helped me and she said that the referral lines had simply gotten outrageous since it was getting clogged up by people like me with weak, but otherwise healthy eyes. Seeing an eye doctor requires a general practitioner referral and frankly why should I be preventing people with real needs from seeing a specialist. The exam was free and consisted basically of a eye chart exam and then the measuring of the shape of my eyes for a trial pair of contact lenses. No dilation or air puffs necessary.

I told my mother-in-law about this and she felt I should still make it a priority to see an ophthalmologist periodically to check for glaucoma anyway. I have “big cups” (ahem, the backs of my eyes) and that can be indicative of vision problems.

Once the examination was over the same optician helped me select some new frames. Since she brought the frames to me, rather than me looking around I was pleasantly surprised to find that my new frames were 50% off. Sweet. I got the impression that she isn’t being paid on commission because she took lots of time with me, and wasn’t pushing expensive brand name frames. Or maybe Dan’s frayed collar tipped her off that we didn’t have lots of money.

Actually, I was surprised by the lengths she went to not to charge me extra for various sundry things most eyeglass stores in the states would be only too happy to sell me. Instead of just buying contacts outright, she’s ordering me a trial pair. Then when we discussed transition lenses (something I’m use to having), she strongly discouraged it even to the point of offering to replace the plain lenses if I didn’t like them for just the cost difference. I’m still not so sure about the transition lenses decision, but she made it absolutely risk free for us, so I’m willing to be flexible.

The final cost?

• Exam: Free
• Lenses (polycarbonate, anti-glare & anti-scratch, white): €55/lens
• Frames: €72 (originally €144)
• 3 Year Insurance on Glasses: €11,55
• Trial Contacts: Free
• Contacts if I opt for them: €200/year for 12 pairs.

The relatively low price for my glasses (and potentially contacts) is a good thing, since my vision insurance is pretty much non-existent. Even if I was paying for a higher level insurance, the most I could get off my frames is 45 euros. For someone like me who probably gets new glasses every 2-3 years, that’s not really much of a deal.

My new glasses should be ready in a week or so. I’m looking forward to a clearer outlook on life.