How I Cured my Dizziness

Dear Family and Friends,

The combination of my viral inner ear inflammation and the pressure change caused from many airline flights I was feeling dizzy and nauseous most of the time.

While on the cruise, I used wrist bands that have a tab in them that help with the nausea and dizziness.  They helped and I was glad to have them.

After we returned from this last trip I went to the ear doctor and he checked my ears and said they looked much better.  I told him I was still having some dizziness and he gave me a anti vertigo prescription to help.

I didn't want to take the prescription because I did not like the side effects.

A day later, Chuck and I walked to the grocery store. On the way home we ran into our friends, Jerry and Rhonda. We chatted at bit and I told them that I was still having some dizziness.  Jerry shared with me an exercise he uses that might help me.  He emailed me a Youtube video on how to do it.

Let me tell you friends, that exercise worked a miracle on me.  It cured my dizziness right away.

Yesterday, I felt a little bit off so I did the exercise again and by golly it worked.

Now I know what to do about feeling dizzy.  I can catch it before it gets too bad.

I am going to share the Youtube video with you because I think it may help someone else that may be dizzy.  It sounds crazy but it really works.  I read that some people suffer from being dizzy for years and do not know to do this exercise that will give them relief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQR6b7CAiqk

I know this might seem weird, but honestly it has made my life so much better.  I am all the way back to normal, I feel great and am now taking long walks with no discomfort.

Love,
Nancy

North Sea Cruise - Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Dear Family and Friends,

Our last place to visit on this cruise was Newcastle, England.  We actually docked outside of Newcastle and had to take a train into the city.  At the train station we saw a big sign advertising a flea market.  We decided to go into the city and get back to also enjoy the flea market.

Newcastle got it's name from the castle built in 1080 (almost 1,000 yrs. ago) by William the Conqueror's son, Robert Curthose. Robert built the castle to replace a demolished wooden castle, therefore the name new castle.

The city developed around this castle and settlement and took on the same name.

We knew we wanted to see the castle and we knew we couldn't be too slow about it if we were going to enjoy the flea market also.

The stone buildings reminded us of the buildings we saw in Scotland.  I am so happy they are still there for us to enjoy.

Below is a picture of the Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas.  I really like the red bird house shaped clock on the bell tower.

It was just around the corner of the cathedral is where we found the Black Gate, built in 1247-50,  the entrance to the castle.

Chuck walking through the Black Gate.

Although most of the castle complex is no longer there, a lot of ruins were still left to see.

We went inside the castle which housed a museum.

A chest protector, part of heavy armor worn.

A replica of an early grenade made out of clay.  I had no idea grenades were used that long ago.

Here is Chuck in the great hall of the castle.

 Ok, here we go, indoor toilet.

This is a close up of the sign in the picture above.

Chucked climbed to the top of the castle and made these two great photos.

We walked back to the train station enjoying the beautiful stone buildings.

Below is St. Mary's Cathedral, located right across the street from the train station.

This is the sign we saw, before going to Newcastle, at the train station.

This is the wonderful flea market we enjoyed.

We sailed away and had a day at sea before arriving back in Copenhagen.

We had a fabulous cruise and saw so many wonderful places.  If you have been following along with us via the blog, I sincerely thank you.

Love,
Nancy

North Sea Cruise - Edinburgh

Dear Family and Friends,

Our shipped docked at South Queensferry, about a 30 minute drive from Edinburgh.  We took a shuttle bus from the pier into the city.

One of the first things we do when we arrive at a port is look for wi-fi so we can check out email.  After we got off the shuttle we found a Starbucks within a block or so.  It was on the second floor of an old stone building (which there are a lot of in Edinburgh).  Here is a picture of customers enjoying their coffee and a view of the Edinburgh Castle out this ornate window.

After caffeine and internet, we walked the shopping street, known as the royal mile.  The stores had a lot of kilts for sale, along with tons of other tourist Scottish souvenirs.

Hats to complete the outfit.  

The beautiful sunny day was starting to give way to dark clouds.  We wanted to get into the old part of Edinburgh that you can see in the picture below, so we hopped on one of those tour buses.

Edinburgh is a very popular place for tourists.  It was very crowded the day we were there and being above the crowds on the bus was probably the best thing for us.

I love this old concrete and stone building.  It must be quite old because it juts out into the sidewalk.

We went past Greyfriar's Kirk cemetery. It is a very old cemetery dating back to 1561 and is alleged to be haunted.  Don't you love the moss covered headstones?

This domed building is the headquarters of the Bank of Scotland.

A typical shopping street in the old section of Edinburgh.

Another cemetery that is located behind Canongate Church. The church was built in the 1690's.

An ernormous monument to the famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns.

Locals enjoying a game of Lawn Bowling.

The castle in the center of the picture below is Holyrood Palace.  It is the official residenc of the Royal Family.  When Queen Elizabeth comes to Scotland this little cottage is where she stays.

The statue below is of Prince Albert.  It is located in Charlotte Square and is right across the street from where our shuttle bus let us off.

The Scottish people are very proud of their heritage.  You see many men dressed in kilts, especially for special occasions.  Here are a few we saw.

These kids were picking up some money by playing bagpipes in the park.

We even had a fellow telling us goodbye on the pier in full traditional dress.

Although, we did not take a guided tour on this trip to Edinburgh, we will next time. Believe it or not, we will be returning to Edinburgh in September.  We have a tour lined up that will take us to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace and the Royal Yacht Britannia, home to Her Majesty the Queen for over 40 years.  We hope to see what life is like aboard.  I hope I can take pictures inside.

Also, we may have the good fortune to be joined on this tour by a couple, whom many of you know.  I won't say who they are because we do not know if it will work out, but if it does, what a fun day we will have with them.

Our next port is in Newcastle, England.  The actual name is Newcastle upon Tyne.  Doesn't that sound so British?  

Love,

Nancy

North Sea Cruise - Invergordon, Scotland

Dear Family and Friends,

Our ship docked at Invergordon, the port for Inverness.  Inverness is the capital of the Scottish Highlands.

The four of us got off the ship early and secured a taxi driver that toured us all around the highlands. He asked us where we wanted to go, we said that we didn't know the area and he should take us where he wanted us to see.

We got a fantastic tour of the area.

Here is a picture I took from the taxi of sheep grazing in the Highlands.

We were even fortunate to get a fairly close look at a Highland Cow.

Our driver's name was Scottie.

The Highlanders are proud of their clans and he told us all sorts of personal history and history of the area.  Wonderful tour guide.
Inverness is where the Highland Games are held.

Here we are in Inverness, our tour guide is behind Chuck.  He never seemed to be in a hurry and when we wanted to explore something more, he was more than happy to let us take our time.

This is a canal that has locks to get boats out from the Irish Sea, through Scotland, to the North Sea.  I saw this boat and the most interesting character waved at us.

The boat was waiting for the boats in the lock coming inward from the Irish Sea to complete their trip and then they would go into the locks to go out to North Sea.

We chatted with this wonderful "old salt" while they were waiting and felt very enriched by the experience.

Here is a picture of the sail boats that had completed the locks and were on their way toward the Irish Sea.

Shortly thereafter our sailor was on his way out to sea.

Here is a man fly fishing on the River Ness.

Our driver knew right where to take us to get some great photos of Inverness.

I was mesmerized by this historical church that had been purchased and turned into a funeral home.

He took us to Clava cairn, an ancient cemetery.  This cemetery is 4,000 years old.
It was hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that this cemetery was built 2,000 years before Christ's birth.

The pile of stones you see in the center of the picture was made 4,000 years ago. It is hard to see but the pile of stones are surrounded by monolithic boulders which were added 1,000 years later.

Here is Audrey inside the 4,000 year old carin.

A closer look at one of the monolithic boulders surrounding the carin.

He also took us to see Loch Ness.  We looked out at the lake hoping to see a glimpse of the fabled Loch Ness monster...but no luck.  There was a sign that said "Sorry you missed Nessie today, he will be here tomorrow."

Here we are in front of the famous lake.

Here is Chuck posing in front of the Loch Ness information marker.

This is the closest we came to seeing "Nessie."  I found him in a gift shop.

Our next city to visit was Edinburgh.  I will share about that on the next post.

Love,
Nancy