Two Women and One Man and a Spa Weekend

Amy found out late last week that the apartment that we were in had been sold as a condominium and we were being forced to move. After we vented some frustration about a second move, we learned that we would only be moved to the apartment next to the one we were already living in. However, in the course of the move, we lost one bedroom and one bathroom. Now we are living in a two bed/one bathroom apartment. It is still very nice. There are some pictures of it and the view from our balcony in this weeks pictures.

I must begin this post by saying that my wife’s trust in me is fairly substantial. She allowed me to go hang with two other women for what was a two day trek through the south and west of Ireland. Joy, Shay (her friend from Atlanta who was visiting her), and I found a two day tour that went by train from Dublin to Limerick, and then by bus to Galway, and also by bus to Connemara, and when the tour was over, by train from Galway back to Dublin. Some of the sights we took in the first day included Bunratty Castle, the village of Doolin, the Cliffs of Moher (which I also saw weekend before last with Amy), Black Head, the Burren (also saw this last week too), and Galway Bay. The second day included Kylemore Abbey, Killary Harbor, and the majestic beauty of the Connemara countryside. This included an overnight stay in Galway and was included in the price of the tour. We had a really good time. We had a different tour guide both days and their styles and manners were very different. On day one, the guide provided us with good information about what we were seeing and a few extra facts tossed in for general interest. The second day our guide gave an exhaustive discourse on what seemed like the entire Irish history dating back to the very formation of the earth.

The weather on the first day was overcast and chilly, but with no rain, until the middle of the afternoon. We were back up on top of the Cliffs of Moher (I will include a picture which you can compare to the pictures included from last week which will show the distinct difference in weather) when the rain descended. By the time the three of us made it back down the half-mile to the bus, we were all soaked. We made our way to Doolin to have lunch at O’Connor’s pub. Then it was off to see the Burren. We made our way through the tiny, twisting roads in the rain, and it seemed the longer we went on, the fewer people wanted to get off the bus to snap pictures at the sights. Although I had seen some of these sights the previous weekend, it was still amazing to see them again and get a different person’s perspective on the things we ought to notice about each location. We arrived back in Galway that night, checked into our hotel, and went out for some dinner. We found a small Italian restaurant that proved to be very good. We went out to find some Trad music (traditional Irish music) and found some at a pub called Laddy’s. We sat there for a bit listening to the music, all watching each other fall asleep in our chairs, and decided to call it a night. We headed back to the hotel to get some rest.
The next morning we got up and had some breakfast and headed back out on our tour bus. This was the part of the tour of which I’d not yet seen any of the sites. Connemara is an area in County Mayo and County Galway north of Galway city that consists mostly of wonderful mountains, rivers, and farmland. For the moviebuffs out there who are nearly to retirement or just really like old movies, this is some of the country in which “The Quiet Man” was shot starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. We saw the famous bridge they crossed as well as a cottage that was also in the film. It was in the middle of a low-lying area filled with sheep, long grass, and a slow-moving stream. At this point in the day, the sun was still out and although we didn’t get to stop to take a picture here, it was a good memory. We continued on to see Kylemore Abbey. This took us up into the mountains. The land here is very rough and not suitable for growing crops. Hence, it is used by sheep farmers. They don’t really use fences as the land is so diverse. Consequently, the sheep from all the different farms commingle. The only way the farmers have to tell their sheep apart from the ones who belong to the neighbor is to paint a spot on the back end of each sheep demarcating which farm they belong to. The sheep here come from a mixed ancestry of black and white sheep brought from Scotland. They are excellent climbers and it wasn’t uncommon to see groups of sheep up very high on the mountains grazing among the low, heavy clouds. It took awhile to get there but we arrived at Kylemore Abbey around noon. The abbey was built as a private home in the 19th century and became an abbey after the family had died, when refugee Benedictine nuns from the Irish abbey in Ypres, France founded an abbey and girls' school here. There is also a wonderful Victorian Garden built and maintained by nuns and volunteers (who come from across the world to work here. I met a girl from Germany who was a horticulture and landscape student and was interning here for the summer). We ate lunch here at their cafeteria and then toured the Abbey and Garden, then headed back onto the road. That’s when the rain really got started. It poured on us all the way back to Galway. However, just as we pulled in the parking lot where the tour buses stop, the sun came back out. We boarded our train at around 6:30pm and headed back for Dublin. The scenery was amazing. The train is a really great way to go. Not only is it very fast compared to driving a car, it also affords everyone traveling the opportunity to enjoy the scenery (which I frequently don’t get to do as I am the default car driver, particularly when it involves driving in stranger circumstances…which leads nicely to my next discussion…) The tour was really fun and I got to see some amazing countryside.

I have now successfully driven across Ireland and back twice. I haven’t turned the wrong way down any one way streets. I haven’t lost any hubcaps (almost did once, but not quite). I didn’t run down any sheep or goats. I didn’t cut anyone off during turns or merging on highways. Actually, that last one is a lie, but that has nothing to do with my driving here. That is just my driving in general. Overall, I would say that I did a pretty good job. The first car we had here was a Hyundai Sonata. It was an automatic, and was very easy to drive. The second car I rented turned out to be a stick. To my chagrin, I pulled out of the rental lot and nearly creamed some lady crossing the street behind a big truck, but fortunately, the Ford company makes good brakes, and I was able to bring the vehicle to a hault before committing vehicular homicide. A few blocks later and I had it down to a science. I only stalled once during the entire weekend and drove over 650 kilometers (slightly over 400 miles). Now, as in the US, I believe that I was destined to be a race car driver, even driving on the left side of the street. Amy rolls her eyes whenever I say this (at least once a week), but that doesn’t make it any less true. Anyway, on with the rest of the story.

Amy heard about a spa on the western coast of Ireland from a co-worker here in Dublin. Then when she was back in Seattle for my graduation a few weeks ago we were leafing through a magazine in a doctor’s office and saw an advertisement for this same spa. We decided to check it out and according the website, it looked like a pretty amazing place. So, despite the somewhat exorbitant cost, we decided that we would splurge and go out there. The package that we picked was to include the room, two breakfasts, two lunches, one nice dinner, and two treatments each in the spa, as well as our choice of several of the approximately 25 “adventure activities” that they touted in their brochure and website to fill the spare time during our stay at the resort. All-in-all, we were prepared to do some really fun stuff as well as get a bit of royal treatment from the spa. Amy made the booking (Irish for “reservation”) and we were pumped to get to go to this place that claimed to be one of the top ten spas in the world. I picked up the rental car Friday afternoon, picked up Amy outside her office when she was through and we headed straight out of Dublin to make the 4-5 hour drive across the country. The rain had begun once we got about halfway there but we were not to be deterred. We arrived in Delphi, Ireland (about an hour north of Galway, along the western coast) at around 10:30 that evening. It is out, literally, in the middle of nowhere. We checked in and got ourselves settled in our room.

The following morning we got up and scheduled when we wanted our spa treatments. We then proceeded to get in on some “Sea Kayaking and Cave Exploration”. Throughout the night, the weather had worsened and by this time Saturday morning, the winds were gusting close to 40 mph. We bravely went on and attempted kayaking. I must admit before I continue that although I haven’t done a lot of kayaking, with the limited amount of experience I had, I felt sure that we could handle whatever would be necessary for this activity, despite the inclement weather. We got down to the water, having donned our somewhat inadequate wetsuits and raingear, and got into our kayaks. We scooted out into the bay and I didn’t get twenty feet off-shore before I was overturned in the water. The next thirty minutes were an exercise in patience and I proceeded to capsize three more times. The instructor was very patient and helpful. I find it helpful (to my pride) to note that I was not the only person having problems. The waves were a couple of feet high at some points and the wind was furious. I was crammed into a kayak that was clearly too small for me and after several attempts at staying upright, I finally made it out to where Amy was (she only went upside-down once, which coincidentally, she blamed on my asking how to flip back over if you capsized, as she immediately attempted to try her skills and went into water. Feeling bad (and uncoordinated) I followed suit). By this time, I could no longer feel my feet below the ankle due to the odd angle I was having to hold them because of the smallness of my kayak. Everyone but Amy and I and one other girl were now capsized. The guides, despite their determination, decided that our mission had failed and we headed back to shore.

When we got back to the resort, Amy and I decided it was high time for a trip to the hot tub and steam room. We warmed back up there for awhile and relaxed. That afternoon, rather than making our first attempts at learning surfing in the water which had so effortlessly spit us back ashore, we headed to the closest town to take in a movie. We (finally) watched Star Wars: Episode III. I enjoyed it. As has been true with the previous two installments, the movie could not possibly stand up to the hype that had preceded it. However, I thought it tied up Lucas’s most recent efforts fairly well. We got back to the resort just in time for dinner. After dinner we decided that it was time to head back to the hot tub to relax before going to bed. We got dressed and were walking down towards the spa-area when we passed an employee in the hall who asked if we were heading to the hot tub. She informed us that they close off that area at 7pm. We were absolutely dumbfounded that a spa/resort would close their spa/hot tub facilities at such an early time in the evening when any normal guest would be wanting to use them. Even Motel 6 doesn’t close their pool until at least 10pm, and we paid considerably more for our stay at this resort than Motel 6 might charge. Disappointed, we trudged back to our room and called it a night.

We got up Sunday morning prepared to join another adventure group and were let down because they weren’t running any that we could attend and still make our treatments that were scheduled for 11:30 that morning, except for a zip-line that was part of a “ropes course” that was supposed to be running and was not. We did the zip-line and although it was fun, we decided by this point, that the “Adventure Activities” that were promised by the resort were a great deal less wonderful than had been advertised. We went inside and changed for our treatments.

We both got 1-hour full-body massages, which were excellent. We both then went in for facials. Being the first facial I had ever gotten, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but walked out not feeling violated or even less manly. In fact, I felt rather “fresh and revitalized”, and in this aspect only, the experience measured up to the resort’s advertisement. We had lunch and decided to head to the hot tub one more time before we left. Immediately upon entering the hot tub, I found what was probably the only poorly grouted tile in the whole establishment and proceeded to cut my toe on it. I still have ten toes. However, so as to avoid bleeding into the public hot tub, I immediately (and rather disgruntledly) got back out. We sat in the steam room for a minute, but by this point, I was more steamed from our experiences there than was being emitted from the supply pipe in the wall. We went back to the locker rooms, got dressed and left. Amy constructed a letter to the spa manager on our way back to Dublin yesterday afternoon on her laptop letting him know that our experiences there were sub-par. We got back to Dublin last night to watch the last episode from West Wing’s second season which we brought on DVD from the US.

That concludes this weeks activities. I hope I don’t sound too negative in this last section. We had a fun weekend, and had some really good quality time together both at the resort and on our drives. Amy has a short week as we leave for Germany this coming Friday. Can’t wait. See you all later.