Lui, Trina, and Tarragona!

A weekend in Tarragona, Spain was just what the doctor ordered for me! It was absolute bliss: spending hours lying on the beach basking in the gorgeously warm (but not humid!) weather, wandering the picturesque streets, gazing at ancient Roman ruins, and drinking Cava and Sangria long into the warm night. Fantastic! And although it was a short trip (I arrived Friday lunchtime and left Sunday morning), it was enough to make me want to learn Spanish and move there! The people are fantastic: so friendly and laid-back, the weather was perfect: in the 30s during the day and mid-20s at night, and the whole lifestyle was great: siestas in the middle of the day, eating and drinking late at night.

Tarragona is a lovely little town about one hour by train away from Barcelona. It still contains a lot of interesting sites (the Roman ruins and a gorgeous Cathedral) and a long sandy beach yet has way less tourists than Barcelona. Perfect for a relaxing weekend away!

I was accompanied on this weekend away with my Mum, Judy Nix, and Deirdre Nix - all of whom seemed to enjoy the weekend just as much as I did and we are now talking about making it a regular event - whenever Mum is over this side of the world.



Our friends Lui and Trina from New Zealand arrived in Dublin on the weekend as well. Although I wasn't there Johnny looked after them - showing them around Dublin and taking them out to Howth despite it being a very windy day on Sunday. When I arrived back to Dublin we took them out to the Arlington Hotel where they enjoyed the Irish music and dancing over dinner and a few drinks. They were left to their own devices whilst we worked the last couple of days and they managed to catch the Riverdance on Monday night. Last night was a lovely bright evening so we enjoyed a couple of drinks at a local pub. They left this morning and they will be missed - having them here has been a nice connection with all our friends in New Zealand and has made us miss it even more than we already did now that they are gone!