Day Off - Sunday (Week IV)

Another gorgeous sunny morning and although it was a bit chilly my walk to mass was refreshing and lovely.

I went to the Claddagh Church not far from my school. It is a beautifully intimate church right on the river and also the place where Ellen and Frank got married 30 years ago. It was a nice mass but again not much singing so I was disappointed. I don't think they've every heard the saying "When you sing you pray twice." I remember that from grade school and besides that I love to sing and I've felt deprived. I'm going to continue to try a new church each week and being that it's Ireland it's not going to be hard to find enough different ones to go to I just hope I find some where singing is an important part.

I stopped off at the Grain Store cafe after mass for a snack and Jean Marie met me there so we could go to the gym. But we made short side trip to feed the swans and other birds at the river bank who were clearly delighted we came.

The gym was wonderful as usual and it's hard to believe we managed to stay there for three hours but I suppose when there is a warm jacuzzi at hand and your all snug and happy in it it's not so hard at all.

After the gym it was a lovely dinner at the Twelve restaurant in Barna just up the road from Salt Hill. The food was great and I had locally farmed (I don't know if that's the correct word for gathering mussels) mussels in a Thai sauce and they were delicious. The restaurant is in the Twelve Hotel and apparently it's a gastro pub which must mean it's exceptionally better food than a normal pub.

The day was still early when we finished but the rain had started to come down hard and the wind was fierce tonight so we headed home. Jean Marie and apparently half the city of Galway love it when this kind of storm comes up because they can park near the beach wall and watch the waves crash on to their cars. The water was at an unusually high level to begin with so when we parked next to all the other cars the storm brought massive waves crashing right in front of us and smacking the cars with their spray. It was fun to watch but eventually it was time to go home and now I'm happy to just be resting as the storm rages on outside.