English - A Pampering Tale

I am sitting here on a lovely sleepy Monday afternoon, feeling my bones melting and my eyes closing......zzzzzzzzzzzzz

This begs the question - Pia, why are you sleepy, hmmmm?

Well, that's quite a story and a great one at that, so here you go.
There were 4 of us going on a pampering weekend to Eindhoven in Holland. Treatments like facials, massages, etc. are extremely expensive in Ireland, but not so across the water. Hehe. Moreover, Ryanair have direct flights from Dublin to Eindhoven, so it was a very easy decision to make. Yes, please, count me in!!!

We arrived in Eindhoven on Friday evening and went for a lovely meal in a tapas bar. As we were tired, and also because we needed to get up relatively early to prepare for getting pampered, we went home around midnight. Our hotel was just lovely and centrally located. Breakfast buffet on Saturday morning was great too and soon we were ready to relax. The girls at the salon were very friendly and we felt very much at home. It's only a small place, but lovingly arranged, so you don't have that 'clinical' feeling you might get in other and bigger places. There were robes and slippers at our disposal, which was great.
Edel and I started off having a facial, while Yvonne and Aisling were enjoying themselves in the sauna and steamroom. Besides the four of us, there were only two other guests that day, a couple (of whom more later).

The facial was very good, even including the fit of the giggles (not surprising, that) I had, when we were being given a heating mask. This involved a towel over the face, with holes for nose, mouth and eyes. Over that was laid a kind of electrical blanket thingy. The whole set up made you look like Hannibal, or yer man from the Friday 13th movies. The facial also included head massage, which may sound like a weird thing to those who have never tried it - trust me, people, it is very relaxing.

After that, it was the others' turn to get their full body massage, and Edel and I were left to frolic in the sauna/steam room area. I'd never tried any of it before, and had been quite sceptical (not to say downright negative - 'no, I'm NOT going in the sauna'), but I was very pleasantly surprised, and I even loved taking the plunge afterwards in the big tub of cold water set out in this area.

The second time we went back to the sauna after having had a wee break in the sofa area, we saw some legs in the sauna, and decided to take the steam room instead, thinking to leave the sauna to the couple, as we were following custom and not wearing swimming costumes or indeed clothes of any kind. (This is where I should note that in Ireland, everyone wears swimming gear in the saunas and steam rooms. I'm not sure about Denmark, as I've never tried it there, but I would assume we go naked like in Holland). However, upon entering the tiny steam room after Edel I got a twofold shock. Firstly, I'd never been in a steam room and it was like walking into a wall of heat, making it hard for me to breathe. Second of all, the male half of the couple was sitting quietly at the end of the bench, which we think was only really meant for 2 people. But it is actually possible to fit 3 bums on it, we found. After a few minutes I had to get out (because of the steam, ye ken), and soon Edel and I were sitting outside (in our robes) chatting away, when yer man came out of the steam room, and went straight into the big tub of cold water. That's when we found out that he was English, because he started talking to us a little. We'd also received confirmation that he definitely wasn't Dutch, due to the fact that he was wearing trunks. Oh well. When we told the other girls, we got a great giggle out of this incident.

Anyway, when we were in the steam room the second time, we got the call that lunch was ready. Lots of different breads, cold meats and other spreads. Yum yum. Lovely stuff altogether.

After lunch Edel and I went for the full body massage for an hour, and as if we weren't malleable enough at this stage, we had a 20 minutes lavender body wrap afterwards. They smear this purple lavender stuff on your body, wrap you in plastic, and then in this big electrical sleeping bag, leaving you to simmer for 20 minutes like a very content sausage. I was just about to drop off, when the time was up for me. *sigh* Lastly we all had paraffin treatments on our hands, which makes them as soft as down, and finally we all had our make up done. All in all, seven glorious hours in a very friendly and homely atmosphere, attended by smiling lovely girls - it was magnificent.

Anyway, when it was over, it was raining really badly, so we got a cab back to the hotel and chilled out a while and decided where to go for dinner - Indonesian buffet, which was very very good. After that we went for a couple of drinks and ended up flipping a coin to decide whether to stay out or go home. We went home, which was fine. We were so incredibly relaxed, but not really tired that we could have stayed out, but I must say it was really nice to see my pillow again. Slept like a baby...zzzzzzzzzz

Got up Sunday morning and joined Yvonne for a lovely swim in the hotel pool. I'm not an avid swimmer, but I was so impressed with the workout I got from a 20 swim that I think I'm going to try to make a habit of this.

Argh! I'm gonna have to finish this post later, because I am getting sleepier and sleepier just writing about thi.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz