rain, church, guinness & starbucks

looking out over dublin toward the wicklow "mountains" (insert a slight chuckle from colorado people)

dublin, ireland. as i said in my last post - i wasn't all that excited to be here. i think there are a few things that factor into that...

• i am grieving leaving my friends in england - i wish all the people i love could be in one place
• i've been traveling for a long time and am tired
• i haven't had a lot of time to get alone, hang out with Jesus, reflect, pray, read, etc. 
• the busyness and crowdedness of another city with a lot of tourists is a bit overwhelming
• there is so much rain!!

things are better now that I am a bit acclimated to dublin. just a rocky start.

wednesday was a rough day. it started out raining. not just raining - POURING! we went out to find st. patrick's cathedral. we found it. the cathedrals here have made both hayley and me sad. as i was sitting in st. patrick's with the souvenir shop behind me and the cross at the front locked behind a gate so no one could get to it - i thought about Jesus knocking over the tables in the temple courts and how sad this would all make Him. does make Him. i wonder if anyone meets the Lord in these beautiful cathedrals?

our day ended well. it finally stopped raining. yay! we went out for dinner at a pub with live irish music. the guy sang "you are my sunshine" and everyone started singing! :)

the hostel - hilarious! we were supposed to be in an all female room. ha! there were 7 guys in our room the first night. i know that is normal in the hostel/college world. but it is not normal in my 38 yr old world! it doesn't feel unsafe or anything - just really strange. so what do i do to make myself feel normal? i make myself the room mom. every new person that comes in - i tell them where everything is and how it all works. i'm so predictable, aren't i?! :) it is really cool b/c the people are from everywhere. we've had people in our room from poland, brazil, australia, ireland, scotland, minnesota :), etc. the guy who sleeps above me - he looks like a norse god. he hasn't said two words to me - so i figure that gives me license to make up his life story about being thor. :)

okay sorry - rambling! yesterday was a new day. the sun came out! sunshine changes everything in my world. i spent about 4 hours at starbucks in the morning reading and journaling. pumpkin spice lattes are good for my soul. i walked around a bit in the afternoon - saw Christ's church cathedral. another beautiful building that made me sad. while i was there the organist started to practice. it was so beautiful. the acoustics where amazing!

Christ's church cathedral

beautiful stained glass inside

then i met hayley at the guinness storehouse! whoot!!

it was actually a really cool tour. i learned a lot about beer and how it is made. the atrium of the storehouse is in the shape of a giant pint glass. it would hold 14.3 million pints of guinness! :) i learned how to pour it - there are two parts to pouring it. poured my own pint - got a certificate saying i crafted the "perfect pint". so not only am i an honorary proper british person, i am also a proper guinness pourer. life just keeps getting better! oh - and 42 degrees is the perfect temperature to drink guinness at. it tastes different otherwise. who knew!

these are glasses settling before the 2nd phase of pouring

the final product - poured this myself!

and i drank the whole thing! 

hayley and i at the famous gravity bar on the 7th floor of the guinness storehouse with a 360 degree view over dublin - beautiful!

and to top off the experience we went to dinner at another pub and i had the slow cooked in guinness beef stew! they are all about their stews here in ireland!

yum!!!

today (friday) it is raining again. but that is okay. spent another morning at starbucks. i know that may sound ridiculous since i am in dublin, ireland. why would anyone waste their time at a starbucks! i actually journaled about that yesterday. i don't go there for the coffee, although the pumpkin spice latte, as stated above, is good for my soul. starbucks, ridiculous or not, is a huge part of my life and my story. it is where i connect with people and with God a lot of the time. it has been a place of healing, of hard conversation, tears, laughter, truth being spoken, growth, relationship, connection, etc. so when i am in a place where i feel uncomfortable, lost and need to connect with God for a new perspective - i go to starbucks. it is my third place.

don't you just feel better looking at it? :)

today we are going to the jameson whiskey distillery. yesterday i learned that the irish word for whiskey means "water of life". so apparently i will be alive after drinking it today. great news!