I am currently sleepless in Dublin. The past few days have been a whirlwind of new experiences. We arrived in London after several hours of traveling from Seattle and wasted no time on dumping our backpacks and exploring the city. It was a short walk from our hostel to the Tower Bridge, River Thames and the London Tower. We jumped on and off the tube for the next two days and soaked up the beauty, noise and vast culture London has to offer. You could spend months in the museums alone! We spent quite a bit of time in the National Gallery looking at paintings by too many amazing artists to list. I was especially moved by the Impressionist Gallery, featuring Monet and Picasso. Not to mention masterpieces by Rembrandt, Renoir and da Vinci! We also admired artwork at the Tate Modern, where I was blown away by Jackson Pollock and Salvador Dali. We definitely needed more time to appreciate all there was too see at the Tate. Probably the highlight of my time in London was taking communion in St. Paul's Cathedral. To experience the Eucharist in a stunning three hundred year old church made me want to weep. I thought about all the people who had been there before me, remarkable or not, and I was in awe of the transcending power of the Lord. We made the trek to the Golden Gallery to see sweeping views of the city just before we caught a train to the airport to fly to Ireland. We arrived at our hostel in Dublin around ten last night and celebrated our arrival with a pint at a pub near Temple Bar.
I have been quite amazed at the ease by which Beth and I travel together. We have been on the go nonstop since we left SeaTac and I couldn't love her more than I do right now. Her knowledge of the UK and art history in general has been invaluable! We look forward to moving west to Ballinasloe today and on to Galway on Saturday. Please pray for our physical bodies as we operate on little sleep, little food and even less water. Also pray for doors to open in Galway. We will be looking for jobs this next week and securing a place to live, a stressful feat even in the US.
