Dublin and Real Halloween

Last week the schools here were on break so Liesl and I decided to catch a cheap flight and head to Dublin for a few days. It ended up being quite cold while we were there-we even got a few snowflakes on the 1st morning. Some amazing people- the Spriggs- offered their place to crash in. Rick even picked us up at the airport- they really are amazing!! After we dropped our bags at their place we headed into the city on the train- we got to take a gorgeous scenic train along the coast. One of our goals for the few days was to get a good book and sit in Starbucks and read for a few hours- and boy did we accomplish it! We found this awesome bookstore right near Trinity College and each got a book. Then we went over to Starbucks which was just across the street and got a drink and sat in these oh so comfy chairs for about 5 hours and just chatted and read. Here I am with my drink and my book:)

one of the things we did the second day was go to the Guinness factory where there is a museum tour which shows how they make it. The science that goes into that stuff- Who sat around and came up with it?!!! This is me trying the roasted Barley. Yes I have crazy eyes in this pic!

Liesl also had a goal of buying a genuine Irish sweater which we did and after she bought it we met some new friends outside the store:)

One of the cooler things we came upon was at Christ's Church. We tried to go in and walk around but they priest was outside and he said they were closed to visitors for the day but they would have Evensong at 6 PM. Well it was about 4:45 so we went across the street and got a coffee(me a hot choco cuz I don't drink coffee!) and then went back for the 6:00 service. It was great- all in song and chant and they have been doing a similar service for about 1000 years!! Here is a picture of the outside.

By Friday we were back in Brussels and a friend of ours had a Halloween party. Since trick-or-treating was last week it was just a fun night of games for the kids and chili for the adults. Here are the YL Brussels ladies. Liesl as Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's, Janet as herself, and me as Safety Stella! Pretty fun!