St Patrick's Day

Happy belated St Patrick's Day!
I spent Saturday in Dublin, the most perfect place to be on this holiday!
When I came back from the train station on Friday morning, some girl on the streets was handing these cards out. I think I'll give it to Ryan as a gift. ha ha :)

It says: TO BE IRISH IS...
GUINNESS, TAYTO CRISPS, CADBURY'S IRISH CHOCOLATE, THE CRAIC IS MIGHTY, THE GIFT OF THE GAB, HURLING IS THE FASTEST SPORT ON EARTH, ITALIA 90, DRIVING MILES TO SAVE 1 CENT ON PETROL, HAVE A CUP OF TEA, YOU WILL, RIVERDANCE, U2, THE LATE LATE SHOW, FOUR SEASONS IN ONE DAY, JEDWARD, ARRAH, WELL... SURE... IT'LL BE GRAND, LIKE... AG FOGHLAIM GAEILGE AR SCOIL "DID YOU HEAR WHO DIED?" WAKES AND FUNERALS, ROAD WORKS, CUTBACKS, GHOST ESTATES, AUSTERITY, GREED, DEBT.

I think this card is so funny and so true! I especially like "Well... sure... it'll be grand, like..." because I've heard so many girls with their Irish accents say "like" at the end of their sentences. They'll say, "Well are you coming, like?" and "This class is a bore, like..."
I also love the use of "grand" here!
Will someone please buy me this shirt?!

On the back of the card was this:

Of course it was an ad about Saint Patrick and a church!

Anyway, I got up and took the bus to the city. It takes just under a half hour to get into the city by bus, so I made sure to be at the bus stop by 11. When I got there, almost two dozen people were waiting! It has never been that crowded before, and one bus had to skip our stop because there wasn't enough room on the bus. So, I ended up getting into the city around 11:30, and there were SO MANY PEOPLE. I honestly didn't think a lot of people would make it for the parade, as I heard students saying that the parade is for families and the children.

I wandered around for a while, trying to find an open spot I could squeeze into. This was a perk of being there by myself: I didn't have to worry about finding spots to stand for two people. If it was just skinny old me, I think people would be more forgiving. That was my mindset anyway!

People were sitting on the Daniel O'Connell statue at the end of O'Connell Street.

There were police (Garda) keeping people inside the metal gates. 

And so many people in green! 

I have a theory that the Irish play a drinking game on St. Patrick's Day in Dublin. It's called "See green, take a drink!"

I ended up spying a seat on the ledge on the bridge and shimmied my way through the crowd towards it. I asked a French guy to help me up and there I was, sitting at the best seat in the house! I was sitting right in front of that lamppost. Seriously BEST SEAT EVER.

It was just before noon then, and I thought the parade was going to start soon. I think Dubliners run on a different time schedule as Americans... when we say "be there at noon" Dubliners think "alright, be there at half twelve, like..." (Half twelve means half past twelve).
So I was sitting there for a while... when all of a sudden, the clouds turned dark and it started pouring! I couldn't be mad, this is typical Dublin! I had to wrap my green scarf around my head and protect my camera under my coat. Five minutes later, the sky cleared and it was sunny. It's true what they say. Ireland sees four seasons in one day.

The parade started around 12:30 and this is what I saw:

A younger version of Prince Harry!

 

                

I was talking to the guys who were sitting next to me on the ledge and they invited me out for some drinks after the parade, so around 2 we walked through the crowd and to a bar, although I couldn't tell you where it is now. They were from California and visiting friends in Dublin. It was a really fun time! We didn't get super drunk but we did make fun of people who were.
St Patricks Day in Dublin = SUCCESS.