This is the first post that will be co-written with somebody – Ankita’s cousin Apratim, who joined me in Dublin, will be inputting his insight and comments on the events of the week.
Irish people apparently don’t care about Paddy’s day – it’s just another day off for them. That is, another day for them to drink all day, as usual. They do, however, party like mad the night before Paddy’s, leaving Paddy’s night for the tourists. After all, they all have to go back to work the day after Paddy’s day.
St Patrick’s day really begins with the parade. It’s utter madness – 650 000 people attended the parade this Wednesday to watch 3000 performers. They wear leprechaun hats, spray paint themselves green, wear green scarves and sunglasses, and in one case, a green leotard:
Even animals get in on the action: 
People do anything they can to get a good view of the parade. Some brought their own stepladders and workbenches to see over the crowd. Others were just lucky:
Others yet were even more creative:
Luckily, I met up with my friends Guy and Casper from Galway/Australia: 
The floats in the parade were really cool, with talented acrobats, musicians and machinists:
Right after the parade, O'Connell street was evacuated and the city was packed with tourists and countrymen thirsty for their first Guinness. Of the hour. (That joke might be lame, but it was certainly accurate):
The girl standing beside me is a Montrealer / McGill student doing a semester exchange in England, who came down to Dublin for Paddy’s.
St. Patrick’s day was utter utter madness – there were just too many people to have fun. There was no standing room inside any of the bars – I definitely couldn’t imagine extending my arms out to get a good photo of anything in there.
It was awesome.
The day after St. Patrick’s Day (yesterday), Apratim and I decided to be good tourists, so we went down to get a tour of Trinity College (home of Hamilton, Beckett, Walton and Oscar Wilde) and to see the Book of Kells: 
We saw Dublin city hall: 
We went to visit the Guinness brewery: 
where I learned how to pour the perfect pint: 
Funny tagline – you don’t know how badly I wanted to eat here:
Apratim and I spent the day in Belfast today. I’ll post on it tomorrow, this post is already getting rather lengthy…
Wow, On Skype you hold a beer. on the blog, beer in the pub. At Guinness brewery, pouring a perfect pint of beer!! "It's not easy being green". I do not recognize my son, Ima
ReplyDeleteHoly crap Orad, you spent St. Patrick's day in Dublin? That' the most amazing thing I've ever heard, I'm so jealous. I'm pretty sure I spent that night doing an assignment.
ReplyDelete-Labby