There was a great energy in the city the entire week before the big day. Orange, white and green took over the city as locals and tourists alike waited for the big day. It was more of a weekend long festival from the 14th to the 17th. There were activities for adults and children. Chris and Ally went to the beer and whiskey festival. They said it was really good and I don't doubt that because after all this is Ireland. Ireland and alcohol are synonymous. The cost of that was EUR 10 for entry plus one pint and a glass or EUR 20 for entry plus two pints and a glass. Pints afterwards were EUR 5 each. Not bad, I think.
 |
| Ceili outside St. Stephen's Green |
I didn't attend the beer and whiskey fest, I did, however attend the Ceili which Alan, the Bolton street Chaplain, described as a time where people listen to traditional Irish music and dance Irish dances. That was right outside St. Stephen's Green (16 Mar). I went with Justus, Sascha, Miriam, the dutch guys and a couple other people. It was good craic.
Later that night, a few of us went around town looking for a good pub to bring in St. Paddy's day but the city was absolute chaos. We were supposed to go to a party near Dicey's but it was sold out and the bouncers weren't letting more people in so we walked around Dublin 2 looking for something to do. Unsurprisingly, there were a ton of drunk people sprawled out on the street, fighting, people tossing beer bottles in the air only for it to shatter in the crowd, etc. It felt like some ridiculous scene from a Hollywood movie. We eventually found a pub (that I still don't know the name of) that was letting people in but it wasn't that great. Maybe it's a good thing I don't know the name.. ha.
 |
| Temple Bar |
Then we thought "if D2 was this wild, surely the infamous Temple Bar area would be worse" but that didn't stop us from crossing the river and checking it out anyway. Boys and girls, if I had one suggestion it would be this: stay away from the tourist traps during the St. Patrick's day weekend.
17 Mar 2015 -- St. Patrick's Day!
 |
| Kenza, a leprechaun and myself |
The only concrete plans I had for that day was to see the parade. It was supposed to start at noon but me being me didn't leave my apartment until 11.30 (woops) and had a hard time meeting up with the group who was already there. There were sooo many people on the streets dressed in green and it was impossible to push past that many people on O'Connell street to meet with the group. Luckily Kenza was nearer to where I was (by the Spire) so we met up and decided to watch it together instead. We walked back towards river, past Trinity College and St. Stephen's Green and somehow ended up near Ciy Hall. We had a lucky break and found a spot near the front of the crowd to get a half decent view of the parade.
The parade itself definitely wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting an extravagant Irish-pride parade but what I got was very cartoon-y? I don't know I found out a couple days later that the overall theme of the parade was 'Celebrate Now'. It didn't make much sense to me and I would have never guessed that there was even a theme to the parade. There were kilts, both Scottish and Irish bagpipes, a float about a fox, what seemed like 8000 American marching bands, women on stilts, a scene from Alice in Wonderland, more American marching bands, a German marching band, more dancers from child-like scenes. I don't know. I enjoyed everything individually but it made very little sense on a whole.
 |
| one of my favorites |
Later, I went home to cook, eat, relax and then went out again to a pub called M. Hughes near the Four Courts. Alan had suggested this to me a few days later so I was glad to finally check it out. It was a nice pub. Only locals (beside the gang of international students like myself) and they served in glass cups rather than plastic ones in town and live music! It's on a sketchy road right off the river so it doesn't gather much attention but it's definitely worth checking out if you're looking for a real Irish pub while in Dublin. I stayed for a couple hours then went home to eat (because I like to eat but Dublin is expensive) then went out again to Cobblestone. I hadn't been back to Cobblestone since my second week in Dublin but it's definitely one of my favorite pubs in Ireland.
 |
| Sascha, Miriam and myself |
Overall I had a very pleasant time on St. Patrick's day. I'm glad I avoided the tourist traps on the 17th. I'm sure it would have been much worse compared to the night before.
-SX
0 comments:
Post a Comment