St. Patrick's Day in Dublin, Ireland

Many people think that St. Patrick's Day is an American-made holiday that means little to nothing back in the land it's based off of-yet St. Paddy's in Dublin turned out to be the best celebration of the holiday that I've ever had, and not just because it was in Ireland.

The festivities started on Thursday, March 14th wherein a concert was held to enjoy some beautiful Irish "trad" (traditional) music. Dinner at our hotel went late, so we were only able to catch the final half hour of the show, but the musicians were incredibly gifted. There were two keyboards, a mandolin, two guitars, an accordion, a violin, and a flute. The songs switched between foot-tapping jigs and heartwrenching Gaelic ballads that drove the crowd crazy in the intimate setting of the Meeting House Square. My friend Catrina and I even got to stand at the very front to watch these performers and dance around to their songs! Afterwards, a bunch of us stopped into the famous Temple Bar and enjoyed the touristy cover band duo in the SRO pub.  It gave us a nice fix of relieving homesickness to hear Shipping Up To Boston and Let It Be while also fangirling over hearing Galway Girl from the Irish-based movie "P.S. I Love You". We stopped by a close bar called FitzSimons right after to hear an older duo playing some Johnny Cash and Elvis covers and two girls danced traditional jigs.

 

 

 On Friday, we took the trek to St. George's Dock to check out the Craft Brewing Beer Festival, wherein  I tried two kinds of cider: Tempted Summer Still Cider and Stonewall Drought Cider. Both were very delicious and helped me overcome my disinterest in Guinness by being viable options. Also, they were both 5-6% alcohol, so I got to travel back to the hotel in a very tipsy state of mind. When in Ireland, I guess... Later that afternoon, we tried our hand-or feet, rather-at dancing at the Festival Ceili on the street next to St. Stephen's Green. A woman onstage with two couples taught the mass crowd several fun steps while a band played in the back. It was madness to dance such a large group of people, but it was totally worth it! We had such a great time dancing and looking like complete fools. It got even better when contemporary Irish dancers came out and taught us their steps, which involved a lot of fluid, octopus-like movements. We felt so silly, but enjoyed every minute of it!

 

Following on Saturday was a street carnival in and around Merrion Square! Street performers galore displayed their talents for small children while older kids and adults headed for the carnival rides. Within the square was a band and activities for kids such as giant chess and connect four. We took the opportunity to ride a tilt-a-whirl ride called the Waltzer, and made sure to get tour tickets for the huge Jubilee Wheel that overlooked all of Dublin. We even saw the mountains on the horizon when we rose to the top! We stopped at a kid's science center for funsies and purchased some homemade crepes (mine had Nutella and almonds!) before returning to the hotel.

Finally, the big day came. March 17, 2013 = St. Patrick's Day! My roommate Janelle and I painted our faces to celebrate and headed with a hefty group to watch the People's Parade and the St. Paddy's Day Parade! The former was rich with diversity, celebrating every kind of person who was in Ireland and whether or not they were Irish, an awesome touch to precede the big event. I definitely went crazy and even gotten my picture taken with some random guy running around during the parade! The St. Patrick's Parade was on a scale that I could never imagine: so much color and creativity! It wasn't just floats of green and shamrocks, but cool steampunk inventions, crazy monsters, and plenty of amazing people. We had an incredible time, and then made sure to go out and celebrate with a few pints afterwards. We got lost trying to return to the hotel and drunkenly stumbled upon St. Patrick's Cathedral! The whole experience was too grand for words.