The Weekend That Was

60 foot St. Patrick on a road hog? Yeah, we got that.

How was your Paddy's day? Did you grab a pint? Did you have a sing song? Did you dance in a ceili? Did you eat a "hang sangwich"?

Things were AWESOME over here! There were carnivals and fairs, parades and concerts, oh, and a little Guinness to be sure!

I went with Stephen to his friend's apartment overlooking the parade route. It was fun watching the parade from such a great seat, and afterwards they cooked us a really fabulous lunch of Indian food--currys and stuff with sauce on rice and stuff. And rice. And stuff. With rice.

Let me sum up the Dublin St. Paddy's Day Parade for you in one statement: Basically, 3 dozen American high school bands plus some cool floats from France. I heard the star-spangled banner no less than 4 times. wth? Sorely dissapointing when you consider what I later saw on the evening news: the down-country Paddy's Day parades:

Standard down country Paddy's Day parade: Guy who runs the gas station dressed in green track suit, someone's baby in a green and orange feather boa, half the traditional music group from the local pub (other half's drunk or out of town), mayor, all walking and waving, followed by 10-12 farming tractors and then the local police car. Crowd throws bottles at all parade participants indiscriminately.


Well, damn. I wanted that!

But I had fun all the same, and afterward I went for a walk around town and saw all the ceili's (music and dancing), the decorations, the folks dressed up in big green foam hats, good stuff. Then we went for a few pints of the aul black stuff (ahem, Guinness) followed by a late-night trip to Leo Burdochs, the best fish and chip place in town.

What a day!

I'll be posting more pictures of the weekend here after tomorrow, when I get them off Stephen, becuase I had international charging issues with my camera yesterday. Poops. Anyway, stay tuned for the photos!


Good Tuesday!