St. Patrick's Day in Dublin!

I've been looking forward to this trip since Margaret and I booked it wayy back in December. Growing up St. Patrick's Day always meant it was almost my brothers birthday and it also meant festivities going on in 5 points in Downtown Columbia. I remember my first St. Patrick's Day in 5 points. I was 8 years old. It was a special treat that we got to go down there because it was in celebration of my brother's 10th birthday! Two digits was a big deal back then! It was also my first of many Hootie and the Blowfish concerts. It was extremely crowded and I think my brother climbed on a telephone pole to see the band perform. After the concert, I remember going to my step brother Todd's apartment nearby. I wanted something to drink and I got handed orange juice in a yardstick glass....I remember thinking how strange it was to be drinking orange juice late in the afternoon, but I liked the cup I was drinking out of. Anyway that was my first big St. Patrick's Day celebration with many more in between and finally culminating to the biggest celebration of all in Dublin, Ireland.

St. Patrick's Day past (Joseph's 21st)

Margaret and I landed in Dublin and waited on one of our friends, Jimmy, to meet us. Jimmy is a sophomore at Wofford and he is studying abroad in Germany. We unfortunately missed our free tour that we had planned to go on, but we had done a little research so we knew some of the spots to check out. Thankfully I made a great investment back in Spain and bought an umbrella-despite it being kind of on the pricey side. I think because it doesn't rain much in Barcelona they can get away with charging 10 Euro and up for one. It was pouring while we were sight-seeing but we put on a brave face anyway. We went to this museum called the Book of Kells that has the original copies of the Gospel. It was really cool and we got to go into this library that had books stacked literally from floor to ceiling. You weren't allowed to take pictures, so naturally I tried to, but after a few sneaky attempts and a scolding by the security guard, I decided to give up.

Trinity College

Illegal photo in the Book of Kells

At the Castle-Its called the "Irish Stew" of all European Castles because it is a hodge-podge of architecture

 

We decided to just stay out instead of going back to our hotel. We went to a pub call the Brazen Head which is the oldest pub in Ireland-or Europe, I can't remember, but it was built in the 1100s!!! I drank my first Guinness there which I have to say I actually enjoyed. My Dad had warned my that I might not like it, but I was surprised. It was very different from anything I had ever tasted. I also tried this cider beer, which was also delicious. I have to find a substitute for it in America. Spain is not well-known at all for its beer selection, so it was a nice change up from normally drinking wine.

At the Brazen Head

We went to a few more pubs, including the famous Temple Bar and decided to call it a night. We were planning on getting up really early to get a good viewing spot for the parade, but not before we indulged in some tacky St. Patrick's Day garb...

Antennae and tattoos!

We stayed in a hotel as opposed to a hostel because we waited too long and every hostel was booked. But let me tell you a simple hotel is such a luxury these days. The hostels we've stayed in aren't bad at all, but a down comforter and a fluffy pillow make a huge difference to us budget travelers. We got up early on Saturday and found a great spot to see the parade. The parade's theme was science and questions so there we interesting sections of the parade that interpreted different science questions. There were also lots of marching bands from US high schools and universities. After the parade we decided to just walk around and go from pub to pub. It was a very interesting and fun time. We made friends at every pub we went to and listened to some great traditional Irish music.

At the parade

Parade

Margaret's new friends

 

Cheers!

 

 

All in all we had a very successful and fun weekend. When we got back on the plane Sunday morning you could tell that almost everyone on our plane had quite the weekend as well. There was still evidence of green face paint on some people and I think some people were still in their same outfits  from the night before. We were definitely exhausted after this trip and practically slept all day Sunday. It is so hard to believe that it was our last weekend trip. I'm staying in Barcelona this weekend and then off to Rome on March 28th for our 12 day spring break trip. The days are running out so fast! Including this weekend I only have 3 weekends left in Barcelona!

Hasta Luego!
Langley