St. Patrick's Day Festival in Dublin

Much thought went into the planning for the trip into Dublin for the parade on the 17th. We figured to take a train originating in Maynooth, which would assure that we would get a seat. That part of the planning worked well as the train got so full that it passed on the last 4 stops. Next we thought to go beyond the most popular stop to try and minimize the mixing with crowds and had hoped that picking a spot further down the parade route would allow us to get closer to the parade. The spot picked was in front of Trinity College.

Minimized the crowds at the train station, but ended up 5-6 deep at the parade route and waited 1.5 hours until the parade actually got to our location. Was able to extend my arm to its full length and got a few pictures even with Alex on my shoulders. Eventually, we decided that it was fruitless to stay on with most of us seeing nothing. We did enjoy the crowds and have several pictures throughout the day of different folks. Paper estimated the turnout for the parade at 650,000. Also paper reported that several US high school and college bands performed including one band whose instruments and uniforms were left in Copenhagen in an airport mixup. In addition, the openly gay NYC council leader who could not participate in the NYC parade as an openly gay person, was invited by Dublin council to participate in their parade, and did.

Off the parade route a couple of blocks we managed to find a place with seats to have lunch. Many of the pubs were packed as Ireland was playing a key game in the 6 Nations Rugby tournament against Italy and all pubs had it on the screen. Several of the roads around the Grafton street area had been blocked off to traffic, which made walking around a lot easier and safer.

Carrie had been warned to get "out of Dodge" after the parade as in years past the streets got pretty active as the night wore on. To this end, the liquor stores were not allowed to open until 4 pm.

By the way, I still have not found any corn beef and cabbage on any menu here and definitely no green beer on the 17th. After all the best beer here is already brown. And as the saying goes, "the Leprechaun made me do it", drink Guinness that is.

The next day we planned to go into a carnival as part of the weekend festival. The weather had turned colder and gale force winds were coming in from the north. Nan and I had taken Alex while Carrie and Flor toured an old jail. When we got off the train, the wind was so hard and cold that we didn't make it one block until we ducked into a coffee shop for warmth. The carnival area had been advertised as having something for all ages. All we could find was Ferris wheels and other "adult" rides, so we ducked into the Irish Natural Museum, which is one of 3 museums in the area and they are all free. We managed to stall long enough for the Moms to return and we headed for a pub and later a great dinner at Flor's favorite Indian restaurant. The 18th was not only Mother's Day in Ireland, but also our Sean's birthday.

I am contemplating a summary for this blog when I get home next week. We leave the 24th having helped obtain someone from the community to assist at the house. I will post some pictures of St. Pat's activities when I have first chance.

The Duke cousins, Jacob, Erin and Abby are do in town on Wednesday through Sunday morning and we are looking forward to them being here. They arrived via Britain and Wales on Sunday in Ireland via a ferry and are touring the southwest.

Hope everyone is in good health. We are looking forward with mixed emotions to our return to Traverse City.

Later!