Dublin for Saint Patrick's Day

I meant to have this blog post up last week when I got home, but I've been swamped with midterm projects ever since I got back on campus.  Luckily, the frenzy had seemed to die down a bit, so I can get back to writing.

Dublin for St. Paddy's day...definitely my favorite trip to date!  I'm not sure if it was atmosphere of millions of people swarming the city for the festivities, the wonderful group of people I was with, or just the experience in general.  Whatever it was, it was amazing.

We drove all night to get to Dublin Saturday morning.  When we got there, I did something very unlike me, I was completely without a plan.  The week leading up to my trip was just as crazy as when I got back, so I had very little time to come up with a sightseeing plan.  There were a few things I wanted to see, but I wasn't set on anything in particular.

When we arrived at our hostel, I got together with a some friends from South Carolina and Tennessee, and we all went on a free walking tour.  The idea of a "free" tour initially left me a bit skeptical.  How good could something truly "free" be?  I was completely blown away.  Our guide was fantastic.  A local college kid who knew the city like the back of his hand.  For three hours, we trekked all over the city, getting interesting little tidbits about the city.  I learned that Dublin was originally named "Duiblinn" pronounced (doob-lynn) which translates into "Black Pool" but the English couldn't pronounce the name correctly and eventually it became the Dublin we know today.

I did my first pub crawl that night.  Everywhere was playing loud Irish music and decked out for the holiday.  I found myself wondering whether or not these places play Irish music all year or if they were just playing up the authenticity for the sake of the tourists.

On Sunday we spent the day at the Guinness Storehouse.  Rather than your typical factory tour, they have built an enormous interactive museum around their product.  The entire building was lit up with green lights on the inside, and they placed dozens of bars handing out free Guinness strategically through the tour.  I don't think I'm a big fan of Guinness, but it was quite the experience to be there and see how it's made.

Monday the festivities really took off.  We all got up early and got ready in our St. Paddy's day garb.  I wore an enormous green bow on my head and got my face painted.  I was definitely channeling my Irish family heritage.  The parade was quite an experience.  I guess marching bands aren't a thing here in Europe, because all of the marching bands in the parade were American.  We saw Louisiana State University's band and several high schools from all over our country.  The parade floats were all themed past, present, and future.  It was obvious the huge amount of work that went in to all of the costumes and makeup; quite the production!

After the parade, I caught up with another friend that I met while I've been at Swansea University.  We walked over to Temple Bar, which is the oldest neighborhood in Dublin, and found it completely packed with wall to wall people.  It was like standing at the front of the stage at a rock concert, but the crowd covered a mile radius in this neighborhood.  Someone in my hostel said they saw Bono, from U2, in the mess with all of his security guards escorting him out.  It was just too crazy.  I bought a t-shirt, and we headed to Trinity College as fast as we could.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that admission to the famous Long Room and Book of Kells at Trinity College was free on St. Patrick's day.  The Book of Kells, a two volume illustrated set of the Gospels, wasn't nearly as impressive as I had read about, but it was still neat to say I've seen it.  The Long Room was just as wonderful as its picture.  I could have spent hours in there.  It's too bad it's not a working library; everything was roped off.  I would have loved to spend a couple hours reading in the beautiful old room.

I finished out St. Patrick's day listening to live Irish music played in a pub near my hostel.  My friends and I grabbed dinner and a pint, and rested our very tired feet.  It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

Tuesday was pretty uneventful.  I met back up with some of the friends I travelled with and visited St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral.  The churches were beautiful, but it's gotten to the point that a church is a church is a church.  They are everywhere, each prettier than the one before it.  However, it still amazes me the amount of time and dedication people put into their places of worship.

I got in early Wednesday morning, worn out from a great trip.  I spent St. Patrick's day in Dublin, Ireland.  I don't know many people who can say that!  Many more adventures to come.