The St. Patrick's Festival

Friday was the kickoff of the one of the biggest events that Dublin has to offer, The St. Patrick's Festival! Five days of fun and excitement and most of it for the entire family, there are games, shows, and activities all for the entertainment of both those that live in the city and those that come to witness this great event.

As many of you know, I had a couple of visitors this weekend, in fact, I picked them up late Thursday night and have been enjoying their company ever since. A friend of mine from Bentley is studying in Budapest and brought with her two other girls who are studying there with her and are also from the States. All day Friday, they went exploring throughout the city to see many of the historic events that Dublin has to offer. Friday night they were able to meet up with some other people that they knew to be in the city and had a grand old time.

Saturday, we had some breakfast of sorts at the cafe downstairs together before putting together a plan for the day. There was a treasure hunt happening that I really wanted to do, so we decided to explore that venue of activity. We were able to make to registration on time, collected our bags, and our clues, and ventured off with our maps in front of our noses. Now this was no ordinary treasure hunt, there wasn't even really any treasure involved. We simply had to read the clue, go to the location, and find the answer to the question posed there. We made it through the first stop all right, the wax museum. I was severely creeped out due to the nature of the real-ness of the people in the wax museum, but we did all right. We were able to identify (with help) the rockers that stood on either side of the Irish legend band U2. So our book was stamped and we made our way to the next stop. The National Library popped up and other than some brief trouble with the touchscreens we did that okay and were able to see the animals that marked the document we were supposed to be looking for.

Next, we went to the National Gallery as it was close by and as soon as we set foot in the lobby, knew the answer to the question "what is the current temp exhibit running here?" As we took our book to be stamped, the woman at the desk told us that if we performed a song or dance then we could be eligible for an additional prize! So, willing to make fools of ourselves, we settled on traditional American pride to get us through, a rendition of "Sweet Caroline." We sang and hopped around in a circle much to the surprise and delight of the judges. It ended up that our prize was 4 free ticket passes to the Festival Carnival around the corner. So on our way the next stop, the famous Georgian House Number 29, we passed by the carnival and decided to have a sit on the Ferris wheel and check out the view from the top. We were able to see a lot of the city, it's amazing how big it actually is! And of course, it was beautiful!

After deciding to come back to the carnival later, we ventured to the next stop on the treasure hunt, number 29 famous Georgian House. We tried to come in through the front door, but apparently that is the end of the tour, so we had to go around and come in through the side entrance. We were again stopped at the table and requested to sing a song for a bonus prize. This time our version of "Sweet Caroline" won us dinosaur shaped fruit snacks, yummy! So we were pretty excited. We were able to identify the king in the carriage in the print in the hallway (hehe) and after that, being 2pm decided that we needed some lunch.

Making our way back to the Temple Bar area, we proceeded to the food market where the smells of food from across the country and some even from across the world filled our nostrils and make our stomachs rumble even more. Though I made several turns around the market which resembled the fairway at Windsor Fair, I finally succumbed and decided to eat the same sandwich that the other girls were getting. It was a 6 inch roll filled with grilled onions, stuffing, roasted pulled porked, and then we topped it with BBQ sauce and a homemade apple sauce that was to die for! We ended up squatting on a piece of sidewalk and listening to both the roaring sounds of the Irish getting ready for the Ireland v. Wales Rugby match and the singing of a two man musical group complete with a brown and black furry dog that sat patiently at their feet. After lunch, I decided I wanted some dessert and so did the other girls. I made my way back to a pastry stall where I selected a delicious Lemon Poppyseed Cake which I dove into this morning, and a Almond Pear Tartlet which still makes my mouth water with envy. Julia and Morgan each got hot chocolate while Kchan decided to wait until we reached the crepe restaurant to buy anything.

After dessert, we went our separate ways. I wanted to come back to the apartment to do some work and rest while the girls wanted to explore the city some more. We decided to meet back up around 6ish so I could let them in. When they arrived a plan had been formulated to go to the carnival for more rides and then head over to Trinity to meet up with some people doing a pub crawl. So we all got ready but I didn't want to go to the Carnival so I met up with them at Trinity at 8pm instead. Where I met Morgan and a few of her friends from back home. Kchan and Julia showed up a little late because of an adventure they had running away from a rambunctious and rude group of 12 year olds. But no harm done and we made our way over to Porterhouse. I had them all try my favorite beer in the place which is of course the strawberry flavored one and they all loved it, I was beaming with pride at sharing something new with them. After this, we wanted a quick bite to eat and went over to McDonald's and wolfed down some burgers and fries.

Then it was time to find a place where we could really get into the swing of things. So we wandered into the Temple Bar area which was of course PACKED with people as typical for a Saturday night but made worse by the fact that it is the weekend before St. Patrick's Day and people are pouring in from all corners of the world. We got Morgan a slice of piece and sat Kchan down for a while to get over the beer she had. After which we wandered down the street looking for a promising location. We tried to enter Fitzsimmons but it was too packed and the bouncer said to try again later. So off we went and stumbled upon the "Purty Kitchen," which happened to have a live band playing "Sweet Home Alabama," and we were hooked. We made our way in and found a good spot to listen to the band on the stairs. They were AWESOME. They played for about another hour and a half by which point we had made our way to the front of the crowd and were standing about 5 feet from them and the really loud speakers. The band was pumped up on classic American rock and they did it very well. After much cheering, they did an encore and then retired for the night.

The top two floors of the Purty Kitchen are a dance club and we decided since we were there to stick around and check it out. We hit the dance floor amongst creepers and many girls with fog and flashing lights all around. We managed to find a good space and danced for quite some time. We ended up meeting a group of British Royal Navymen who were nice enough to chat with us. We paused to get drink and wander the club for a bit but continued to have an awesome time. We ended up on the top floor and stayed there until 3am at which point the place closed down and we had to go home. I had to lead the way given that Doug was more interested in his friend than leading the way back to the apartment at this point. I was exhausted and finally got everyone back safe when they decided to go and get food. So I let Kchan and Julia go with Doug and I went upstairs with Morgan with my thoughts firmly on getting my head onto my pillow as fast as possible.

So with everyone as safe as they can be and no worries about them getting back, I peeled off my clothes, washed my face and climbed onto my top bunk with great ease and pleasure. I was able to quickly fall asleep for once, possibly because it was the latest I had gone to bed in quick awhile, and was grateful for it.

And although KChan woke me up this morning at 9:30, I didn't hold it against her, because it was a good night and I was ready for a nice greasy meal which I was able to procure for myself. And thus ended my weekend with my visitors and my experience with the St. Patrick's Festival...at least for today.