March 18, 2007

St Patrick's



My first full St Patrick's weekend in Dublin and today we are here exactly 1 year. I remember how we stumbled out of the plane last year, happily surprised that the streets were not covered in snow and breathing the air that felt almost a bit too light and moist and surrounded by a climate that was almost too mild and warm compared to Finland (friends of ours described last St Patrick's weekend as one of the coldest in a long time:)).

This year I of course wanted to do the full touristy thing and woke up on Saturday at 10:00 (!) to make it into town in good time for the much talked about St Patrick's day parade. Experienced as we are these days we completely avoided public transport and walked into the centre, which proved to be the smart thing to do and also very enjoyable, because most of the time it did not rain yesterday.

Very excited, we joined the crowds beside Dame Street expecting the marvellous spectacle to begin. There was just a small problem. Everyone seemed to be moving constantly. A few people joined us to stand and wait, but the majority of people pushed themselves either up or down Dame Street, complete with a large number of offspring trotting behind them equipped with whistles that they used rather frequently, and at least 2 push chairs. I would be lying if I said I feel comfortable in crowds, but this crowd was also rather confusing. We could not really make out why everyone was constantly on the move; had we missed the whole spectacle already?

At some point absolutely everyone started to move around us and we decided to join the movement: moving away from Dame Street and back to where we came from. I was rather disappointed and happy that we were able to snatch a quick glance of the parade hanging from the Trinity college gate later in the afternoon. Luckily they showed the parade in the evening on TV as well so we were able to see what we had missed out on. The whole atmosphere in town is a bit like May Day in Finland, just that everyone is dressed in green and carrying an Irish flag, an inflatable rubber Guinness or huge green rubber hammers (why hammers?).

All in all it was exciting to watch people of all nationalities happily waving shamrocks, flags and the green rubber hammers. The highlight was definitely a group of young pretty girls with ginger full beards and large green hats dressed up as Leprechauns. Unfortunately I forgot my camera at home.

Happy St Patrick’s Day everyone!