...Tell a tale of Leprechauns, Drape yourself in green, And have the best St.Paddys Day, The world has ever seen!

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Well, I made it back alive and well from my trip to Dublin, Ireland for St. Patrick's day. Me and almost everyone in my residence left on Tuesday and returned Friday afternoon. Getting there was fairly uneventful. We took at cab from Bath to the Bristol airport. The roads were winding extremely narrow and I thought we would surly die, multiple times. But we got to the airport on time and alive. We arrived to the Dublin airport and got a bus to the center of the city. We then had a bit of a hike to get to our hotel. We soon discovered that in Dublin, at a cross walk, when it's your turn to cross there's no way you could miss it. They have these sound things that beep at you to let you know it's your turn to go, except it sounds like a laser gun followed by a machine gun shooting continuously until you crossed. And it didn't matter how many times I crossed the street, it always scared the livin daylights out of me. The highlight of the trip was probably the St. Patrick's Day parade. We had on our green shirts and headed for the crowds. We quickly learned that a green shirt worn under a coat was not festive enough in the least. So we went to one of the many St. Patrick's Day shops and bought us some hats. Here is a picture of Matt, Hillary (both Texans) and I at the parade, Hillary and I with our hats.
Our hats were miniature versions of the popular St. Patty's day hats. I have a picture below of what most of them looked like. The floats and acts from the parade were very interesting. Many of them seemed to have quite an artistic flare. It was almost impossible to see. However we got lucky when we went to a crossing point. They had them various locations along the street and they would pause the parade and let the people do their dancing and what not while they let a mass of people cross to the other side. Well they cut us off right before we were about to cross. So we were right there in front. Here are a few picture of the parade:



So all in all Dublin was good fun! Went to some Irish pubs, heard some great live music (Rattlin' Bog, Irish Rover etc.) Heard some lovely Irish accents and had some famous Irish Guinness. We actually went to the Guinness factory and had a tour. That was pretty neat. On our way back from that tour I asked our cab driver why there were so many Scots walking about in their kilts, as I had seen quite a few. He said they were getting ready to watch the big Ireland vs. Scotland game on Saturday. He then asked if I knew how to tell if they were truly Scotsman. I responded, "no, how do you tell?" And he replied "they wear nothing under their kilt. You'll have to look for yourself." I don't quite remember how I responded to that one. :)
Well, I will leave you with one of the most exciting finds in Ireland. There was a convenience store across from our hotel and we went there often for food. (Everything was ridiculously expensive in Dublin). As I was walking through I glanced down, and a small packet of sugar caught my eye, then some straws, then I stepped back and saw an entire booth! Behold!!
I was so excited. I shouted to the Texans, "Look, a Tim Hortons! In Ireland!" they of course responded "Tim who?". I then tried (and failed) to describe the significance of a Timmy's. Ah well. I must say, I didn't actually buy anything from it. The maple dip donuts had chopped nuts on them, and I was very unimpressed.
Well, that's all I have for now. The Texans and I are heading to Italy (Venice, Florance and Rome) and Greece (Athens) for Easter break and am leaving this Wednesday. So I will be back April 9th and will hopefully update my blog then!