The Luck of the Irish

We survived St. Paddy's day! It goes without saying that it was certainly the best St. Patricks day that we have ever had and probably one of the craziest things that I've witnessed. There were about 500,000 people in the city that watched the parade alone. Half a million people! When we woke up that morning, we went out in search of some tacky but totally necessary fun grew stuff and then really wanted to find an Irish coffee to drink before the parade started at noon. We found the garb ( sparkly green shamrock headband bobbers, an Ireland scarf, face tattoos) to go along with our outfits ( I wore green jeans! I got it in my head I wanted to wear green jeans about 2 months ago and finally found a great pair the day before we left) but unfortunately they cannot serve alcohol before 12:30 on a bank holiday or Sunday's, so we had to go without until after the parade ended.  The parade itself was better than I thought it would be; there was some Irish dancing and important figures but the majority was based around these science questions that artist groups around Ireland answer by creating floats and dance groups.  Its hard to explain but I think surrealist or interpretive art is the best way to try. Give it a google and see what you think. After the parade, we went to get out Irish coffee to warm up (it, of course, rained during the 3 hours we were standing outside in the 45 degree weather) and then back to the hostel for a quick nap before heading to St. Patrick's Cathedral for a service taken from his experiences and life. Honestly, the service was one of my favorite parts of the day. Hearing a service in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in. St. Patrick's cathedral is awesome in the truest sense, as in full of awe. It's so large and overwhelming but intimate at the same time. Hearing a sermon with an incredibly talented harpist and readings in Irish felt like the most honest way to celebrate the holiday and I'm thankful that we stumbled upon the service flyer the day before. We also got to pin fresh bundles of shamrocks onto our shirts for the service too, which is what the rebels used to do to stand up for their Irish heritage. The shamrock is also a symbol of the trinity: it was said that St. Patrick used a shamrock to help illustrate that you can have three in one, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, just as a shamrock has three leaves but is still one sprig.  After service we had dinner at the Hairy Lemon and the drinks at the Vat House later. It was quite a show walking down the Temple Bar area and we were turned away from two or three bars because they were full before we got into the Vat House. Drinking and dancing and fun was had for all! When we were walking back, Katlin, Dan and I all found Guinness pint glasses on the street that had been abandoned, so we snagged them and kept them a souvenirs! A friend told us it was good luck to find a pint glass like that and I think it's true, although we were very fortunate all of St. Patrick's Day so it was really just fitting that they glasses would find their way into our path home. We will be cheering with them for very many celebrations to come!