18 march 2011 - happy st. patrick's day!

hello all :) i had a lovely time celebrating my irish heritage yesterday and the day was especially fun since we didn't have school. that's right, st. patrick's day here is an actual bank holiday. along with most holy cross students, i'm pretty sure i could get used to that! we woke up early to go to a parade in the center of town and cheered as various groups walked by including some cheerleaders, rugby players and most notably, st. patrick himself! i don't feel like the st patrick costume is as popular in the u.s. so that was fun to see.  

we followed up the parade viewing with an afternoon in a few of our favorite pubs. they were PACKED with people of all ages (children included) dressed head to toe in green and orange. there was a lot more orange action over here than at home but green was definitely still more popular. after the parade, we had some shamrock shakes which didn't taste the same as the ones at home but were still in keeping with the holiday!

at one point, all of the festivities sparked a conversation about st. patrick's day in grade school.  we all  seem to remember attempting to snare leprechauns in rudimentary traps... in our classrooms. we would leave them over night and hope to catch one presumably so they could lead us to the treasure at the end of the rainbow? this strange memory is all wrapped up in disney channel's luck of the irish, lucky charms and green glitter. not really sure why the american school system decided that catching tiny fictional green men was the best way to commemorate st. patrick's day but then again, we leave cookies for a fat old man every christmas so why not?

we later saw this guy without his paper maché head on... it was a creepy old guy with really long hair. i don't want to talk about it.

it was a sunny and happy day and definitely something to cross off the bucket list! st. patrick's day in ireland? check! hope that the rest of the murphy clan had an equally festive day! xoxo