Green eggs and good friends

Ok there weren't actually green eggs, or surprisingly even green beer (guess that is a north american thing)  but there was a whole lot of green, orange and st paddy's day spirit in Dublin on March 17th.

Leanne and I almost aborted the mission to go to Dublin when we realized that every single hotel and hostel had jacked their prices up way beyond what we were willing to pay. Luckily Leanne's friend hooked us up with her parents who live in Dublin. Now the prospect of staying with two strangers who we have never met was a little daunting but that awkwardness lasted all of 30 seconds when he picked us up at 8:00 am in the morning at the airport with a big smile on his face and other "accessories"

Yes that is a Canadian flag.


And yes... That is a cut out of his daughters face lol!

 The incredible hospitality continued and we were completely spoiled for the weekend. We arrived to find a cute little stack of towels complete with housecoat and slippers along with shampoo, conditioner, bath gel and a loofa.

Soccer time in the cul de sac

 They then insisted on cooking us a full Irish breakfast, driving us around the neighborhood and then busing with us into the city center to show us the ropes. Throughout the weekend we truly got the best of both worlds, quiet charming neighborhood to relax in and enjoy home cooked meals when we wanted and only a 10 minute bus ride into the lively city center and all the pubs, parties, and st paddy's day festivities we could pack in.

Brazilians taking over a monument for the day lol

We celebrated my 25th bday in style at a pub and I was lucky enough to get to spend it with great friends even all the way in Dublin.

And thanks to my friends and family who braved the mail system or smuggled things with Leanne to make me smile ;) 

On the couple days before st paddy's we explored the city and took a free walking tour around.  Four hours later my head was swimming with English/Ireland history and Leanne was appalled with the cities blatant disregard for historical preservation. I'd like to see Canada discover an ancient viking village underground and then level it to build some ugly office buildings. Shit would hit totally hit the fan. But despite Irish lack of appreciation for what some might call important historical artifacts, some of the cool buildings managed to survive and other interesting ones have been built alongside.

Trinity College

Very modern, very large spire that our
tour guide had an impressive repertoire of
inappropriate jokes for

I had a little trouble with this concept.
They need to learn to drive on the
"right" side of the road lol

Monument to the victims of the Famine

We went to go look at the ancient cemetery with all the beautiful celtic crosses.


 Right next door we found the botanic garden to stroll through and try and pretend we knew anything about flowers. Well, Leanne could actually name some. I however was lost after daffodil and tulip.

The south african with the south african flower

Springtime DAFFODILS 

Dublin also had some cool bridges that the structural engineer found way more interesting than I did.

On a sunny morning we headed down to small fishing village, Howth, not far from where we were staying and were treated to a sleepy village and calm water as far as the eye could see.

In case you were worried we got our appropriate amount of Leprechauns as Leanne was very excited when we stumbled upon the NATIONAL Leprechaun museum. Storytellers teach you all about the Irish folklore and how the leprechaun came to end up on the lucky charms box and as a Where's waldo substitute. 

Listening attentively

Found the pot of gold

 

And of course throughout the st Paddies day festivities just a few pints of Guinness, cider, you name it had to be drunk. Someone even thought it was a good idea to order Irish Car Bombs... we didnt think that one through loll. 

two sips in = when a queens grad thinks
its time to order the next round

fake Guinness

real Guinness

On St Paddies day everyone is in the bar, tourists and locals alike, kids and adults alike. 

We headed to a local pub with our green and orange on to celebrate. Friends of friends meeting up amounted to an all Canadian table and good times followed including a few pint chugging competitions. I will spare Nick the embarrassment and not post the  two separate videos of him losing to Leanne two times. I guess Dalhousie needs to address some holes in their curriculum :p

Who won?

And to finish off - pictures of the St. Patricks Day Parade 2015. We froze our butts of for 2 hours to get good spots to view the parade. But it was worth it. It was quite an impressive feat to have so many floats and groups so well organized throughout a citywide, multiple hour long, parade route. The parade featured a surprising amount of american marching bands from different state high schools, universities and even the Chicago PD and Boston PD bagpipe bands.

Most important guy in the parade - pooper scooper 

Mexican Bagpipers?

Chicago PD