Aside from its beautiful countryside, Ireland may be best known for its beer and spirits, as well as the festivities that surround them. We were fortunate enough to be in Dublin two weeks ago for St. Patrick's Day (simply known as Paddy's amongst the locals).
Our day started with some pina colada's courtesy of Lindsay (a decidedly un-Irish start to the day) and we then took to the streets with the gang (Matt, Lindsay, Cam, Olivia - photo at top) to watch a brief part of the parade (above), which was somewhat low-budget and reminiscent of Toronto's Santa Clause Parade, although some locals take it seriously enough to line the parade route in the wee hours of the morning or to scale various street furniture to cop a great view (below).
We then headed to some local pubs for the rest of the day, to celebrate in a more traditional fashion, with pints of Guinness and some Irish folk music. While the streets were packed with tourists, we managed to find a great local crowd packed with several local church choirs that sang ballads throughout the afternoon.
Kristi and I also toured the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, which was much more interesting than we expected, given the tens of millions of Euro that Guinness has put into their Visitors Center - definitely a must see tour with a very fresh pint at the end.
Also, as noted in previous posts, we toured the Old Jameson Whisky Distillery in Middleton (County Cork) and also popped in on the Old Bushmills Distillery near the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland (photos above and bel0w).
While there may still be one more Dublin post in the cards, photos are posted here for those interested.
No comments:
Post a Comment