Maybe it was because I had been so excited about St. Patrick's Day for such a long time. Maybe it was because I had pumped it up in my mind so much that I had expectations which were too high. Maybe it was because I was being unrealistic.
Or maybe it was because it just wasn't very good.
Every Irish person who I spoke with told me to prepare to be under-whelmed, and they were actually really right. The parade and festival were definitely not as great as I thought they would be.
Whenever I travel, I try not to compare anything to home. Nobody likes it when people say, "At home we did it this way," or "At home we do it that way." However, that being said, I'm going to break my rule this once - The St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City is so much better the one in Dublin! It was like a difference between professionals and amateurs.
I started waiting by the fence early in the morning. By 10:30am, Bree and I were already boxed in by a row of people behind us. We couldn't leave even if we wanted to! People thought that I was crazy since I was standing there for four hours, but if you want to see anything at all, then it's a wait you have to do. The parade was mostly filled with performers - there were no floats or balloons, so if you weren't standing right on the fence, then you wouldn't be able to see anything at all.
The costumes were creative and colorful, but it looked like something that a college could have put together, rather than the world's center for St. Patrick's Day festivities. Plus, the parade was based on Roddy Doyle's short story, "Brilliant," as a theme, but it made the parade seem confused. Was it Halloween or St. Patrick's Day?
There was a mad crush of people pushing behind me shoving me into the fence. A little girl elbowed her way through and stood with her arms in my stomach the entire time. It was ridiculous, but what was I going to do? Push a little girl back out of the way? I couldn't do that so I just put up with it. Bree was shooting the girl daggers out of her eyes the entire time. The only other time I've seen this many people on the streets was New Year's Eve. Quite frankly, there were more people here than Dublin could handle.
The end of the parade was merely little kids riding their bicycles. The bikes weren't even decorated. They road by with a sign advertising their group "Family Cycling of Dublin" and that was it. Was the parade over? We waited around for another 10 minutes but the only other thing that came down the street was trash being blown by the wind. The grand finale was not exactly grand.
Later that afternoon, I went to work and helped set up for a classical harp performance with a famous musician, Anne Marie O'Farrell. The music was peaceful and beautiful - and a welcome rest from the madness outside the museum walls. At night, I hung out with MJ and we chilled at her place. Then, we went out to the docks which are about a half an hour walk from the city center. We tried going to a restaurant on a boat, and we couldn't eat there because they were closed, but the boatmaster allowed us to walk around the ship for a little while anyways. We just hung out at the prow and chatted while listening to the sound of the city floating to us over the wind. It was a beautifully clear night and very serene on the boat.
Later, we went to a relatively quiet pub and listened to traditional music (trad music) and we even got to see some dancing. A guy performed, which is actually quite rare since Irish dancing mostly attracts girls. The guy looked like he came from Lord of the Rings - he was long and lanky with a mess of red hair curling around his ears. It was a great night out and I'm so glad that we stayed away from the city center. We walked past the Temple Bar area just to see it, and quite frankly, it was actually scary.
Drunks were spilling out of the bars like vomit. People were smashing bottles and broken glass littered the floor. You had to jump and skip around the sidewalk to avoid the mess. Everyone was either a tourist or a rowdy, young Dublin teenager. Just like New Yorkers who stay away from Times Square on New Year's Eve, any adult Dubliner stays home on St. Patty's Day. MJ and I made a quick getaway and actually went home early.
I'm glad that I can say that I was here, but honestly, the holiday was not what it was cracked up to be. Overall, I would say that Ireland is an amazing place to visit and I would recommend the whole country and Dublin City to everyone as a vacation spot --- except on St. Patrick's Day! Celebrate at home instead!
By the way, "Craic" (pronounced "crack") is gaelic for "fun" - I wasn't doing drugs haha :-)
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